The headline says it all. As a writer, this has been my best month EVER! I had three book signing events, where I did better than expected with sales, meeting people, and more! Then, I signed two book deals with Curious Corvid Publishing and Revolutionary Press to publish two of my latest manuscripts, The River of Souls and Corsair and the Sky Pirates respectfully. Like I said, BEST MONTH EVER!
Between the Fredericksburg Independent Book Festival, Southern Maryland Comic-Con, and 2nd Sundays Williamsburg Art and Music Festival, I’ve been meeting and talking to more people than ever before. After such a disappointing 2020, it’s such a thrill to actually being able to meet people in person than over a video chat.
It has been a long road since 2001 when I started writing my first novel, Forever Avalon, and then it wasn’t first published until 2009. To be able to not only talk about my books with people, face-to-face, but to see the interest on their faces when they pick up my book and read the synopsis was worth the long weekends away, the money invested into my second career, and the hours spent toiling away at these novels.
I really just want to thank my wife and my family for their love and support of my extended career. I wouldn’t be here without them. They are, and always will be, my inspirations as a writer. I have more stories I’m working on and I hope to have them out in short order, but that’s down the road. For now, I’, going to continue going out to these festivals and conventions to spread the word.
And if I don’t get to say it, I hope all of you have a very Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends!
# # #
Mark Piggott is an independent author of the Forever Avalon fantasy book series and other fantasy/steampunk novels and short stories. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon and as an audiobook from Audible and iTunes. The Dark Tides: Book 2 of the Forever Avalon Series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from iUniverse Publishing and at Amazon, and other booksellers. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from Austin Macauley Publishing, and at Amazon and other booksellers. His latest fantasy novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart is available through Lulu and other booksellers.
Get ready for the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates, coming soon from Revolutionary Press; and The River of Souls novella, coming soon from Curious Corvid Publishing. The Prometheus Engine: Book 4 of the Forever Avalon Series and The Last Magus: Dragonfire and Steel are future installments of my current fantasy book series, coming soon.
I think that what has to be the worst aspect of being an independent author is the financial cost associated with it. From paying for an editor, cover artists, publishing, marketing, ARC readers, convention fees, and more, the costs add up quickly. A self-published author with usually spend more than they make in book sales. It’s not an easy proposition for many of us.
Additionally, there is the many other expenses from travel, cost of equipment and software, subscriptions, and more. It can become quite staggering. I think that in the past 12 years, I spent around $15,000 and, four books later, made less than $1,000. I can honestly say that some of these expenses are my fault, mistakes made early by a novice author. I went with “vanity” publishing that cost more than I needed to spend and, in return, got less than expected results. There are so many options for an author to publish with minimal cost. You can publish on numerous publishing websites for FREE, with templates for interiors and covers, with varied success. if you want to up your game, you are going to need to pay for some things to make your book better.
Same goes for marketing. When I started using social media, I got hammered with paid book reviews, social media companies, and other “phishing” expeditions. I learned a lot from those experiences. Even big companies can spam you too. In 2014, I decided to participate in a “Pitchfest” to learn about and then attempt to pitch my novel to movie/television people. I spent about $4K on travel and hotel (it was in NYC) and the event itself. It was an interesting experience but, in the end, nothing came out of it. Not blaming the organizers, I guess I didn’t sell it well enough, but it was still an expense that fell flat.
This seems to be a recurring theme amongst self-published authors. I talked to a few recently at the Fredericksburg Independent Book Festival. One author was focused on just his books, working with a broken canopy and no real promotional materials. And here I was, with a brand new canopy I just bought and a couple hundred dollars worth of bookmarks, stickers and posters. It was my first festival and I went overboard. Now, in the end, I sold more books at this one event than I ever did before. It was the first positive book signing/event I participated in my 12 years of doing this. I would normally sell from 1-5 books, but this was extraordinary.
