This week I am interviewing Tory Phoenix, this interview is a bit different as he is still pending publication (I will update with links when his books become available).
Therefore this coves a bit more of the process for all his many works in progress rather than a specific world or setting.
Now, one thing the readers should know is what exactly is your name?
D.C. Ballard – I have been Tory online since the days of Prodigy.
Now you have several book and Series in the works:
Yes, here is the current list:
- Books (Several – Finished and in various stages of editing and preparation for publication)
- Chaos Fountain
- Regent
- Emperor
- Bridge Beyond (Written with fellow Knight Cory Clark)
- Books (Several – In progress and a various stages of planning and writing)
- Homecoming – Current project
- Bridge Beyond 2 (Also with Cory Clark, Final Title not yet determined)
- The Raptors Story
- The Arc Project
- Chaos Fountain 2 – Kyle’s Story
- The Back Room
- Series:
- The Chronicles of Ascension — Every one of the titles listed above is in some way connected to each other under this banner as they all exist in the same larger universe. Not all may end up connecting to the others, but they are all related.
What was the most surprising thing you found out while researching/writing your latest book?
That the various ideas and tech I was developing mapped so closely to the real science that underpins the concepts in use. That I did not therefore need to update or change the tech drastically to match up with what we understand, extend it sure, but no returning to the drawing board to make things correct.
Why did you choose this setting?
Choose the setting? Ha ha! That’s funny. People get to do that? I don’t really feel like I had much choice or input in the matter. I write what come to me. Being a scientifically literate person, far more well read in science than most, as well as a SciFi nerd from a very, VERY, young age, I suppose some form of SciFi would be expected. Though I also love a good fantasy story, and so I find myself as more of a SciFan than strict SciFi writer. At the same time, I find that I have a well grounded, within my universe, system for how and why Magic works, what it is, and how one goes about wielding it. All grounded in the physics of my universe.
What’s unique about your world or worlds?
Hmm… Though not perhaps unique to my world, I do seek to keep the technology as grounded in real science as I can. Even up to and including FTL drive systems, etc… Unique? That is a harder thing to pin down truly. You can always find a parallel for one part of a story or another. The great conflict between two opposing sides, with little guys caught in between. That is a common theme, the scale within my world is I suspect the unique part. The Idea of Arc Events is certainly unique, in so far as I am not familiar with it’s parallel. Every universe, ours and others are Arc Events, that was the Big Bang of modern Cosmology, only it is not unique. Out in the space beyond the edge of an Arc Event, will be other Arc Events. So distant from each other that not even light can cross the distances, only gravity waves, and even those are so faint that you need to know what to look for to find them. I can go on about PWIC (Probability Wave Interaction in Chaos) the hypothesis that underpins all the physics of my world, but that is pages of text to dive into the details.
How real do you think the science is in your book?
Frighteningly so sometimes. Of the last 5 big revelations in the world of physics, coming out of places like CERN and the LHC, all 5 match up directly to the PWIC hypothesis that I underpin the physics of my universe with.
What did you include that you wish was real today?
All of it? No Really. I want to live in the world I have created. FTL travel. Interdimensional Bar and Grills. Laser guns and Alien waitresses. What’s not to like?
Anything else I people should know?
That is a loaded question, now isn’t it.
Yes, of course it is. How else do I get the good stuff?
I suppose the personal stuff, no? I am a husband, father, former welder/fitter, and current IT guy. I have a dream of seeing my work on the big screen, but what author doesn’t?
Links for Torry:
- Personal site DCBallard.com
- Amazon author link: Wish I had one. Soon. It is a race between Chaos Fountain and Homecoming as to which will make it to the finish line first.
- Goodreads author link: Same answer – Soon, Wish I had one.
- Twitter https://twitter.com/DCBallard7
- Other links
- Homecoming – My Current WIP and something I am using as a challenge to myself to improve my first brush writing as I am allowing myself only a single pass Read and Edit before posting each chapter. http://royalroadl.com/fiction/9479/homecoming-a-chronicles-of-ascension-story
- Chaos Fountain – Finished and undergoing a final review/edit, that is taking longer than I expected. A large chunk is here to get a feel for it. http://royalroadl.com/fiction/9470/chaos-fountain-a-chronicles-of-ascension-novel