Here is a fascinating read for you today! You don't want to miss this book by Thaine Chaise.
EMPIRE OF ONE: Volume One of the Wandering Invader Series Kindle Edition
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He’s gone by the name Fintan, Sreng, and over 200 other identities in his life as he’s traveled through our history — always making sure his true name never be revealed. He’s survived The Great Flood, The Plague, The Inquisition, and every major war ever fought in the past 5,000 years.
He’s been a king, a slave, and every class status between the two. He knows how to win, lose, and draw — how to walk with guilt, fear, love, hate, and the burning hunger to feel the sweet release of death.
He is and has been many things — but if you ask him, who or what he is… he would answer proudly to the title; ‘FirBolg’, the very specific honorific a present day invading alien race will violently come to know and fear.
Dreamlike and surreal, EMPIRE OF ONE is a truly engaging tale, and is the launching pad for author Thaine Chase’s WANDERING INVADER SERIES.
Tell your readers a little about yourself, where you
grew up, where you live now, where you went to school etc. Let them get to know
the personal you.
I was born in Atlantic, Canada, in the sixties --
but raised in Toronto, Ontario when my father moved us there for work when I
was just a few years old. It was just him and I since before I could remember
-- apparently my mother couldn't handle the responsibility of motherhood and
she bolted one day while dad was at work.
So it was a childhood of being raised by family friends while dad was out making a living to give me the best life he could.
My schooling was typical for the Catholic Separate School Board. I attended Catholic schools for both my elementary and high school years. I dabbled in journalism and theatre arts at a few Toronto Colleges before moving on and just being a 'Jack of All Trades' for the next few decades. If it was a job, odds are I gave it a go. I was a carpet-layer, labourer, security guard, office administrator, retail clerk -- pretty much anywhere there was a paycheque, I'd give it a try.
I'd dabbled in writing as a hobby since the late 1980s, messing around with screenplays and poetry, but didn't seriously consider giving it any real attention until after I turned 50. My first real attempt was a collection of short stories which I wrote over the course of a few years and finally complied them into one volume early in 2019. Tales From The Eastern Wind really boosted my confidence in my storytelling and since then I never looked back.
What inspired you to author this book?
My inspiration for this particular book -- the times
as a child when my dad would come home from work and he'd entertain me with
fantastic tales of Irish heroes & villains.
I knew I wanted to do a series (four books) with both mythological and contemporary aspects, so I needed to draw on a subject I was passionate about.
Being a single parent for most of my formative years, my dad rarely had any free time where he wasn't exhausted, but he always managed to give me attention and those Irish adventures he'd share with me have a sacredness to them now. I know he's been gone for quite a while, but while I was writing this novel, it felt like he was in the room with me.
It made me smile.
Where did you get the inspiration for your book's
cover?
I couldn't afford a cover artist, so I did the book
cover myself. I wanted a traditional antiquated feel to it, because mythology
usually comes from such an ancient time.
I can't really say any one thing inspired me, but I figured it would have a 'painting' look with rich colours. I wanted something the reader could embrace and make of it what they wanted -- maybe not the best marketing plan, bit it was the best I could do.
Who has been the most significant influence on you
personally and as a writer?
Isolation -- being an only child. You spend a lot of
time alone growing up.
Remember, I'm well into my fifties now, so when I was a kid, there was no internet, cell phones, or computers -- it was just me and my imagination. I was always amazed how books, TV shows, and movies could make people laugh, cry, scream, and cower -- and that comes from the writing. Not to take away from the actors, but without the words... well, y'know.
It was the way people reacted to words which amazed me, and I wondered if something I wrote could ever make someone react like that.
What were your struggles or obstacles you had to
overcome to get this book written?
Weaving the past and present in the storyline was
the biggest challenge. How to jump back and forth, when to jump and keeping the
action moving forward.
Also, I'm a strange duck in the fact I believe dialogue belongs in scripts and stage plays -- not novels. So my entire book is narrative and I know that seems odd for a lot of readers -- and it turns some people off, so I struggled with adding in some dialogue for quite a while, but eventually decided to stay true to my art and tell the story my way.
Tell your readers about your book.
EMPIRE OF ONE is the first book in my WANDERING
INVADER SERIES (a planned series of four books). It's a mixture of past and
present, mythology and science fiction, and was inspired by the Lebor Gabála
Érenn and old-school alien scifi.
In this novel, no other race on Earth has more fight, desire, and bravery in their bellies than The FirBolg, ancient descendants of Inis na bhfiodhbhadh (or, present-day Ireland).
The main hero is an immortal warrior with a royal past—and he's has assumed well over 200 identities to keep his lineage a secret as he travels through history. He's survived The Great Flood, The Plague, The Inquisition, and every major war ever fought in the past 5,000 years.
He's been a king, a slave, and every class status between the two. He knows how
to win, lose, and draw — how to walk with guilt, fear, love, hate, and the
burning hunger to feel the sweet release of death.
After thousands of years of hiding his true identity, fate finally catches up to our hero in Winslow, Arizona, when doctors discover his advanced healing capabilities on the operating table after a violent accident. He is sent to a secret facility in Nevada to be studied as an extraterrestrial, and while under observation, our hero learns of an evil plot masterminded by an advanced alien army, hellbent on slaughtering the human race and colonizing planet Earth.
Now, he must summon an army of mystics and warriors from the other side of the veil to challenge and defeat the invaders.
The entire series will be a war of science versus sorcery — with neither side prepared to take any prisoners.
Who is your target audience, and why?
I didn't have a target audience in mind when I wrote
this novel -- I just wrote it as it flowed from me, convinced the proper
readers would find me.
Again, not the best marketing strategy, but that's the artist in me.
Again, not the best marketing strategy, but that's the artist in me.
What do you consider your greatest success in life?
My marriage. I've failed at quite a few things
throughout my life so far, but I've been with my wife for close to 22 years now
and I love her more each day.
So I'll take that win any day.
So I'll take that win any day.
What one unique thing sets you apart from other
writers in your genre?
Well, not sure how readers will look upon it, but
the one big difference between myself and most writers I know, I do not
subscribe to the guidelines so many others treat like commandments.
Art is fluid to me, and is always set by mood and the subtle essence of self-portraiture, so boxing storytelling within parameters of rules, checklists, and formulaic sign-posts doesn't work for me.
Things like 'show don't tell,' 'incidents on certain page counts,' 'hero must experience change', or the dreaded 'passive voice' have been expressed to me so many times, but I tell my stories organically and let them roll out onto the page as they roll out from inside me. I'm not saying things technical writers look for are not in my stories, but if they are, it's because they flowed out naturally into my work.
I write from instinct and work an ebb and flow for my stories, and hopefully, readers who look for that style of writing will find my works enjoyable.
Art is fluid to me, and is always set by mood and the subtle essence of self-portraiture, so boxing storytelling within parameters of rules, checklists, and formulaic sign-posts doesn't work for me.
Things like 'show don't tell,' 'incidents on certain page counts,' 'hero must experience change', or the dreaded 'passive voice' have been expressed to me so many times, but I tell my stories organically and let them roll out onto the page as they roll out from inside me. I'm not saying things technical writers look for are not in my stories, but if they are, it's because they flowed out naturally into my work.
I write from instinct and work an ebb and flow for my stories, and hopefully, readers who look for that style of writing will find my works enjoyable.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Website: https://www.beastofchase.net/
Goodreads Site: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19815004.Thaine_Chase