After my success at that event, I bought an additional placard with a tripod to give a big “spotlight” on my books. Add to that, the additional copies of my books I bought to add to my inventory. Yes, the money I made went right back into my next event. That seems to be the infinite cycle for self-published, independent authors. As much as it can be a financial pain in the wallet, the old adage “you have to spend money to make money” comes into mind. No, I don’t mean going deep, deep into debt, but there is a cost associated with everything you need as an up and coming author.
Granted, I’m not doing this to me a multi-millionaire . . . No really, I’m not. I love telling stories, I love writing stories, so sharing them is the most logical thing to do. Would I like to do this as a full-time job and spend my days writing instead of working from my office, absolutely. Who wouldn’t? For now, this is what works for me. I know that going to events like comic-cons, book festivals, and craft fairs will help build up my readers.
You have to be prepared for the cost if you have the desire to take a stab as an author, but time and money are not on your side. It is the desire to fight through for the chance, just a chance, at being a successful author.
NOTE TO READERS: Do I consider book sales = money = success? No . . . To me, book sales = people who’ve read my books. That makes me feel good as an author. The money helps me write more books, that’s all!
# # #
Mark Piggott is an independent author of the Forever Avalon fantasy book series and other fantasy/steampunk novels and short stories. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon and as an audiobook from Audible and iTunes. The Dark Tides: Book 2 of the Forever Avalon Series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from iUniverse Publishing and at Amazon, and other booksellers. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from Austin Macauley Publishing, and at Amazon and other booksellers. His latest fantasy novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart is available through Lulu and other booksellers.
Get ready for the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates, coming soon from Revolutionary Press; and The River of Souls novella, coming soon from Curious Corvid Publishing. The Prometheus Engine: Book 4 of the Forever Avalon Series and The Last Magus: Dragonfire and Steel are future installments of my current fantasy book series, coming soon.
This may be a bit cliché of me to say, but there are some authors I would consider required reading for anyone wanting to step into it as a fantasy author. Sure, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, George R.R. Martin, Anne McCaffrey and Terry Brooks are names everyone is familiar with. These stories are the “bread and butter” of any fantasy author. They provide the basis for what we write and the stories we develop, but there are some others you need to consider (in my opinion) to make you well rounded. Please remember, these are my opinion and I may miss some of your favorite fantasy authors. So please, add your own to the comments!
I’ll start out with my all-time favorite fantasy author and the person who inspired me to be a writer myself. Michael Moorcock, author of the Elric of Melnibone saga, is one of the best fantasy authors on par with Tolkien and others. His world-building is amazing, something I’ve never read before. The mythology of the Lords of Order and Chaos, the Eternal Champion, and more are terrifying to say the least. His stories span centuries, millennia even, and yet they flow together in such perfect harmony. It’s not your basic Dungeons & Dragons type of story, but unique in every sense of the word, from magic to mythos.
Elric is the perfect anti-hero, doing whatever must be done to in order to survive and defeat his enemies. He sacrifices friend and foe and its such a sad, solitary life, and you feel for him, every step of the way. All of his characters, from Elric to Cymoril, Yyrkoon, Moonglum and Rackhir are deeply intertwined and carefully written. I adore his wistful yet colorful descriptions of people, places and events. The Sailor on the Seas of Fate and Stormbringer will always be my two favorite novels of this series, because the Seas of Fate introduces the concept of the Eternal Champions to the reader and Stormbringer brings the series to a close like I’ve never read before. It’s a shame that Elric still hasn’t made it to the silver screen, and he would shine amongst fantasy epics.
The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin
Next up is Ursula K. Le Guin and the Earthsea saga. She is both a fantasy and science fiction writer, but I’m focusing on her fantasy epic here. It’s interesting to note that Le Guin meant for A Wizard of Earthsea to be a standalone novel, but then she wrote The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest Shore after discovering loose ends in her first book. I think this is a great example of what plagues fantasy writers when it comes to a single story or a series, and she handled it brilliantly. Then it took her nearly 20 years to write what is considered my many as the second trilogy in the Earthsea cycle.
