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Here is the early version of the back cover for Book #5, "The Owl from Oblivion." The book's expected release will be July 3, 2015. Unlike the other books in the series, this will be a fairly long one, with the draft manuscript currently at approximately 120,000 words.
Here is the back cover description text as it stands today:
Are
dreams the shadows of our lives on another timeline? Stefan’s mistakes in his
prior incorporeal life lead Syon, Stefan’s son from the future who is the
Master of Time, to shatter time in a universe-shaking catastrophe. They and
their friends land onto a new timeline drastically different from their former
lives. Stefan arrives as an exceptionally intelligent seven-year-old child that
is frustrated and confused. Syon becomes the twelve-year-old son of abusive alcoholic
parents. Will Syon’s dad kill him, closing forever for all his friends the
portal of time to their supernatural lives — their dreams? As the Earth and the
Federation of the Twenty learn completely of Stefan’s supernatural powers and
his intent to rule them all, does he want to go back to that life of waiting
daggers? How many knives of dissection and conspiring groups of exploitation,
both alien and human, await these unusual children on this new timeline? Will
these young harbingers of the future ever know happiness?
The character, Syon, is the Master of Time in the Children of Sophista Book Series. Book #5, The Owl from Oblivion, mixes reality, dreams, and alternative timelines to bring to life the real life struggles of Syon. In some realms he is the Master of Time --- an exceptionally intelligent and sensitive child trapped into a life of big issues, where a single misstep can bring about the end of his life and that of his friends' lives in a super-natural universe. But on another timeline (or is it a dream) he lives the life of an exceptional human child with abusive parents. While undergoing senseless beatings he maintains his connection to his existence in higher realms. The human analogs of his friends from higher realms find him and help him to escape his prison to live a life as a much happier human being. The question is: can he ever be truly just human.
This is the cover for the 5th installment in the Children of Sophista Book Series, called The Owl from Oblivion. In this book, Tova2 and Stefan begin to assume their roles as rulers of contemporary Earth. We also find out the origin of the wizards' owls---those creatures whose wisdom greatly exceed their appearance.
For most people, they are simply owls---perhaps a sign of the craziness of the wizard when we see the wizard talk to the owl. But for those who know how to access its wisdom, the owl is more than simply an animal.
The narrative also talks about how difficult early childhood was for Stefan, when Stefan's intellect far outstripped his emotional maturity---and perhaps the intellect of those around him.
This installment is far more gritty than the previous installments as the culture of the Federation of the Twenty, the fate of Sophista, the strategy and goals of the US Air Force, the attack by the Sun Gods, and the relationship of Stefan and Tova2 with each other and their relatives all swirl together in a crucible of fate and pain, condensing into the Nexus, Stefan. And what of poor little Stefan's (the boy on the cover) life as we see the confusion and pain that shape him in childhood to become the ruler he presently is. But what on Earth does he rule?
The expected release date of this installment is Summer, 2015.
Just in time for the summer doldrums, a new hardcover version of The Saeshell Book of Time Part 1: The Death of Innocents has been released. This version is printed on fine book paper and contains additional illustrations the original paperback does not. Some of the illustrations in this version have been modified by the author, aka me, to more closely match my vision of how the characters in the story appear.
If you click on the back cover above, it will enlarge so that you can read the book description.
I've tried to focus the presentation on being more character centric. Even the unused white space has ghostly images filling them.
You'll also find the font of this edition a little larger than the paperback editions for easier reading. This edition is being distributed internationally through the book wholesale network, Ingram. So that means this book will be coming to an online bookstore near you!
As of the date of this post, the following retailers had sales pages for this book. More retailers should pick up this book in the next 60 days.
This illustration by Matt Curtis is for a pretty intense scene in Book #4, "The Saeshell Book of Time Part 4: The Ceremony of Life". A quote from the book in this scene: "Such is the fate for all Children of Sophista. For as soon as they see how good life can be, they no longer control their destiny."
Not only is this scene an apex for the dramatic tension in the storyline, but it is also a philosophical apex of sorts. Much of the storyline for the serial is metaphoric for the lives of some gifted children. Usually their talents are shackled or limited in some way (there are a lucky few who might be able to claim otherwise) and a gifted child must go through a sometimes convoluted process of self-discovery to find those talents and then a painful process where they become comfortable using and then developing those talents. But the stinger the book warns about is that once those talents become apparent, the kid may not be the only one interested in those talents becoming well developed. At points in their lives, perhaps, they feel like screaming, "I am not my talent," because they want to be recognized as a living being capable of fully experiencing life even though the way they experience it may seem quite different or unusual. So the warning buried in the book is that as the kid discovers the pleasure of being able to use their talents fully, that those talents they love using may become a shackle via other people's expectations that controls what they are forced to become---their destiny no longer is theirs to command. In the past, those expectations might have been set by caring and well meaning people. But today, where the ease of commercial exploitation is the value by which everything and everyone is measured, this forcing of the child's destiny is no longer benevolent but simply profitable.
