Pre-order Xindii: The Boy Who Walked Too Far over HERE(USA) or HERE(UK)
We have the immense pleasure of hosting the cover reveal for Dominic Watson’s Xindii: The Boy Who Walked Too Far. It’s a unique story that blends fantasy, sci-fi, metaphysics, and more.
Xindii is a thrilling story unlike anything you’ve read and Dominic was super kind to answer a few questions to talk about the world, the story, and how the cover was created.
Without further ado, may we present
Xindii: The Boy Who Walked Too Far
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Thank you for joining us, Dom, and welcome to Fantasy Book Critic! It’s truly a pleasure for allowing us the opportunity to host this cover reveal. How have you been?
DW: I’ve been well, thank you, Lukas. Busy actually. What with Covid-19 and home with two kids, I’m surprisingly well, all considered. The cats are pissing me off though, they think they own the house Lukas. I am drawing the line. Since when do cats eat bananas? This is getting ridiculous.
Hard choosing my writing times, but the evening is proving an exceptional balm for the writing. More on that later . . .
Hard choosing my writing times, but the evening is proving an exceptional balm for the writing. More on that later . . .
We have so much to look forward to when this book hits shelves in September! In your own words, what is Xindii about?
DW: Well, it has had a very interesting history. I originally planned out to write the barmiest detective novel I could imagine, but my love of fantasy and sci-fi sort of bled into it as well, which, about four years ago was quite an odd thing to do, literature wise. But it is happening, isn’t it? I played it well (laughter, inane laughter). But I was having so much fun with the story I just ran with it.
It’s essentially a murder mystery on the last outpost in creation, so you have a mix of gods, angels, and aliens. There is literally nothing left, just entropy eating everything and that’s it. And they all reside on this artificial planet called the Construct – which is essentially a kind of Noah’s Ark. The book is set in the city of Testament, a metropolis renowned for cultivating all the great aspects of humanity and creation, a thriving living museum in a way. We join two investigators from a prestigious university to solve a murder using an art called dreamurlurgy – over the aeons humans have realised that sentience resides within the surf of the dream world and it is lapping at our doors. Xindii is a Mapper, an academic who has studied this particular science and he polices the people who can tap into that potential. The other, Solomon Doomfinger, a Neanderthal, no less, is another academic who follows him dearly – their friendship really drives the book and there are some serious debates between them both.
It’s essentially a murder mystery on the last outpost in creation, so you have a mix of gods, angels, and aliens. There is literally nothing left, just entropy eating everything and that’s it. And they all reside on this artificial planet called the Construct – which is essentially a kind of Noah’s Ark. The book is set in the city of Testament, a metropolis renowned for cultivating all the great aspects of humanity and creation, a thriving living museum in a way. We join two investigators from a prestigious university to solve a murder using an art called dreamurlurgy – over the aeons humans have realised that sentience resides within the surf of the dream world and it is lapping at our doors. Xindii is a Mapper, an academic who has studied this particular science and he polices the people who can tap into that potential. The other, Solomon Doomfinger, a Neanderthal, no less, is another academic who follows him dearly – their friendship really drives the book and there are some serious debates between them both.
What inspired you to write this story? Was there one “lightbulb moment” when the concept for this book popped into your head or did it develop over time?
DW: I have always had this story at the back of my head, and it would always flirt with me when I was writing. It got to the point where I was struggling with a novel called Where the Monsters Live and it simply wasn’t gelling. It’s on the backburner. But Xindii and Doomfinger spoke to me in dreams and I was for the first time in a while having fun, which I hope translates to the page.
If you had to describe Xindii in 3 adjectives, which would you choose??
DW: Damaged . . . Xindii is a pretty broken guy, and there is a lot of me in him. Bold . . . I’m not bragging about it, but the villain – the main villain - is a pretty unique kind of thing . . . I don’t want to offer spoilers but . . . well, you’ve read it Lukas, sell it, sell it. (laughs). Revealing . . . I finished the end of this book in somewhat of a mental storm, the welfare of my family was of the utmost importance and I was going through a crisis of faith and it shows in the writing . . . There was a lot of dark thoughts, but, I think, Xindii has been through the grinder too, so I wanted to show that particular woe. Me and Xindii felt a kinship.
Tell us about Xindii’s protagonists, Xindii and Solomon Doomfinger. Who are they? How would you describe them to someone meeting them for the first time?
DW: Oh Xindii, my sweet man. He is a total arsehole. But he has a history, and when you read of it you’ll be, ‘well yeah, that’s pretty screwed up, man.’ But he’s a good man, and he doesn’t necessarily show it very well. Eccentric, yet funny, in a droll kind of way.