This demonstrates the patience she had as a writer to properly flush out the story, something many of us (me included) don’t do with our own writing. What I love about her story is the fact that she didn’t plop it down into your standard “middle ages fantasy” where the characters are all white. She went out of her way to differentiate the races of Earthsea into something unique and different, especially for a novel written in 1968. That’s the beauty of Le Guin in all her writings. She does not stick to the boundaries of race, sex, color, creed, or religion in her stories, always outside the norms. She is a must read for just that fact alone.
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynn Jones
The next one might seem a bit unusual but its Diana Wynn Jones, author of the classic Howl’s Moving Castle. Yes, we all know about it from the beautiful and inspiring Hayao Miyazaki film, but have you read the book? It is completely different from the movie and just as inspiring. I read the series after I saw the movie and I wish I had done the reverse. Her writing style reminds me a lot of Frank L. Baum and his Oz stories, tales with such frivolity and backwards talking that its just fun to read to try to get into the mind of the writer. The other great thing about her is that she has been an inspiration to many great fantasy writers of our time, including J.K. Rowling, Terry Prachett and Neil Gaiman. She is an award-winning children’s author and yet her stories are beloved by all. Her books are a lot like Harry Potter in that she brings magic into our regular world and makes it a part of everyday life. It’s a joy to read her stories and be inspired in my own.
The Dark Elf Trilogy by R. A. Salvatore
Lastly, I would like to mention R.A. Salvatore . . . Yes, he’s not one of the more well known fantasy authors, but he’s one of my favorites because of his attention to detail in writing novels based on Dungeons and Dragons. As a teenager and young adult, I played D&D religiously, and reading these novels kept me in the game when I wasn’t playing. His books were especially provocative on different levels. I think he was responsible for taking the Drow Elf from a regular villain (in the game) to a hero in his Dark Elf Trilogy. Drizzt Do’Urden became so popular as a supporting character in his first book, Icewind, that he moved him to main character for his next three books. The other thing I love about Salvatore is he was once just like many of the independently published fantasy authors I collaborate and communicate with on social media. He worked as a bouncer, writing his fantasy stories in his spare time until he was picked up by TSR to write for the D&D Forgotten Realms novels. His publishing story gives me, and others like me, hope for own stories.
As I said at the beginning, these are some of my favorite fantasy writers that truly inspired me in my own stories as a writer, along with many of the classic and legendary authors of the fantasy genre. Let me know your thoughts or add your favorites in the comments.
# # #
Mark Piggott is an independent author of the Forever Avalon fantasy book series and other fantasy novels and short stories. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon and as an audiobook from Audible and iTunes. The Dark Tides: Book 2 of the Forever Avalon Series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from iUniverse Publishing and at Amazon, and other booksellers. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from Austin Macauley Publishing, and at Amazon and other booksellers. His latest fantasy novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart is available through Lulu and other booksellers. Get ready for The Prometheus Engine: Book 4 of the Forever Avalon Series and The Last Magus: Dragonfire and Steel, coming soon, and the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates.
I have been writing for more than 40 years—20 as a military journalist and 20 as a fantasy author. I didn’t know if I am a brand or what that brand is, but I came to a conclusion that I needed to make a go of it, put my mark on it as it were. So, I developed an image to emulate who I am as a writer and as a person.
The quill pin represents me as a writer, but there’s more to it that just that. It also symbolizes my military career. In the U.S. Navy, I was a Navy Journalist, and my rating badge was a quill pen through a scroll. I wore that badge with honor for 23 years. I earned it by attending the Defense Information School (DINFOS) and becoming what we jokingly called a “DINFOS Trained Killer” (I even have it on a t-shirt.) I wanted to represent it in my logo to honor my career as a writer, yesterday and today.
