Interview with Jack Goodwind, author of Ancient Truth

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Interview with Jack Goodwind, author of Ancient Truth

Today, I’m thrilled to introduce to you an Italian author whom I discovered very recently, following a glowing review that a friend wrote for his book, Ancient Truth. As I’m big on conspiracy theories and also greatly fascinated by stories of ancient Egypt, this book seemed like my cup of tea, and I contacted Jack at once. He turned out to be a great guy and a very helpful new friend, and what’s more, he was happy to let me interview him for this blog. So without further ado, here’s a good measure of thrill and mystique for all you fellow truth-seekers out there!

BLURB

Ancient Truth is the first book of the Line of Blood Saga.

It is an alternative vision of History based on the theories about an alien colonization of Earth even before the apparition of the Homo sapiens. In it, actual History, myths, religious tales and even urban legends are mixed together with the fantasy of the author to create a new and original story. Modern characters alternate with ancient ones seamlessly, to better guide the reader into something that is bound to be unique. Aside the original conquerors of Earth, the mythological deities called Anunnaki, other alien species take their place in forging the path of early man. Together with aliens, various kind of monsters and mythological beings, are also present in the story. Naturally, the different parts of it take place in legendary locations and cities, with a large use of mythological artifacts and books. Moreover, many names, especially of the ancient characters, recall those of important figures of mythology, religion or actual history. Of course, mostly these characters are totally new, living situations and behaving even very differently from the real, or mythological ones. Line of Blood Saga, and Ancient Truth as well, is in the end a work of fantasy, in which more than the actual stories, the only “true” thing is the introspection on the human soul, with all the interior struggling a man has, forced by the choice between good and evil.

Hello Jack! It’ s a great pleasure to have you here today!

I’m also thrilled to be here Fros, thank you!

What has inspired you to write this book?

Ancient Truth is my debut novel and it is also the “chapter 1” of a much complex editorial project the “Line of Blood Saga”. The starting point of this work is my passion for everything that is mysterious and out of the ordinary, joined with my idea of the role of a writer. I do believe, in fact, that “our” mission is to lead people to think, to induce curiosity more than to “state the verb”. Considering also that in my life I had the privilege and weight of witnessing first hand all that mankind can be capable of, from the most amazing art and technology to the shocking savagery of war, I developed a deep knowledge about the two faces of the human soul. And this is what Line of Blood Saga, and Ancient Truth of course, is all about. Using the most different sources, from Biblical tales to urban legends, from mythology to actual History, I have worked to forge in one, single, and uniform story the struggling of every man who is searching for answers. The Sci Fi / Epic Fantasy ground of this book series is just the container of a more spiritual and interior story; the quest of all the beings endowed of “Free Will”, the right to choose one’s own destiny, the individual responsibility to do it wisely.

Sounds awesome! What was the first thing you ever wrote and how old were you then?

Actually I was 17, and since I was already in love with the sea and sailing, I wrote a sort of short guide for “blue water sailors”, a little book that has never been published but that has been extensively used not just by friends, but also by almost everyone else who was part of the Nautical Circle I used to go to for the Sunday racings.

Any hobbies or interests that you enjoy in your spare time?

As I said sailing is pretty much my life. For many it is a hobby or a sport, but a few get almost sick by this “passion”, and for them, sailboats and sailing are no longer a “plus” in their life, but they become their life itself. Well, I am one of them, and this can be well summarized in the phrase of an old skipper to my father right after I started to go sailing, 15 years old: “Your son has sea water in his veins”.

Do you see yourself in any of your characters or do any of them have traits you wish you had?

I am all my characters, or they are all me, that is the same after all. The point is that I had, and I still have, a pretty peculiar life, every five years it blows up, burns to the ground, and then starts again normally in another country doing something completely different. This of course involves also the people surrounding me. So every male character is me, or at least the person I was in a particular moment of my life. And, as well as for the men, all the female characters are actually women I met, loved or simply knew.

What are you working on at the moment? Tell us a little about your current project(s).

Well, at the moment I am working on Line of blood, a Saga that isn’t just a book series, the true ground of it is “everything”. If it could be summarized as an “Alternative History-Sci Fi-Epic Fantasy-Spiritual” work, without going too far, from my point of view it is just my life, my experience, what I learned. So considering my “Arabian Phoenix” kind of life, Line of Blood couldn’t be anything but a complex and long project, which involves several other sub-sagas which will be joined, and yet independent, from the first one. In simple words, if Line of Blood is the story of mankind’s soul, the other works will be a sort of “spotlight”, through the ages, on a particular moment of our History which has to be underlined with more accuracy.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learnt so far in life the hard way?

The most important lesson I got from my various experiences is that more than evil, we have to fear stupidity. I saw people destroying their own lives so easily and so firmly, just because they were unable to understand what they were doing. Of course when this trait is accompanied by arrogance, and/or also doubled by fear, the results could be anything, even, war. How something so clearly wrong, so amazingly stupid and useless can be still allowed, otherwise? I mean, it is still “legal”, it is something that at a certain point “can be used” as a means to do politics, unbelievable!

You’re so right. I do suffer fools, but cannot tolerate stupidity when coupled with arrogance as I deem it catastrophic, especially as you say, when fear is also put in the mix. If you could have one superpower what would it be?

It would be the power of “compelling” other people, like allegedly the vampires can do. Why this? Well, I hate stupidity too much.

Ah! If only we could all be as charismatic as Jasper from Twilight! *laughs* What are the things in your life that you’re most grateful for?

God’s first and most important gift, after this life itself, of course, my “Free Will”. I am a true believer, I know that the Higher Intelligence made us free of forging our own destiny, and even if this can turn in a lot of regrets, since I have never blamed anyone but me for my own dramas, the acknowledgement of this right/duty is the gift/responsibility which makes our life whole, and our kind unique.

I totally accept this philosophy too. It’s answered my questions about the nature of humanity and God and has granted me a sense of empowerment and peace. Wow – it’s been wonderful having you here today Jack – thank you for your time!

Thank you for this opportunity Fros!

BIO

I was born in the troubled island of Sicily, a place full of ancient treasures as well as modern contradictions. I lived my life changing it every 5 years, by choice, by case, by faith. In my life I did pretty much everything, from running the family’s furniture shop in my hometown, to traveling around Europe as a sales agent, from managing an insurance agency in a small town, to becoming an Internet Marketing specialist.

I am a sailor and I served my country both in the Navy and the Army. I saw the amazing and the nasty, I sailed different Maxi Cups in Porto Cervo among the wealthiest and in the most unimaginable luxury, I saw the horrors and the atrocity of the war first hand. Everything I did, I lived, I learned, made me who I am today, the very same person as I was when I started, a complete new one as my life taught me to be.

In the end I became a writer, because too many are the things I want to say, too many are the things I need to share. My first novel “Ancient Truth” of the book series “Line of Blood Saga”, despite its obvious reference to the worlds of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, is actually a journey inside something impalpable as well, and yet so real; the human soul. We are not “part of the picture”, we are masters, keepers, lords of this universe. Our right is to choose, our responsibility is to do it wisely. This is the ultimate gift the supreme Intelligence gave us, this is why and what we are. The point, my point, is not pretending to have all the answers, it is simply to keep having the will to look for them.