A NEW SUPERCONTINENT

Between the Permian and Triassic Periods, all of the continents were fused together into one supercontinent called Pangaea. At the same time, all of the oceans were fused together into a single global super ocean. The climate of a supercontinent is quite unusual and extreme. The edges of the supercontinent would be lush with forests and jungles due to being close to the moisture of the ocean. However, the center of the supercontinent tends to be dry desert due to being so far from the ocean. Unfortunately, as the supercontinent started to divide, the resulting earthquakes and volcanic activity caused two mass extinctions, one of which surpassed the extinction of the dinosaurs. They say that the amount of lava that was spewing from the Earth’s crust was enough to fill the Grand Canyon seven times! Some scientists theorize that a new supercontinent would form two hundred million years in the distant future.

A TRANSHUMAN SOCIETY

I believe that humanity has grown too dependent on their technology, which would hinder their biological evolution. Due to this, mankind is reaching an evolutionary dead end and the only way we can progress further is to discard our biological bodies and become one with our technology. Since the sequel to my dinosaur book will take place thousands or millions of years in the future, I can envision humanity adopting a society that embraces transhumanism.

NEW AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Here is a new author interview I conducted recently:

 

The man

Who is Grady P. Brown, not the writer, the man. What can you tell us about you?

 

I am a full-time pit bull owner who loves his dogs completely. I like making people happy and I like socializing. I have a loving and supportive family as well as many good friends. I am a hard worker and I love getting projects done.

 

Where are you from? Has your Country influenced your stories somehow?

 

I am from the United States. Due to the past four years, I have gained a considerable amount of inspiration from my country’s political and social turmoil.

 

Writers are such for different reasons, which was your thing that made you decide you wanted to become a professional writer?

 

I have had stories to tell for as long as I could remember. It wasn’t until I started writing them down in middle school that I decided to become an author. There was something that was completely liberating about writing stories, to put my imagination on paper. I not only write to leave behind a legacy and entertain my readers, but I also do it as a form of meditation that relaxes and expands my mind.

 

Any non-book related hobbies you want to share with us?

 

I watch a lot of anime, films, and documentaries on medieval history and prehistory.

 

One book, one movie, one song, one food, one sport and one videogame?

 

If I was to choose a book, I would say my favorite would be Eragon, the first book of the Inheritance Cycle. My favorite movie would be The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. My favorite food would have to be spaghetti with meat sauce from The Old Spaghetti Factory. I am not a sports fan, but if I were forced to choose a sport, I would say hockey because I love it when the players pound each other against the bulletproof glass. I do not play video games, but I do watch them on Youtube. Due to this, I would choose Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order.

 

Pineapple pizza. yes or no?

 

When it comes to pizza, my tastes are simple and complicated at the same time. In terms of flavor, I am a complete purist because I love plain cheese pizza. If I were given pineapple pizza, I would pick the pineapple off and then eat the pizza.

 

Aside from being an author, what is for you the perfect job?

 

Being a library aide because I get to help out when it comes to maintain and distributing an entire collection of books. Since I spend a lot of time writing books, I feel at peace when I am surrounded by books.

 

If you had to define yourself just using one sentence of your novels, which one would be?

 

“Evil does not listen to reason”

• The Young Guardians and the Genesis Spell

This sentence defines me because I have an understanding of how evil thinks. I like dark stories and I like to incorporate my innate understanding of evil in my stories. It helps me when I am writing my villains.

 

The writer

I’d like to know about your first steps, the very first day you decided to become a professional writer, what made you do it?

 

At an early age, I always had stories to tell. At first, I wanted to be a paleontologist, to study and discover prehistoric life forms. However, once I started to realize the liberating sensation I received from writing stories, I decided to abandon my old ambition of being a paleontologist. I have been writing nonstop ever since.

 

Do you have any ritual for writing? any kind of habit or goals to achieve every day?

 

I am only able to write while in my man cave, which is my personal writing studio. The presence of my beloved pit bulls also makes the writing process easier. I try writing three to five pages a day. However, there was one case in which I wrote fifty pages in a single day.

 

Do you take real people you know and put them in your stories?