The gears symbolize my mindset as a writer, always turning, never stopping. I think any writer knows this about themselves. They can’t turn it off, the mind is always racing, working out the next paragraph. I always working on my current novel, editing another one, and planning yet another. It is a constant process, a perpetual machine that runs forever. This is what it means to be an independent author.
I also submitted all the proper paperwork to trademark my logo through Trademark Engine. I hate paperwork so its nice to have someone who can do it for you. Expensive as it is, I rather be on the right side of any potential legalities. It’s one of those things that independent authors have to deal with when you don’t have a publisher or a literary agent.
I’ve seen a lot of other authors creating a brand all their own just like me. Plus, with the new book festivals and sci-fi/fantasy conventions I’ll be attending in the next year, I want to have something that stands out so people will know me and my brand of fantasy, steampunk, and sci-fi. So, this is me . . . This is who I am.
# # #
Mark Piggott is an independent author of the Forever Avalon fantasy book series and other fantasy novels and short stories. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon and as an audiobook from Audible and iTunes. The Dark Tides: Book 2 of the Forever Avalon Series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from iUniverse Publishing and at Amazon, and other booksellers. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from Austin Macauley Publishing, and at Amazon and other booksellers. His latest fantasy novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart is available through Lulu and other booksellers. Get ready for The Prometheus Engine: Book 4 of the Forever Avalon Series, coming soon, and the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates.
KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER, Darren McGavin, 1974-75
The 1970s were a boon for TV dramas based on fantasy, science fiction, and horror. We had shows like Battlestar Galactica, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Incredible Hulk, Buck Rogers, and of course my favorite, Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I started binge-watching these classic shows and they reminded me of why I became a writer. Carl Kolchak may not have had a big impact on television (it only lasted one season with two television movies) but it had a major impact on me.
First and foremost, I need to give credit where credit is due. Darrin McGavin (1922-2006) was the heart and soul of that series. He may be remembered more as being the foul-mouthed “old man” in A Christmas Story, he will forever be Carl Kolchak to me. His tenacity in searching for the truth in a story, no matter how bizarre or unusual, was evident in every episode. McGavin’s portrayal of the intrepid reporter, especially in the narrative that accompanied each episode, showed his incredible dedication to the truth in journalism (something we seem to be missing today). In any case, as I watched Carl Kolchak from my living room floor as an impressionable teenager, I knew I wanted to be just like him.
The Rakshasa, Episode 11, Horror in the Heights
Murders caused by vampires, werewolves, zombies, and swamp monsters (the Creole legend of Père Malfait) were scoffed by the police and his editor, but it was Kolchak who sought the truth behind the crime. It was how he went about his investigation and the way he wrote the story that endeared him to the audience. Even how the authorities reacted at the end of each episode to actually prove he was right (i.e. in episode 2, they buried the zombie for a third time with salt in his mouth and his lips sewn shut). To me, as an impressionable teenager, that made me the sceptic I am today.
It was also a great introduction to many myths and legends, some of which I never heard of before. I mentioned, Père Malfait, but also a Native American bear-spirit legend Matchi Manitou, a Hindu demon called a Rakshasa, an Aztec cult, a succubus, even a headless, sword-wielding motorcycle rider. As someone who watched his fair share of Hammer horror pictures in the 1970s, it was a blast. Yes, the make-up and special effects were substandard by today’s youth, no CGI, but it was scary back then.
“Maybe its appeal remains because it was then, and remains now, a very different kind of show. Maybe people see, in the monsters and the way public knowledge and discussion are stopped, symbols for all those things various government entities wish the people not to know about. Maybe people — fans — admire Kolchak because he just keeps on trying to do what he sees as work that has value; trying to keep the public informed about what is going on.”
Jeff Rice, creator of the Kolchak movies and TV series
Add to it the dark, shadow-filled production that kept the corners dark and the anticipation gnawing. And the music, oh the music . . . The theme song for Kolchak by Gil Mellé is unforgettable. Once you hear it, you’re hooked. It is so recognizable you never forget it. Overall, it kept you entertained as an impressionable young teen on a Friday night.
