Saturday, January 6, 2018

A Paranormal/Fantasy World from Multiple Author's Points of View - The Twin Cities Series

Over December break at the end of 2014, Drew Avera contacted me. He was an author friend I met on Twitter. We discussed an idea he had which was similar to the books put out by multiple authors in the Star Trek Series. He wanted to get four or five authors together, build a world and then we would all write in it for the remainder of our writing careers. We could introduce our own set of characters, but we would also have crossover characters, which we all could use.

I thought it sounded like a great adventure. I had no idea where it would lead us all.

Drew, J.B. Cameron, me and two other authors, set the stage. We practically melted the Gmail links between us. The volley of emails became so overwhelming to the other female author who was in the group, that she dropped out after writing just one book, which she later pulled totally out of the series. The other unnamed male author in the group never even got a book written before he pulled out.


For the remaining three of us, we had formulated a parallel world, which stood just a magical breadth away from our own, but whose residents were everything humans thought magical, mystical, paranormal, and fanciful.

In the beginning the emphases in our magical world, The Realms, was going to be on the paranormal. Drew had written the first book and put a vampire named Raven in charge.

I had experience in writing fantasy, but none in paranormal. It was not a genre I was particularly interested in. I didn’t like vampires. Blood was not my thing, and pasty prepubescent males did not appeal to me at all. Werewolves were not my favorite either. The old Lon Chaney movies of my youth, and the more modern ‘Werewolves of London’ with all that snapping and popping of bones and the resulting werewolf looking like a deformed upright monster, really did not impress me.

But then came ‘Twilight,’ with hunky outdoor men who looked like huge wolves when they transformed. ‘Game of Thrones’ was next with their massive dire-wolves. I was in love. I have always been fascinated by wolves. My father does not have a ‘man cave,’ he has a ‘wolf’s den.’ It is decorated with everything wolf; statues, paintings, pictures, bedspread, even down to the clock has wolves on it. I could work with that.

I imagined what it would be like to be a shape shifter whose favorite shape was a huge silver-tipped gray wolf. How would the world appear from his point of view whether human or wolf? I enjoy climbing into Cody/Scar’s skin to see the world through his eyes. There is adventure, humor and love in his world and all of it comes with a touch of anxiety.

Drew ended up writing three books, but was then pulled away by his scifi muse. He might come back one day, but he will find The Realms has changed. This past fall, JB just completed the book which overthrew Raven as ruler. He has one more book with Raven’s former sidekick, Tabitha and he feels he is finished for a while. Another author Kendick Rue joined us and he has written two books and has a third on the burners. I have written a full series in The Realms, which I call The Shifting Books. We four have had some incredible romps.

In addition to my shape shifter, fire demon, elves, goblins, catman, satyr, Minotaur, true werewolves, and the occasional vampire; JB and Kendrick have introduced their own shape shifters, trolls, goblins, sirens, Minotaur, and two wonderful characters who defy description.

My “Shifting Books,” of The Twin Cities Series are complete, but I will be writing stories in The Realms for the rest of my life. Join me in my adventures. See the world through a wolf’s eyes.


The "Shifting Books" of the Twin Cities Series

2 comments:

  1. These are creepy deep stories. The best part was in fact the wolf point of view. How it sees the world, it's feelings

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    1. I hope you liked them, even if you found them 'creepy'. I really enjoyed writing them.

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