Ian Lewis's Blog: Ian Lewis Fiction - Posts Tagged "the-reeve"
Batman, a Fantasy, and a Western all in a blender
I'm excited to announce the release of my new novel! "The Reeve Book I: From Legend" is the first in what will be a five-book Historical Fantasy series. There's a lot that went into this story from a conceptual viewpoint, so much that I worried whether I could effectively articulate my vision. The title of this very post is how I went about describing it to people early on. Sounds kind of out there, right? Well, all along my goal was to write something accessible, and in the end, I feel I was able to temper the narrative despite the ambitious nature of the project. So, let's dive in.
It started out with an abstract idea that came out of left field, very much undeveloped. I was looking at my mundane surroundings, wondering what my environment would look like in context of a Fantasy novel—sort of an alternate reality, if you will. This idea was so unexpected because I'm not a big Fantasy guy. There are some exceptions (notably the original Star Wars trilogy—and before you say it's Sci Fi and not Fantasy, let me say two words that recently changed my mind on this: Space Wizards), but magic, dragons, elves, orcs, and the like are just not my thing. At least not the classic, medieval interpretation of them.
I quickly abandoned the idea of a medieval version of Northeast Ohio because of that, but the alternate history idea stuck with me, and more specifically the idea of a stunted world. Not the kind where we progress as normal and then at some point in the future there's an apocalyptic event, but rather at some point in the past something terrible happens, and the present as we know it never occurs.
In the world I posited, things go awry in the 1100s. Here are the assumptions I provide to the reader at the beginning of the book:
Man once pursued alchemy seeking the purification of the human body and soul. Fueled by his vanity and pride, his pursuit gave birth instead to bastard mutations and obfuscation of knowledge, culture, and religion. The world has since been plunged into darkness.
Fast-forward centuries later, and the world has followed a trajectory somewhat different than our own: the Japanese reach North America before the Europeans do, Gothic architecture finds its home on the shores of Lake Erie, and technology is more or less at a Colonial/Victorian level despite it being the year 2017. I still needed a plot and characters, though.
Enter the album Koi No Yokan by the Deftones. I've talked before about how much music influences my writing. In this case I was listening to this album a lot during the germination stages of the novel, and subsequently the pacing and to a certain extent the plot were inspired by it. The lyrics in the first and final tracks especially fueled some of the concepts/scenes; they suggested things to my rampant imagination that just stuck.
A bigger influence, though, might be the Batman archetype, as a co-worker phrased it. I like the term so I'm running with it. I've always been fascinated with the Batman universe, and so the protagonist is to a large extent modeled on the "world's greatest detective." Whereas Batman is a polymath and a supreme athlete, Logan Hale/The Reeve is an approximation of that. Physically imposing, brooding, athletic, well-read. And yeah, he likes to prowl from above. Some of it's a bit on the nose, but I reasoned that even Batman had his influences (see Zorro and The Shadow).
The Reeve isn't a vigilante, however. He's a lawman—more or less a sheriff type of character. In fact, the word "sheriff" is derived from the term "Shire-Reeve." Hence the Reeve. And therein lies the subtle Western influences. Logan is the highest peace officer in the city of Beldenridge, and it's his devotion (or is it an obsession?) that prompts him to set out on a desperate trail into the unknown, pitted against the elements.
There's a lot to be said about Beldenridge (modern day Avon/Avon Lake). It's the grand ideal of its founder's intent to build the perfect city—sort of the Cyrus Pinkney/Gotham idea that I remember from the Destroyer storyline in Batman. I tried to capture the muted pallor of autumn skies in Northeast Ohio as well as the fickle weather. It's often such a depressing, washed out effect that permeates the feel of a damp morning along Lake Erie; I hope I did that justice. There are also some Easter eggs throughout the book for those who know Lorain County history.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the philosophical thrust that will underpin the series. You don't get too much of it in the first book—just a hint, really—but there will be something for all you thinking types as everything unfolds. The gist is that I've found myself consumed with the idea that it's logically impossible for God not to exist. Or worded another way, it's logically incoherent to even ask whether God exists.
Now if you're first inclination is to go running to Richard Dawkins complaining about flying spaghetti monsters or magical sky buddies, ask yourself if you aren't railing against a caricature or perhaps a popularized stereotype. My project isn't to advocate for any particular belief system, only to outline the philosophical concept of what we'll colloquially refer to as God, supported by arguments that have an inescapable cumulative effect. I want to strip away dogma and preconceptions as well as emotionally-driven responses, and then distill things down to logic and reason. The question isn't whether you'll like the conclusion or even find it palatable; the question is whether you can give it intellectual assent.
As it stands, here's my plan with regard to where these arguments will be featured:
Book 2: The Moral Argument
Book 3: The Fine-Tuning Argument
Book 4: The Cosmological Argument
Book 5: The Ontological Argument
Book 1 hints at Leibniz's Principle of Sufficient Reason, but it's brief since "From Legend" is very much a setup for the rest of the series. The challenge for me is going to be how I can weave these arguments into the narrative while still telling a good yarn! I hope you stick it out to see if I succeed.