You see, early in my life, I wanted to be a comic book artist. Unfortunately, my art skills were not up to par and I missed writing the stories behind the art. I think that’s why I went into the U.S. Navy as a Navy Journalist. It was that inner Carl Kolchak speaking to me. It was my own chance to write, investigate, and tell the stories. Eventually, that led to me being an author.
Darrin McGavin as Carl Kolchak
It’s sad that Kolchak only lasted one season. According to IMDB, “the series was cancelled because Darren McGavin asked to be released from his contract. He became disappointed with the series’ scripts and was exhausted from his uncredited producing duties. Three scripts were left unproduced. Two of them were adapted into a Kolchak series of comic books in 2003.” But the character of Carol Kolchak, as I said earlier, was all Darrin McGavin. In the book, The Night Stalker Companion, McGavin explained how he came up with the iconic look of the intrepid reporter.
“In the first draft of the script, Kolchak was wearing Bermuda shorts, socks and brown shoes, a Hawaiian shirt and a golf cap. Apparently somebody thought that was the uniform for a newspaperman in Las Vegas. But there was a line in there about him wanting to get back to New York, so I got this image of a New York newspaperman who had been fired in the summer of 1962 when he was wearing a seersucker suit, his straw hat, button-down Brooks Brothers shirt and reporter’s tie, and he hasn’t bought any clothes since. Well, I knew that was the summer uniform of reporters in New York of that time, so that’s how the wardrobe came about. I added the white tennis shoes and that was Kolchak. It might have been totally at odds with what everybody else was wearing in Las Vegas, but he hasn’t bought any clothes since then. You need goals for a character and Kolchak’s goal is to get back to the big time. He always wanted to get back to New York and work on the Daily News.”
Darrin McGavin, The Night Stalker Companion
When I think about the stories I write and why I became a writer in the first place, it always goes back to Carl Kolchak. That was where I got the “bug” to sit at a typewriter (which I wrote many of my early stories on) and put my thoughts and ideas down. It is that idea that there’s something out there, a story to tell, that escapes the human eye. It takes only one person to tell the story.
# # #
Mark Piggott is an independent author of the Forever Avalon fantasy book series and other fantasy novels and short stories. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon and as an audiobook from Audible and iTunes. The Dark Tides: Book 2 of the Forever Avalon Series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from iUniverse Publishing and at Amazon, and other booksellers. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from Austin Macauley Publishing, and at Amazon and other booksellers. His latest fantasy novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart is available through Lulu and other booksellers. Get ready for The Prometheus Engine: Book 4 of the Forever Avalon Series, coming soon, and the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates.
This Sunday, August 22, I will be kicking off Season 3 of the LIVESTREAM SUNDAY YouTube channel show, hosted by Books by Adrian, beginning at 4pm. We’ll be discussing everything from my career in the U.S. Navy to my novels in the Forever Avalon fantasy book series and my latest book, The Last Magus and other topics.
The host, Books by Adrian, a.k.a. Adrian Santiago, is “a husband, a father, and a writer in the midst of writing and self-publishing my debut novel. A life-long dream finally being realized, one chapter at a time.” I am thrilled to be working with another talented independent author.
The Books by Adrian YouTube Channel is a great avenue for readers to discover new authors to explore and give authors the chance to talk about their stories and the time they put into everything from writing, editing, and marketing. “On this channel you can expect to find vlogs, how to, reaction, commentary, marketing and livestream videos covering a wide range of topics. Ideally everything on this channel will document the influences of my novel, or things you’ll find inside the pages, such as drug culture, polyamory, lgbtq characters in lead roles, serial killers, mma, brazilian jiu-jitsu, nomad culture, witchcraft, and much much more.”
