Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Date Published: 09-18-2024
Publisher: Bright Communications
WOULD YOU SACRIFICE AN ENTIRE CITY TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE?
A massive explosion rips through the outdoor seating area of a popular restaurant in downtown Trondheim. Two days later, fourteen people are found dead in a church along a remote section of coastline. The souls of the victims have been ripped from their bodies. Moments later a spirit from the Otherworlds steps through the Black Void to find the ancient relic that killed them.
On a secluded island in the Arctic Circle, a troubled man sees a world that has lost its way and feels compelled to change that. He plans to wield the formidable power of a mysterious artifact to reshape the moral fabric of eight billion unsuspecting souls—knowing that his actions will wipe out the inhabitants of an entire city.
David Skye and Jade “Epiphany” Hendrix set out to stop him and save the lives that would be lost if he were to succeed. Their efforts to do that are complicated by Kari Salversen, a dedicated police detective with the Norwegian Police Service. She believes David and Epiphany are involved in a recent string of deadly attacks and is determined to apprehend them.
A reckoning of souls is quickly approaching, as the battle for humanity unfolds in the snowy, arctic fjords of Norway, and the vast spirit realms of the Otherworlds. The possibility of a peaceful future for billions of souls and the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people are both at stake. In a clash that pits two opposing sides against each other, which one is on the more righteous path?
Interview with Harrison Edwards
Have you read anything that made you think differently about fiction?
Embracing George Orwell’s six rules for writing got me thinking differently about writing from a technical perspective (for example: never use a long word where a short one will do, don’t use passive when active can be used, and if it is possible to cut a word, always cut it).
The work of the late Carlos Ruiz Zafón opened my eyes to what writing fiction could really be from a creative perspective. The first book in his four-book series, was titled The Shadow of the Wind, and it was the biggest selling novel in the history of Spain. The second novel in that series, The Angel’s Game, was the fastest selling novel in that country. Zafón falls into that category of great storytellers with a command of the written word. He could weave a magical tapestry of words in the way that Beethoven could string together a series of notes to compose a great symphony. Zafón’s characters are deep and full of life, and his stories transport you into another time and place. As my writing abilities progress, I have attempted to incorporate what I learned from Carlos Ruiz Zafón, and maybe someday, I might come close to writing as well as he could.
How do you select the names of your characters?
Selecting character names for this book was especially interesting because the story takes place in Norway. I spent a lot of time poring through lists of Norwegian female and male names, and surnames. One of the things I did was look at the meanings of first and last names, and where possible, attempted to fit the meaning of the name to traits of the character. An example of this was for the character, Asgeir. He is a spirit from the Otherworlds who crossed the Dark Void to set foot on Earth and spearhead an effort to help another character in the story change eight billion souls. In old Norse, his name means “Spear of the Gods.”
Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
Yes, I did! My wife, son, and I had a chocolate lab named Mack. He was such a people dog. Whenever we took him for a walk, his whole body would wag (not just his tail) when he saw someone walking by. He believed people were put on this Earth to greet him. In my book, a young couple walking their dog named Mack make an appearance later in the story.
What was your hardest scene to write?
Without a doubt, the final showdown in Chapter 54. I wanted the scene to be a frenetic burst of energy bouncing back and forth between different point-of-view characters. To get it right, I had to create an Excel spreadsheet to lay out a timeline for the final five minutes of action in 10-second increments.
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
At this point in my writing, I’d like each book to stand on its own. That being said however, I do envision that key aspects of my first novel might carry over into future, unrelated stories with different sets of characters. For example, the notion of having a second soul, and the concept of the Otherworlds might play a role in my next novel.
What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
As I take stock of the world in which we live, I have a great deal of angst about what I see: wars in eastern Europe and the Middle East, coups in Africa, terrorism, hatred and dislike of anything that is different, famine, global warming, and the list goes on. I really worry that the people of Earth won’t be able to come together collectively to solve these problems. My goal for the book was to convey a sense of that worry and the need to solve these issues. Can we solve these problems ourselves, or as in the case of this story, do we need an external helping force to achieve that? And how far would we go? Would you sacrifice tens of thousands to save billions? I think A Reckoning of Souls achieves what I set out to do. It lays out the value of a single life and contrasts that against the greater good. And hopefully I’ve given readers something to think about as they decide which way they would have gone.
What inspired you to write A Reckoning of Souls?
There are several sources of inspiration for this story. Going to Norway with my wife and son about five years ago to experience the northern lights was a huge inspiration. It left me with no doubt that Norway would be the setting for the story. Having read about Sami shaman (the Sami are an indigenous people of northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland) and the notion that they have a primary soul, and a secondary soul which can journey to the spirit worlds to solve problems became the basis for the idea of having characters with second souls. I’ve always had a deep interest in quantum physics, so having a character who is on the verge of making a transformational breakthrough that would take the world in directions never before imagined was something I wanted to include in the story.
Can you tell us a little bit about the next books or what you have planned for the future?
I have started collecting thoughts and ideas for my next novel, a spacefaring science fiction thriller that will probably carry forward some key concepts from A Reckoning of Souls (characters with second souls, the existence of the Otherworlds, and new technological advances that resulted from the work of the physicist in that story). In my next novel, I’d like to delve into interesting facets of human consciousness. I also have thoughts about three or four other novels, each totally unrelated to A Reckoning of Souls, and I’m in the process of compiling ideas about each of them.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in A Reckoning of Souls?
David Skye and Jade “Epiphany” Hendrix were each born with a second soul. They fulfill the roles of apostles—people who are here to help guide the world to a better place. They are unexpectedly drawn into a conflict in which they must prevent a man from wielding the tremendous power of an ancient artifact capable of changing every soul on the planet.
Demetrius Wolffe is also an apostle born with a second soul. He has dedicated his life to helping the world embrace cultural differences and to live as one global family. Several life-changing events change his future trajectory in ways he didn’t foresee.
Johannes Stinar is a genius recluse who prefers the mysteries of quantum physics over human interaction. A side effect of one of his experiments releases a dangerous spirit from Otherworlds. He races against time to develop a solution to prevent the ancient artifact from altering eight billion unsuspecting souls.
Kari Salversen, a dedicated police attorney/detective with the Norwegian National Police Service, is investigating a series of deadly attacks across Norway. She suspects David and Epiphany are involved in those attacks. Apprehending them becomes one of her top priorities. She comes to realize that reality is much different than she ever could have imagined.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I have wanted to write a novel for the longest time and finally forced myself to sit down and focus my energy on accomplishing that. To bring my ideas and thoughts about this story to life and see them in print in a physical paperback that I could hold in my hands and read was amazing. It was a great thrill that made the effort of writing the novel all worthwhile. Another thing that I enjoyed was doing some of the research needed to write the story. I learned so much about facets of quantum physics, police procedure and the legal system in Norway, and interesting facts about various towns and cities in Norway. The overall experience left me with a sense of wanting to get started on writing my next novel.
About the Author
Harrison Edwards lives in eastern Pennsylvania with his wife and their black Lab, Deacon. Harrison’s writing is a blend of science fiction and urban fantasy. Subject matter for his stories comes from deep interests in science, technology, and mythology. When he’s not compiling and developing ideas for future novels, you can find him composing original works of contemporary instrumental music for his next CD release.
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2 comments:
The blurb sounds really interesting.
Sounds fantastic!
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