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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

GUEST POST: Author Update by Ernst J. Dabel

INTRODUCTION: Ernst J. Dabel, President and co-owner of Dabel Brothers Productions, a publishing company specializing in comics and graphic novels—including adapting novels by major authors such as Dean Koontz, Laurell K. Hamilton, Jim Butcher, George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Orson Scott Card, Raymond E. Feist, R.A. Salvatore, Patricia Briggs, Robert Silverberg, Tad Williams, etc.—has recently turned his talents towards writing. As of now, E.J. Dabel has released three YA/MG novels through Sea Lion Books in e-book format: Pantheons, Albino and Pantheons: The Game of the Gods, which the author discusses below. Additionally, E.J. Dabel is also working on seven more books which are detailed in the following update:

ERNST J. DABEL’S AUTHOR UPDATE:

Most readers are used to Zeus having demigod sons. The most popular among them are Hercules and Perseus. High on Mount Olympus, Zeus would protect his beloved semi-divine sons and force all the other Greek gods to do the same. His jealous wife Hera however, would try her best to kill these illegitimate sons as we’ve seen time and time again in movies and literature. In my book Pantheons though and its sequel, Pantheons: The Game of the Gods, we have a son of Zeus who is not just a demigod, but a full-blown god, and his name is Isaiah Marshall.

As a little boy, those who sought to protect Isaiah from the Darkener of the Sky left him alone and unaided to grow up on the tough streets. Now as a teenager, Isaiah has no idea that he is a god or that he is prophesied to overthrow his father, just as Zeus had done to old Cronos. Suddenly thrust into a world where the gods of the ancient world have been cursed into teenage bodies by the Powers-That-Be, Isaiah—along with his friends Jeremy, Monty, and Pipsqueak—must now not only deal with his sadistic father and the gods of the Greek pantheon, but also gods from many other cultures (Norse, Celts, Finnish, Egyptian, Hindu, Asian, etc.) if he has any hopes of winning the highly coveted Dominion…

I’m currently writing seven books simultaneously for the winter (minor spoilers ahead!):

1) The first book, The Sympathies of Men, is about a wizard called Arestole. In the beginning of the story, Arestole is in prison for a crime he committed thirty years in the past. A soldier serving one of the King’s four generals comes to see his cellmate, a very unsavory fellow on urgent business. It is then that Arestole discovers he’s been in the company of none other than Absa the Viper, a famous and powerful wizard who was once a member of the Seven Legends until he was eventually captured and imprisoned for his many atrocious crimes. The soldier tells Absa that his general would like to see him. Unfortunately for Absa, he falls dead right there and then. A healer is brought in but is unable to revive him or discover the cause of death. The soldier is scared that the general will kill him for having failed his mission. Seeing a golden opportunity, Arestole tells the soldier that he could help him by pretending to be Absa. Being left with no other option, the soldier agrees and brings Arestole to the general. The wizard discovers his task is very simple: teach the general’s son, who is a useless coward and has no hope of ever learning how to wield a weapon, to become a wizard or die a most gruesome death. Arestole has five years to accomplish his mission. Now those who the real Absa had hurt in the past are coming after Arestole to make him pay in blood. This is a world where wizards invoke their magic with the power of their imagination. There are no spells to memorize, ancient arcane books to study from, or magic staffs to contain one’s magic, only the power of the mind. A wizard whose mental creative juices can only think of a fireball will not last long.

2) The second book, The World of Shadow, is about Angela Green, a college student in modern times who dreams of one day becoming a world famous photographer and making an impact in the world. When Angela meets a strange young man who invites her to another world, she has no idea that things are about to change for her in a way she had never expected. At first, she refuses, but then he tells her about things she can photograph there, which doesn’t exist in her world. Angela eventually accepts and travels with the young man to the world of shadow out of curiosity. Once there she discovers the light of the sun has been stolen by the Lord Elect, and as a result, all life has suffered. The people of the world of shadow, once in the billions, are now no more than a few hundred thousand strong. The twenty princes, all brothers, with their armies have completely surrounded the Lord Elect’s Tower of Light, the only source of light, for their world’s final battle. It is to this world that Angela is brought and the young man offers her a very special camera which, once turned on, will transport her to anywhere in the world of shadow where the most important events are happening. In this way, the young man explains, she’ll be able to take pictures of the end of the Lord Elect’s era. Things become complicated when some of the princes start to notice Angela, while the jealous women of the royal court who wish to become First Wives or concubines after the defeat of the Lord Elect begin to see her as a threat. The end has come for the Lord Elect as the twenty princes prepare for the final blow to retrieve the light of the sun and once more bring life back to the world of Shadow…

3) The third book, The Golden City, is the second volume in the Albino series. Albino, the white mouse, wakes up in the middle of nowhere, all of his companions gone without a trace. Through hard travels, Albino stumbles upon the golden city where he learns of the hardships of those who live there and how they are beset by migrating tribes from the far East. Albino soon discovers that the invaders are trying to escape from the Creeping Doom, which they claim are the spirits of the dreaded Ma’aldee who were tortured and killed by Loucura long ago.  The white mouse must figure out how to stop the Creeping Doom before it reaches the golden city, but first he must deal with the invading tribes…

4) The fourth book, The Man Who Lost His Soul, is about a mild-mannered man named Robert Brooks. The story is about the terrible hardships Robert will have to go through in order to get back to his wife and child. To get his life back again, Robert will first have to go to hell and back again…

5) The fifth book, Steelborn, is about a man called Nathan Tanner. At birth, Nathan was stillborn, then discarded and left for dead in a deserted back alley. A man finds Nathan and injects him with a strange fluid that brings him back to life. Years later, Nathan Tanner now works at the Research of Spinal Regeneration of Bone Marrow at an airbase in West Virginia. When a terrorist group attacks the base, Nathan finds himself the only one left to stop them. As they converge on the research facility, Nathan becomes desperate and plays a dangerous game of cat and mouse in hopes of preventing them from destroying the building before help can arrive. In the building are thirteen innocent kids whose parents had signed them up to be the first to try a new spinal cure, which was recently discovered…

6) The sixth book, A Day of Reckoning, is about John Timmons, a seventy-year-old man who questions God about the purpose of his life. John suffers a severe heart attack and finds himself in an unearthly place where he is told it is his purpose to save a college student who he’s never met before. When Mr. Timmons wakes up, he discovers that he’s been in a coma for the past five years! John does find the person he’s destined to save and he teaches her the only thing he ever knew…boxing. But just like in life, things never turn out the way we expect, and Mr. Timmons finds himself going through an experience, which is beyond his comprehension. This story has heart and is for everyone who’s ever been told they couldn’t accomplish a goal or a dream in their life.

7) The seventh and final book is Nick Yu, about an orphan who’s been adopted by Chinese-Americans. At prom, Nick meets this girl, Sarah, and whispers a poem in her ear. From that moment on, Sarah can never forget him, even years later after college. Nick however, has easily forgotten about her. In fact, he and his friends play a game where they set up women at lounges and bars with these elaborate play-acting just to get them to their apartments for the night. One night though, whether by fate or bad luck, the guys snare Sarah into their little game. Nick has no idea it’s Sarah, but when the truth comes out, it sends Nick on a roller-coaster ride, which will change his life forever and helps him to see one woman in a way he had never expected…

1 comments:

Dranea said...

Wow!! You have a lot going on!! WHEW! Makes me tired just reading about it all! :)

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