Guest Post by TW Johnson, Creator of Metaegus

The second guest post in my “Superhero” month comes from TW Johnson. Tim and I have known each other just over ten years, having both published our first books through the same publisher. And we had the same results.

Never heard of Metaegus, you say? You will. Two short stories are coming up in two anthologies (I’m not at liberty to discuss the details) and I’ve had the pleasure of beta reading both stories and, as always, Johnson is an incredible storyteller. Aside from writing, he is a skilled graphic designer, having put together the layout for the ebook version of LILY’S REDEMPTION for me and the layout for all versions of INVASION OF THE NINJA.

And did I mention that he’s a black belt in Tae Kwon Do? Tim’s hurt his back and has taken the time out of his therapy to write this guest post for me.

Thanks, Tim.

Thanks for inviting me, Jeff.

Well, I have much to say, so… where to start? I suppose the beginning, because people are probably going to wonder who I am, especially since I haven’t graced the Internet with fiction (other than dabbling here and there) since 2003. However, before I digress too much…

…I’ve read where many writers discovered the passion to write when they were children—not so with me. Nonetheless, I was probably very young when the seed began germinating within me. During the early 70s/80s, I lived in a country setting. Except for one friend (whom I didn’t get to see much) kids were scarce, so I had to rely on my imagination for entertainment, and flourished as though affected by gamma radiation. TV played a big part back then, too, even though only a few stations existed. That was the good ‘ole days of well-made shows, and cartoons, which often mixed fantasy and science fiction seamlessly. I had no idea just how much of an impact those programs would prove to be until years later.

Flash-forward a little bit and music is a huge part of my life. Percussion came first (actually, I began drumming on church hymnals when I was about three years old), then piano/keyboard, singing… even the trombone for a little while. As a teen, I was writing song lyrics (a form of creative writing methinks?) and composing music while studying martial arts on the side. Okay, so all this seems too hard to believe, but it’s true. Don’t hold your breath, though, there’s more.

On to my late teens, the year is 1992; I’m working a part-time nightshift job as a staff member at a rehabilitation institute. Now I’m reading and collecting superhero comics. I never saw that one coming (still have the collection to this day).

Let’s skip ahead to my early twenties. The year is 1995, I’m married now, working full-time at the phosphate mines; and I’m actually, for the first time in my life, an avid book reader. What brought it on I’m not sure. One day that same year, my wife is going through some of her high school material and comes across an English assignment, which happens to be a short horror story she’d written. It intrigued me, I read it, liked it, I wanted to try writing my own, and that’s how I became a writer. That was my start.

Okay, we’re getting into the juicy stuff, now. It’s still 1995; I’ve written a small collection of short stories and set them aside to work on a much larger, action/dark fantasy/horror/mystery piece, which originally started as several separate stories, but later merged, becoming one ginormous epic that I divided in two due to size. I would end up spending the next seven years researching for/writing that book until finally getting part one published in 2003 via an online company. Like many, I became prey to a vanity press that didn’t care about anything except holding one’s dreams hostage.

Alas, a hostage I remained, under a seven-year contract. It didn’t really matter, though, because the following year served up a string of hurricanes (primarily Charlie), which literally devastated my hometown. My book… my writing was the least of my concerns. Years of recovery passed. Down the road, after some fruitful investing—a little pun intended (for a reason I’ll not divulge at the moment. Nothing bad, I assure.)—I was able to leave the phosphate mines. I went back to college, took it slow, finishing several years later… and here I am… writing once again.

Now it’s time for the juicier stuff. These days I’ve been reworking all of my original short stories and novel into one, continuous superhero saga of sorts. This may come as a surprise, but I honestly never intended to create a superhero. I unintentionally forced myself to do it. You see, I ended up creating a villain too powerful for any normal human character. I couldn’t bring myself to alter the villain’s powers in any way, either, so that left me with only one option: create an equally powerful hero. I went all-out, too, and I’m very happy with the final product.

Now some can’t relate to the all-powerful archetype, and that’s understandable. Batman is a good example of the down-to-earth, Byronic hero, and that’s just one of many reasons why so many love him, and his kind. He’s very relatable, even plausibly realistic, to a degree. However, if comics were real-life and Batman were to go “mono y mono” with the likes of, say, The Presence (D.C.’s version of God), are you really going to say, “Batman wins?” I think not. I mean, I like Batman, too, but please, that’s taking it to the farthest reaches of impossible. God is all-powerful with no weaknesses. Batman cannot, will not, ever beat God—end of story. That would be like saying a single, plain ant could fell a wooly mammoth.

Anyway, my creative endeavor has only just begun. I have a hero named Metaegus, a villain named Melfaxus, and a world they occupy called Ziragoth. I’ve recently written two short stories, which involve those characters and locale. If all goes as I hope, they’ll be in some soon-to-be released anthologies. Jeff, maybe you’ll allow me to explain how I came up with those names in another blog entry at another time, along with more info concerning the publications.

On that note, I suppose I’ll go ahead and stop my rambling. Firstly, though, a big thanks to God (and I don’t mean “The Presence” from D.C., even though God is a presence), for bestowing many creative abilities upon me. Next, thanks to my wife, because she inspired me to begin this journey, and journeys with me. I also want to thank my parents for instilling in me the highest of Biblical values, which also, in one way or another, shines through in my writing. I want to thank Pat Carbajal for creating amazingly beautiful, artistic renditions of my characters. Finally (and definitely not in any way the least), I want to thank my very good friend, and eternal brother in Christ, for letting me gobble up his blog with words upon words of my, insane, never-ending banter. Thanks, Jeff.

You’re welcome, Bro. Tim is currently putting together his website here. But, as I’d mentioned earlier, he’s down from an injured back. Let’s keep him in our prayers.