 

I take a lot of inspiration from historical figures and model several of my characters on them. Other characters are based on people I hate with complete passion and I am not subtle with my references. I also base characters on my loved ones. For example, I included my parents in my books twice already. In one of my current projects, I am basing one of the characters on my aunt.

 

What advice would you give new writers on how to delve into creative fiction?

 

Use historical events as a blueprint for a story then alter it however you want until you have the story you wish. I did that with my Magnus Dynasty Saga when I picked the English First Barons War and the War of the Roses. Historical documentaries are the ideal source of inspiration when searching for a historical event to base your story on. For instance, if a massive earthquake happened a century ago, you can use that event as a blueprint for a potential story. You could use the historical earthquake as the rise of an undiscovered city or a giant monster waking up. The possibilities and combinations are limitless.

 

Which would you say was your best and your worst moments as a writer?

 

My best moment would be when my first book got published because it was like the fulfillment of a dream. My worst moment would be when my writing group disbanded because I liked the people there and found their advice valuable.

 

Let’s talk about procrastination, what is the most absurd thing you’ve been doing when you should be writing?

 

I would say the most absurd thing I would do when I should be writing would be when I’m watching scare pranks on Youtube or watching the Jackass films on Amazon Prime.

 

The Books

Your series, Magnus Dynasty Saga, centers on Numen Magnus, the true heir to House Marvak. Some compare this series to Game of Thrones, but your book is actually quite different from George R.R Martin’s isn’t it?

 

Yes. Due to four years of research on medieval history, I developed a deep understanding on how medieval politics operated. Feuding noble families, cutthroat politics, and warring armies were actually quite common back in those days. Those real life events made Game of Thrones look like Sesame Street by comparison. It is those real life events I drew inspiration from. I have learned the reigns of many monarchs from the Norman Invasion of 1066 to the Tudor Dynasty of the 15^th and 16^th centuries. My Magnus Dynasty Saga contains many similarities and references to those time periods if you know where to look. Also, I have been a devout fan of both dragons and dragon riders since the day I was born. I always fantasized befriending a dragon and riding it and I incorporated it in my Magnus Dynasty Saga. Due to their size and strength, dragons always had the power to melt castles and incinerate armies, which are abilities that have been displayed by countless other fantasy stories such as The Hobbit and the Inheritance Cycle. In addition to medieval history, I drew inspiration from Arthurian legend and Beowulf for my Magnus Dynasty Saga. In the next volume in the Magnus Dynasty Saga, I am considering using the reign of King Louis XIV of France as inspiration.

 

You are an autism ambassador, have you ever included a character with autism in any of your books? Or do you plan to?

 

I have not included a character with autism in my books. I don’t plan to include such a character. The reason is because despite living with autism all my life, I cannot figure out how to write a convincing autistic character in my books.

 

Recently, you released Cosmic Genten the first novel in Benfold Star series, tell us more about it?

It takes place in the distant future in which humanity has colonized most of known space. There are no real aliens. Instead, there are humanoid mutants that have been labeled as aliens. The story revolves around an interstellar war between two intergalactic governments that seek to conquer each other. After much bloodshed, both sides try to claim a strategically important star system that could decide the outcome of the war. Now, a makeshift army of freedom fighters must fight off an incoming invasion from an enemy fleet.

 

What are you writing right now?

 

I am currently writing two books at the same time. I am taking a break from the Magnus Dynasty Saga. One book is a new superhero story that takes place in an alternate reality while the other revolves around an evolutionary experiment that attempts to recreate a prehistoric ecosystem. Thanks to my self-quarantine from the Coronavirus, I have all the time in the world to write these books

THE ULTIMATE THEROPOD

Walking with Dinosaurs – Series 1 – Episode 6 – Death of a Dynasty – Picture shows: Tyrannosaurus

For one hundred and fifty million years, the most successful breed of dinosaur would be the theropods. Theropods are mainly the carnivorous dinosaurs, which were the ancestors of birds. Examples of theropods include Tyrannosaurus Rex, Velociraptors, and Spinosaurus. However, I believe that these real life examples have been used too often and it is long overdue for something other than the classics. With this in mind, I am thinking creating a theropod that is bigger and badder than Tyrannosaurus Rex. It will be a combination between all of the classic theropods in a single creature. Just thinking of this behemoth gives me goosebumps. As excited as I am in creating this new theropod, I am glad it did not exist in real life because I would die of fright just looking at it!