Doomfinger is the antithesis. Xindii, deep down aspires to be more like him, which is a different kind of take on the duo partnership aspect in literature. Doomfinger does to a degree, mother him, but he knows deep down his life would have little meaning without him. Doomfinger is a delight to write for. Very humble. You know when you want to make it into a series when they speak in conversation because they have such history. We get glimpses of that which is fascinating.
Doomfinger is the antithesis. Xindii, deep down aspires to be more like him, which is a different kind of take on the duo partnership aspect in literature. Doomfinger does to a degree, mother him, but he knows deep down his life would have little meaning without him. Doomfinger is a delight to write for. Very humble. You know when you want to make it into a series when they speak in conversation because they have such history. We get glimpses of that which is fascinating.
Alright, we need the details on that gorgeous cover. Who's the artist/designer, and can you give us a little insight into the process for coming up with that incredible scene? How does it tie to the book?
DW: Well, at the time I approached – well, emailed Shawn King – and we just tossed a few ideas around and he suggested the artist route and a guy called Blake . . . yep, that’s it. I feel very fortunate because I think he has only done a few book covers. Anyway, I contacted him, and he was up for the challenge.
About a month later he emailed back with the finished cover and well . . . suffice to say I spent the next week looking lovingly into it to the point my fiancé told me to get a grip. I was totally smitten with it.
Blake is penciled in to do my next cover too. Very humble, very talented. If any aspiring authors want a cover from Blake I have his email and I take 10%. (laughs maniacally). I jest, check him out. Shawn did a great job on the lettering, and the gold really makes it quite grand. I can’t really describe the scene it accentuates because I think that would be giving too much away. Let’s just say Blake has captured Xindii brilliantly on the cover.
About a month later he emailed back with the finished cover and well . . . suffice to say I spent the next week looking lovingly into it to the point my fiancé told me to get a grip. I was totally smitten with it.
Blake is penciled in to do my next cover too. Very humble, very talented. If any aspiring authors want a cover from Blake I have his email and I take 10%. (laughs maniacally). I jest, check him out. Shawn did a great job on the lettering, and the gold really makes it quite grand. I can’t really describe the scene it accentuates because I think that would be giving too much away. Let’s just say Blake has captured Xindii brilliantly on the cover.
Apart from getting great, new looks, your book was edited by a professional editor. Can you talk about the experience and the scope of changes?
DW: Now, I am a great Twitter twitterer. I follow a lot of authors and I have attended a lot of book signings. I always hear of authors going, ‘here are the dreaded edits.’ You have no idea, Christ. I’m not going to lie, it took me four years to write this book, so sometimes you leave it for weeks on end, because primarily I am a father, and the kids come first. So, you write when you can. I gave up a lot of weekends with my daughter (firstborn) to work on this tale because I knew it was a corker. It is one of my most upsetting times, watching your family ride off into the sunset and you don’t know if your writing is even cutting it. Damn, that was hard.
So, when it came to the edits, Bethan could see where potentially the lag was. The feeling, the nuance, plus, where I live, there are few and far between an avid reader of fantasy and sci-fi, so I constantly re-read it to myself. But the thing is you are basically rehearsing the novel, the speech. You aren’t critiquing it, because that isn’t your job. You are the writer. The editor comes after and tidies your mess. Bethan was there to offer a hand of solidarity and say, ‘Hey, that’s what I’m here for, a fresh set of eyes'. She is great. I need to send flowers. She made it richer, felt.
DW: The Boy Who Walked Too Far? Um, like I said earlier, a part of it is told in flashback. Xindii went too far as a youth, through circumstances, and in his desire to understand the world and universe, when he grew older he took the ultimate risk which was to lose himself in the Murk, which is the dimension between the Construct and the dream world. The Murk to me is that lonely place we feel. That place of being inconsequential, lost – depression to a degree. It is a place where we do not know our own minds. And a lot of us exist there every day, too many of us. The book is a parable in a way.
So, when it came to the edits, Bethan could see where potentially the lag was. The feeling, the nuance, plus, where I live, there are few and far between an avid reader of fantasy and sci-fi, so I constantly re-read it to myself. But the thing is you are basically rehearsing the novel, the speech. You aren’t critiquing it, because that isn’t your job. You are the writer. The editor comes after and tidies your mess. Bethan was there to offer a hand of solidarity and say, ‘Hey, that’s what I’m here for, a fresh set of eyes'. She is great. I need to send flowers. She made it richer, felt.
How did you come up with the title Xindii: The Boy who Walked too far?
DW: The Boy Who Walked Too Far? Um, like I said earlier, a part of it is told in flashback. Xindii went too far as a youth, through circumstances, and in his desire to understand the world and universe, when he grew older he took the ultimate risk which was to lose himself in the Murk, which is the dimension between the Construct and the dream world. The Murk to me is that lonely place we feel. That place of being inconsequential, lost – depression to a degree. It is a place where we do not know our own minds. And a lot of us exist there every day, too many of us. The book is a parable in a way.