As an independent author, I am always looking to support my fellow authors as it gives all of us a chance to reach out to a new audience and expand our horizon. This is how we, as authors without a publisher or literary agent, work hard to get out there. I hope you will take the opportunity to join in for LIVESTREAM SUNDAY and check out Books by Adrian YouTube Channel to listen to some great vlogs.
“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
Thomas Mann, Essays of Three Decades
# # #
Mark Piggott is an independent author of the Forever Avalon fantasy book series and other fantasy novels and short stories. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon and as an audiobook from Audible and iTunes. The Dark Tides: Book 2 of the Forever Avalon Series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from iUniverse Publishing and at Amazon, and other booksellers. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from Austin Macauley Publishing, and at Amazon and other booksellers. His latest fantasy novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart is available through Lulu and other booksellers. Get ready for The Prometheus Engine: Book 4 of the Forever Avalon Series, coming soon, and the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates.
I had my first book signing of 2021, more than 16 months since The Outlander War was released, and it was not what I had hoped for. Right off the bat, let me say that the staff at the Moravian Book Shop in Bethlehem, PA, were phenomenal. They were great in setting it up, advertising, etc. The event just went off like a wet firecracker… Smoke but no bang.
I only signed four books in a two hour period. There was foot traffic through the store, but not a lot of interest. I didn’t mind talking to people about my novel, that was fun to do. Its the people who walked by and didn’t say a thing, or tried to avoid looking at me as if talking to me was a bad thing. Its like I wasn’t even there. I hate that.
I’m not here to complain or vent… Well, maybe just a little. I only have a couple of book signings under my belt and I really don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I mean, the people I talked to about my book listened, asked questions, and a few of them bought my book. Others just thanked me and walked away. It’s really hard when you’re sitting there, offering a fantasy novel to someone, and people are looking in the fantasy/scifi section of the store but ignoring you. That was really confusing.
I know its still early in these waning days of a year of being stuck inside your house, hiding behind a mask, for your protection and others. I mean, I’m fully vaccinated and didn’t wear a mask at this event. I even wore my steampunk goggles to attract attention. I used my own social media platform to advertise the event. I even emailed local newspapers about it since it was held less than 20 miles from my hometown. I thought I did all the right things and yet, four books. That’s it. The royalties from that doesn’t even pay for the gas it took to drive up there.
I guess I’m ranting about a familiar subject… The cost effectiveness of being an independent author. We put ourselves out there, attending book fairs and festivals, setting up book signing events, etc., for the chance at becoming mainstream. As independent authors, most of us are working a full time job while writing, editing, and marketing after that job is done.
I love writing, I can’t stop myself. It’s a part of my DNA. I will continue to write and work toward becoming a full-time author. Things can get discouraging but I’m lucky to have a great support system–my wife, children, family, and friends–to see me through.
# # #
Mark Piggott is an independent author of the Forever Avalon fantasy book series and other fantasy novels and short stories. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon. The Dark Tides: Book 2 of the Forever Avalon Series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from iUniverse Publishing and at Amazon, and other booksellers. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from Austin Macauley Publishing, and at Amazon and other booksellers. His latest fantasy novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart is available through Lulu and other booksellers. Get ready for The Prometheus Engine: Book 4 of the Forever Avalon Series, coming soon, and the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates.
I had the great opportunity to be interviewed by my shipmate and friend, Spencer Webster, for his new prodcast, InSpiris Audio Magazine. Spencer and I met during my active duty days in the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65). We stayed in touch, even after we retired from the Navy. Spencer is working on a new initiative, a podcast called InSpiris Audio Magazine, and I was honored to be the subject of one of his first interviews.
We talked about my progression as a writer, everything that inspired me from anime to comic books and fantasy authors, and how I develop my stories in the Forever Avalon series and my other WIPs. Click on the link below to listen to the interview on YouTube or you can find him on Spotify.