FEATHERED DINOSAURS

Due to the fact that discoveries about feathered dinosaurs are becoming more frequent every year, I feel like feathered dinosaurs need more appearances in stories. Most stories portray dinosaurs as scaly lizards and completely ignore the fact they had feathers. With this in mind, I will be featuring feathered dinosaurs in my dinosaur book. This would make sense since several of the reverse engineered animals were made from birds and their feathers are bound to still be there. Imagine being chased by large predatory monsters with colorful feathers.

ACCELERATED EVOLUTION

An idea just dawned on me for my dinosaur book. Because the DNA of the animals in the story has been completely altered and rewritten, the possibility exists that the pace of their genetic evolution will be affected. I got the idea from the 2001 film Evolution, which depicted alien life forms that evolved at an accelerated rate. In Evolution, the aliens were capable of undergoing 200 million years of evolution in a matter of hours. With my dinosaur book, the reverse engineered organisms’ altered evolution will be much slower yet still faster than natural evolution. In fact, there will be signs that the retro-engineered creatures will be developing their own subspecies, which normally requires one million years of evolution to accomplish. If they can start developing their own subspecies in a few years, what else will they accomplish in a century or millennium or a million years. This goes to show that when you meddle in an animal’s genes, it can result in all kinds of unpredictable and potentially dangerous mutations.

NEW SUPERHERO TITLE

I finally came up with a title for my new superhero book. The title is Herawulf Rising: Origins. I gave my superhero the name “Herawulf” because it is a combination between Heracles and Beowulf. Since superheroes have often been held in the same regard as mythological heroes such as the demigods of ancient Greece, I decided to include references to these legendary heroes in my character’s creation. Also, this first volume in the series will serve as Herawulf’s origin story. I have contacted my editor and am on the lookout for a cover. I will keep you updated on any new developments. Happy Fourth of July!

DINOSAUROID THEORY

For decades, there has been an intriguing theory about how some dinosaurs might have evolved if they did not become extinct. Dinosaurs ruled the Earth unopposed for over one hundred and fifty million years. In some documentaries I recently watched, I discovered that right before their extinction dinosaurs were at the zenith of their power. If it was not for the asteroid that crashed into the Earth, the dinosaurs would have ruled the Earth for another one hundred and fifty million years. In that time, dinosaurs would have continued to evolve in ways we can’t imagine.

One possible way dinosaurs could have evolved would be as their own version of sentient life forms. In particular, scientists believed that the most intelligent dinosaurs such as raptors or Troodons might have evolved into humanoid-like beings. Due to the fact that raptors and Troodons had the largest brains of any dinosaur, scientists theorized that their brains would have grown to a similar level to modern humans if they were allowed to evolve. Another aspect that created this theory is the fact that Troodons have a third finger that is partially opposable, but not to the degree of primates.

I am thinking of doing my own version of the dinosauroid theory in a sequel to my dinosaur book. Now that dinosaurs were reverse engineered through the main story’s experiment, they have a second chance to evolve. To make matters more extreme, the genetic evolution of these creatures have been completely altered, resulting in the development of countless unpredictable changes. The sequel will take place five million years in the future. It took humans five million years of evolution to turn from monkeys to the dominant species on the planet. Imagine how these reverse engineered dinosaurs would evolve in that time.

A MILLION WAYS TO DIE

The more I brainstorm for my dinosaur book, the more I realize that the dangers my characters will face will be very diverse. They will encounter carnivorous dinosaurs, giant insects, mutant plants, incurable diseases, unbreathable air, killer fish, predatory birds, territorial herbivores, crushing stampedes, rising tides, and marine reptiles. There are literally a million ways humans can die in this ecosystem. These dangers will provide an overdose of suspense and terror as the characters fight for their lives.

PREHISTORIC PATHOGENS

I just realized something! When you try recreating a prehistoric ecosystem, the possibility exists where you could potentially recreate diseases that have not existed for millions of years. These kinds of diseases existed long before medicine was created. As a result, modern science has no way to treat them if they were reintroduced into the world. This will be one of the many dangers the characters will face as they traverse the primordial landscape they created.