How does it tie with the plot of the book?
DW: Xindii is a great character but he has flirted with powers that would make even a hardened god quake in his boots. He is sort after, not just by the religious fraternities but by elder things. The Krakens in the Black Swell, for instance, they see his potential . . . that was an exclusive by the way. (Wink)
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
DW: We all have journeys to take in life. And sometimes we do not have the monopoly on how we got there. I have been thinking of Xindii a lot lately because, to a degree, I think I walked too far again. I had another mental break this year, early January. Things got the better of me and I realised that I had to tell someone my story. That someone is a counsellor in mental health, but I feel better relating my story to her, that someone can come with me on that journey. Least if I wander too far again I have someone to call. None of us are bottomless. Not even Xindii. That was a future exclusive (wink).
Thank you again for taking the time to chat with us, Dom. When can readers be able to read Xindii? Anything else you has going on right now that you'd like the world to know about?
DW: Well, I am hoping after my selective entourage of beta readers have finished with it, I will publish around the September 22ND mark. One, because it’s my son’s birthday (Why not?) And two, because, we are all feeling it at the moment, Covid-19 has knocked the bollocks off everyone in this country and every other it seems, and I thought I need a bit of time with my family and some time to write my next book before Xindii and Doomfinger come to visit you all. Plus, I like the thought of people curling up with a book in the tail -end of summer. Autumn approaching, fires lit, wine flowing, cats and dogs sleeping by the fire, rain softy hitting the roof. The perfect time for minds to drift.
Oh, the next one. My next book? Well, I’m stoked. I’m doing the second draft now and I can tell you I am literally scaring myself. It’s the tale of a trio of kids in Suffolk, England, 1989. It is cosmic horror told in the first person and I am having a whale of a time with it. Damn, the 80’s soundtracks I’m listening to. I was a kid of the video nasty age in the 80’s so a lot of that is bleeding into Smoker on the Porch. Again, a lot of me is manifested into this book. I was a victim of bullying at a young age and a lot of the pain induced shows within. Some aspects of this book have brought to light my recent mental health in revisiting old wounds. I feel I am exorcizing them. Finally.
After that, we are going back to Testament. Another tale with Xindii and Doomfinger. We are stripping it back to the wood. More visceral. An old friend has come calling and he is going to bring hell and ruin to Testament . . . and Kaiju. Oh my.
Oh, the next one. My next book? Well, I’m stoked. I’m doing the second draft now and I can tell you I am literally scaring myself. It’s the tale of a trio of kids in Suffolk, England, 1989. It is cosmic horror told in the first person and I am having a whale of a time with it. Damn, the 80’s soundtracks I’m listening to. I was a kid of the video nasty age in the 80’s so a lot of that is bleeding into Smoker on the Porch. Again, a lot of me is manifested into this book. I was a victim of bullying at a young age and a lot of the pain induced shows within. Some aspects of this book have brought to light my recent mental health in revisiting old wounds. I feel I am exorcizing them. Finally.
After that, we are going back to Testament. Another tale with Xindii and Doomfinger. We are stripping it back to the wood. More visceral. An old friend has come calling and he is going to bring hell and ruin to Testament . . . and Kaiju. Oh my.
Pre-order Xindii: The Boy Who Walked Too Far over HERE(USA) or HERE(UK)
On the last outpost in creation, the remnants of the universe gather and wait out the inevitable darkness. The Construct houses the holy and the sinners’ of ages, here at the end of everything even murder is not outdated.
Dispatched by the Pope of Numbers to investigate, the Mapper Heironymous Xindii – one of a select few who can fuse reality and dream together – and his trusty confidante, Solomon Doomfinger take up the case of a man ripped to shreds by another’s dream.
It is a case that will define or break them. The city of Testament stands on the abyss of an invisible war and at its centre a force like no other. Here, among skulking gods, wingless angels and krakens, Xindii will face his own history and a future only pre-determined by the power of friendship.
Walk with him.
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: For aeons we had swam in the dream sea, our night time thoughts observed, scrutinized. An intelligence had formed within those endless fathoms.It whispered to us of a fabled land of enlightenment. Beckoning.
On the last outpost in creation, the remnants of the universe gather and wait out the inevitable darkness. The Construct houses the holy and the sinners’ of ages, here at the end of everything even murder is not outdated.
Dispatched by the Pope of Numbers to investigate, the Mapper Heironymous Xindii – one of a select few who can fuse reality and dream together – and his trusty confidante, Solomon Doomfinger take up the case of a man ripped to shreds by another’s dream.
It is a case that will define or break them. The city of Testament stands on the abyss of an invisible war and at its centre a force like no other. Here, among skulking gods, wingless angels and krakens, Xindii will face his own history and a future only pre-determined by the power of friendship.
Walk with him.
12:00 AM | 
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Łukasz |
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