Scott’s answer to “You mention in the Qwillery interview that Erwin and Steve were Protagonists. I'm curious; Where yo…” > Likes and Comments

Whoops I submitted another question instead of commenting. You can ignore that.

Thanks for the response!

What really caught me off guard was at then end, was the realization that David, who was clearly in the antagonist/evil/villain category, was responsible for all of these heinous actions, but they we don't know if he was truly evil and if he would have been evil in the alternate timelines that Father had lived when he tried grooming David to take over. Instead we only witness the David who was a product of learning his war catalog and was shaped into this cut throat killer by Father. Which then makes you think Father is to blame, but in his own justification, he needed a villain in order for Carolyn to realize her potential and take Fathers seat.

Which brings up a question. Was David the linguist in the alternate timelines with Carolyn as the god of war, or was Carolyn just an evil linguist that David had to fight against? Or more plainly, were the catalogs always the same for each character in the multiple alternate timelines Father experimented with?

I loved this book man. So many layers to peel back. Excited for you next book.

Yes, David was definitely the linguist in the alternate timelines. Remember that bit where Father handed over the black catalog? It told you how to change the past--so, absolute power, basically--but the language any given page was written in didn't stay the same for more than a few seconds. The idea was that you would have to know every language that there ever was to be able to read the thing.

At one point there was a little scene that showed the flip side to the language thing as well--after Carolyn took charge of the black catalog, she started hearing prayers. Naturally, they arrived in the language of the pray-er, so Chinese, French, lion, .... I ended up cutting it because it felt a little hokey. Carolyn wasn't that kind of god.

Also, I have to say, I love the idea of red catalog Carolyn. I'm a sucker for evil twin stories.

As far as the others, there might have been some shuffling there as well. Jennifer as the animal spirit, Michael as the heart coal... I don't think it would have mattered quite as much, but Father probably got bored sometimes.

re: Excited for next book -- thanks! I love it that you love it. I've been writing for 30 years and this is my first fiction publication, so anytime anyone gives a shit I'm in absolute heaven.

As far as the next one, I'm pretty close to done. Couple weeks, I hope? The working title is And Then the Hunt. It's kind of a fairy tale / detective story / hard SF mashup. That said, the publication process takes a while. I'll post updates as I have them.