Apocalypse Panel: Drawn to Doom

The moderator of The Apocalypse Panel has posted another question that begs to be answered: What draws you to write apocalyptic stories?

Ah… the power of the symbol! Apocalpytic writing affords me the opportunity to use a high degree of symbolism in my setting, narration, and descriptions. I can allude to to real events, real people, real places, and even latter-day prophecy without specifically naming any of them. I actually get quite a kick out of doing it. How many times did you have debates in lit class (or nowadays online) where you argued whether or not the author intentionally hid a certain symbol or theme in their writing? Hmmm?

Well, just take it from me: it’s always intentional, except when it’s not.

Don’t believe me? I’ve got the story for you! Not only is my story THE BEAST chock-full of tie-ins to reality, but I don’t even give a name to the main character of the story. I leave that for the reader to figure out.

I must admit, however, that my writing isn’t always just a bunch of symbolism. In fact, the promise of symbolic prose was not the reason for SON OF LIBERTY. That story came about because I tried to picture what a particular event, foretold by prophets for millennia, would be like. I’d love to tell you what that event is, but I can’t: it would ruin the story.

And then there’s the main event which occurs in my story THE DAYSPRING, which is also a last-days prophecy, but I can’t tell you what that one is about either.

I’m sensing a trend: symbolism, mystery, and an ornery author who won’t give away the ending.

Maybe this will help . . . both THE BEAST and THE DAYSPRING are part of my short story collection called