Spencer Webster is a novelist, a storyteller and a retired U.S. Navy Sailor. He also has a million zillion creative ideas and never enough time to make them all a reality. So he’s diving down on a few prioritized goals and InSpiris Audio Magazine is one of them. He wants to learn what is creativity to other people and wants to share stories about what he finds. Spencer Webster is the author of Island of the Lost Soul, a book for sale on Kindle. He believes in the magic of inspiration and imagination and is confident there are a lot of people who might share their magic with him, and in turn with you. Spencer lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife.
Spencer is always looking for creative and inspiring people to interview for his podcast. You can contact him at InSpiris-Podcast.com. Also, make sure you subscribe to his podcast and on YouTube to listen to all his content!
# # #
Mark Piggott is the author of the Forever Avalon fantasy book series. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon. The Dark Tides: Book 2 of the Forever Avalon Series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from iUniverse Publishing and at Amazon, and other booksellers. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from Austin Macauley Publishing, and at Amazon and other booksellers. His next two fantasy novels, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart and The Prometheus Engine: Book 4 of the Forever Avalon Series are being released in 2021.
The Multiverse… The concept that there exists alternate realities across the dimensions has been written about for years. It’s more prevalent now with the emergence of the multiverse in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and DC television (in The Flash TV series and all their annual crossover events). The comics have done a great job of setting this concept up for us, for example DC’s latest run with “Dark Knights: Metal” and creating probably the scariest version of both Batman and The Jokers, The Batman Who Laughs. Then there’s the “Spider-verse” in Marvel Comics with everything from Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man Noir, a Spider Punk, and more. And don’t forget the sci-fi TV series Sliders, which made crossing into alternate universes a weekly episode.
“The multiverse is a theory in which our universe is not the only one, but states that many universes exist parallel to each other. These distinct universes within the multiverse theory are called parallel universes. A variety of different theories lend themselves to a multiverse viewpoint.”
The concept is simple. One world where things are slightly different than the world we know. I like the worlds where the Nazis win and how it changes the origins of heroes as we know them: Earth-X with the kick ass Uncle Sam and the Freedom Force! That’s how to do it! But there’s so many different possibilities. That’s what makes it not only enjoyable to read and see but to create as well.
The idea of a multiverse, parallel dimensions, or alternate realities (whatever you want to call them) makes it easy for a writer to let their imagination run wild. I mean, you can create practically anything. Nothing is off limits or out of bounds in the idea of the multiverse. It takes the whole “time travel can rewrite history” concept and turns it on its head because, you’re not creating a new timeline but rather a new reality. Even scientists are now saying that the theory is more than science fiction, it’s a possibility. Think of the universe as a deck of cards…
“Now, if you shuffle that deck, there’s just so many orderings that can happen,” physicist Brian Greene says. “If you shuffle that deck enough times, the orders will have to repeat. Similarly, with an infinite universe and only a finite number of complexions of matter, the way in which matter arranges itself has to repeat.”
A Physicist Explains Why Parallel Universes May Exist,NPR.org
To me, a great example of the parallel universe if Star Trek and its “Mirror Universe” episodes. Each series did it’s own tale within the parallel universe where the Federation was a conqueror and not the benevolent organization as its portrayed in . I love the goatee Spock, bad yet still quite logical, and the scheming Sulu in all his glory. It seems all the really good alternate realities and parallel universes are the ones where the heroes become the villains. In DC, Earth-3 and the Crime Syndicate are a great example, and the “Age of Apocalypse” X-Men event in Marvel. It gives you such a unique perspective into characters we know and love.
I will admit that it has been slightly overdone lately. You see it everywhere nowadays. It’s no longer a something like Philip K. Dick’s “Man in the High Castle” where multiple realities exist, but rather, the idea that one decision creates multiple versions of yourself. However you interpret it, the possibilities are endless.
“In the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, every decision I take in this world creates new universes: one for each and every choice I could possibly make. There’s a boundless collection of parallel worlds, full of innumerable near-copies of me (and you). The multiverse: an endless succession of what-ifs.”