You can buy a copy of "From Legend" wherever eBooks are sold, or if you want a paperback, you can order from Amazon (which should be available in a day or two).
As always, thanks for reading, and please take the time to leave a rating/review.
It started out with an abstract idea that came out of left field, very much undeveloped. I was looking at my mundane surroundings, wondering what my environment would look like in context of a Fantasy novel—sort of an alternate reality, if you will. This idea was so unexpected because I'm not a big Fantasy guy. There are some exceptions (notably the original Star Wars trilogy—and before you say it's Sci Fi and not Fantasy, let me say two words that recently changed my mind on this: Space Wizards), but magic, dragons, elves, orcs, and the like are just not my thing. At least not the classic, medieval interpretation of them.
I quickly abandoned the idea of a medieval version of Northeast Ohio because of that, but the alternate history idea stuck with me, and more specifically the idea of a stunted world. Not the kind where we progress as normal and then at some point in the future there's an apocalyptic event, but rather at some point in the past something terrible happens, and the present as we know it never occurs.
In the world I posited, things go awry in the 1100s. Here are the assumptions I provide to the reader at the beginning of the book:
Man once pursued alchemy seeking the purification of the human body and soul. Fueled by his vanity and pride, his pursuit gave birth instead to bastard mutations and obfuscation of knowledge, culture, and religion. The world has since been plunged into darkness.
Fast-forward centuries later, and the world has followed a trajectory somewhat different than our own: the Japanese reach North America before the Europeans do, Gothic architecture finds its home on the shores of Lake Erie, and technology is more or less at a Colonial/Victorian level despite it being the year 2017. I still needed a plot and characters, though.
Enter the album Koi No Yokan by the Deftones. I've talked before about how much music influences my writing. In this case I was listening to this album a lot during the germination stages of the novel, and subsequently the pacing and to a certain extent the plot were inspired by it. The lyrics in the first and final tracks especially fueled some of the concepts/scenes; they suggested things to my rampant imagination that just stuck.
A bigger influence, though, might be the Batman archetype, as a co-worker phrased it. I like the term so I'm running with it. I've always been fascinated with the Batman universe, and so the protagonist is to a large extent modeled on the "world's greatest detective." Whereas Batman is a polymath and a supreme athlete, Logan Hale/The Reeve is an approximation of that. Physically imposing, brooding, athletic, well-read. And yeah, he likes to prowl from above. Some of it's a bit on the nose, but I reasoned that even Batman had his influences (see Zorro and The Shadow).
The Reeve isn't a vigilante, however. He's a lawman—more or less a sheriff type of character. In fact, the word "sheriff" is derived from the term "Shire-Reeve." Hence the Reeve. And therein lies the subtle Western influences. Logan is the highest peace officer in the city of Beldenridge, and it's his devotion (or is it an obsession?) that prompts him to set out on a desperate trail into the unknown, pitted against the elements.
There's a lot to be said about Beldenridge (modern day Avon/Avon Lake). It's the grand ideal of its founder's intent to build the perfect city—sort of the Cyrus Pinkney/Gotham idea that I remember from the Destroyer storyline in Batman. I tried to capture the muted pallor of autumn skies in Northeast Ohio as well as the fickle weather. It's often such a depressing, washed out effect that permeates the feel of a damp morning along Lake Erie; I hope I did that justice. There are also some Easter eggs throughout the book for those who know Lorain County history.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the philosophical thrust that will underpin the series. You don't get too much of it in the first book—just a hint, really—but there will be something for all you thinking types as everything unfolds. The gist is that I've found myself consumed with the idea that it's logically impossible for God not to exist. Or worded another way, it's logically incoherent to even ask whether God exists.
Now if you're first inclination is to go running to Richard Dawkins complaining about flying spaghetti monsters or magical sky buddies, ask yourself if you aren't railing against a caricature or perhaps a popularized stereotype. My project isn't to advocate for any particular belief system, only to outline the philosophical concept of what we'll colloquially refer to as God, supported by arguments that have an inescapable cumulative effect. I want to strip away dogma and preconceptions as well as emotionally-driven responses, and then distill things down to logic and reason. The question isn't whether you'll like the conclusion or even find it palatable; the question is whether you can give it intellectual assent.
As it stands, here's my plan with regard to where these arguments will be featured:
Book 2: The Moral Argument
Book 3: The Fine-Tuning Argument
Book 4: The Cosmological Argument
Book 5: The Ontological Argument
Book 1 hints at Leibniz's Principle of Sufficient Reason, but it's brief since "From Legend" is very much a setup for the rest of the series. The challenge for me is going to be how I can weave these arguments into the narrative while still telling a good yarn! I hope you stick it out to see if I succeed.
You can buy a copy of "From Legend" wherever eBooks are sold, or if you want a paperback, you can order from Amazon (which should be available in a day or two).
As always, thanks for reading, and please take the time to leave a rating/review.