“Multiverse me: Should I care about my other selves?” from NewScientist
I think that comic books is the best place to see the endless possibilities of the multiverse. In Marvel, they even have their own group of heroes protecting the multiverse (The Captain Britain Corps) which is near and dear to my heart since it involves Merlin and Avalon. DC did it so perfectly with the “Elseworlds” graphic novels. “Gotham by Gaslight” is still my favorite, although “Kingdom Come” is a close second. These books take us to new possibilities and that’s always good to read. Sometimes, the stories become stale and twists like these help refresh the fruits of the imagination.
However, we need to be careful of redoing things too much. In the past 20 years, DC and Marvel both have redone their line ups and universes several times, i.e. “New 52” and “BattleWorld” for example. Yes, it has given us new versions of classic characters, but it changes so much it becomes confusing. That’s the grim reality of the multiverse idea for writers. You have millions of possibilities to create using the multiverse theorem, but what is unique about your idea and has it been done before?
World building is an essential part of the craft as a writer, especially a fantasy writer. Building a world from the ground up is one of the hardest parts of the job. The idea of the multiverse gives us the tools to create world based on our own. I’m doing that with my upcoming novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart. I created a world where a single event recreated our world as we know it into a land of magic and fantasy. It’s a reimagining of North America into something totally unrecognizable except maybe for pieces of the map. I wanted to use some names associated with cities and places in the U.S. and change others into something new. It made for an exciting challenge as I created my fantasy dystopia. I took inspiration from the great Terry Brooks for this new fantasy adventure.
So while we ponder what we would be like in hundreds of different parallel universes, let’s look at our own reality. Escapism is a good thing to have at hand, but our own reality, our own world, is always a good starting point. Take it from there and the possibilities are endless.
# # #
Mark Piggott is the author of the Forever Avalon fantasy book series. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon. The Dark Tides: Book 2 of the Forever Avalon Series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from iUniverse Publishing and at Amazon, and other booksellers. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from Austin Macauley Publishing, and at Amazon and other booksellers. His next two fantasy novels, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart and The Prometheus Engine: Book 4 of the Forever Avalon Series are being released in 2021.
I am extremely honored to have my novel recognized for this honor. This is the second award The Outlander War has received since being published in 2020.
At Speak Up Talk Radio, their mantra has always been this: Speak Up–your words can change the world. You never know whom you touch or how your words affect those you may never meet. And to help you become a magical helper, like the mighty firebird who drops pearls, your entry fee is used as a tax deductible charitable donation to brighten the rooms of women and children in homeless shelters. All entry donations fund Enchanted Makeovers 501(c)3 women and children’s long term shelters renovation and transformation project.
“We chose the firebird to symbolize the award because the firebird is known as a magical helper and is believed to drop pearls from its beak when passing over peasant villages, to give the poor something to trade for food and other necessities. We hope, in some small way, that we too can help others via the donation aspect of these book awards.”
— Speak Up Talk Radio
It is an island frozen in time and space. For more than 3,000 years, the island of Avalon remained hidden from the outside world; a place of eternal magic. The island was only accessible through a rift in the Bermuda Triangle. No one believed Avalon was anything but a myth… Until now!
In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, in the heart of a naval exercise, Avalon suddenly reappeared, causing disruptions on both fronts. The US Navy, now circling the mysterious island, wants answers.
The tensions build as modern technology faces off against ancient magic on an island where the laws of magic supersede the laws of science, causing mechanical weapons to falter and shut down. As military forces continue to surround the mysterious island, bringing both sides to the brink of war, an ancient evil arises from within, one that has been seeking the throne of New Camelot for three millennia.
Mark Piggott is the author of the Forever Avalon fantasy book series. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon. The Dark Tides: Book 2 of the Forever Avalon Series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from iUniverse Publishing and at Amazon, and other booksellers. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from Austin Macauley Publishing, and at Amazon and other booksellers.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58696239/621407._QL80_TTD_.0.jpg)
Mark Piggott | Fantasy & Steampunk Author 