Anthem's Fall

Please help me welcome S.L. Dunn author of Anthem's Fall to the blog. I asked the author a few questions, and here are the answers.

1. What inspired you to write your book?

I had tried my hand at a few short stories and little projects throughout the years, but nothing serious. In college I was honestly too busy with coursework to write my own fiction. I took Anthropology and Biology classes, which didn’t leave much room for creative writing. But all through my teens and early twenties I was keenly aware that my imagination had never diminished. When I was a kid in middle school, my friends and I would all go out into the woods everyday after school in Chelmsford, Massachusetts and pretend to be great warriors, or hunters, or who knows what else.

Everybody pretended back then.

As the years passed, it became clearer and clearer to me that I still enjoyed pretending. Even though I rarely talked about it, daydreaming was a key component of my waking life. One day it dawned on me that I was actively trying to suppress my natural inclination to imagine. It was a powerful realization for someone to have, a sudden awareness that you’ve been hiding from the very thing that you’re most passionate about: in my case, pretending. After that, I let loose the harness on my pretending, and started brainstorming story ideas by the dozen. I wrote little bits of stories here and there, or mentioned a passing idea to a friend or family member. Nothing stuck. For a year or two, nothing stuck.

Then one afternoon the premise to Anthem’s Fall hit me like a freight train. I was driving on an empty highway in Vermont when the idea for the story truly erupted out of my head. It was like a muse hit me with a shotgun blast. The genius, the dreamer and the leader—the characters all introduced themselves to me at once, and their plight unfolded with utter clarity.

By the time I got to page ten, I knew my life would never be the same. I had found my passion.

2. Do you get a lot of support from your family when it comes to your writing?

            Yes, my family and friends are my main soundboard and pool of beta readers.

3.What does a typical writing day look like?

            I generally write in short bursts. I’ve found that regardless of how hard I try, it becomes difficult to write for longer than a few hours at a sitting. Changing locations helps. Sometimes I’ll write a bit at home, and then step out to a coffee shop or library to put in another session. Coffee is, alas, an essential part of my process.

4. What advice do you have for new authors?

               Keep writing. A proficiency in grammar and punctuation only gets you so far. Your own voice is what will define your writing, and that takes a long time to uncover. Be patient with yourself and don’t get discouraged. Feeling crumby about your writing at times is a good sign; it means you’re serious about what you’re doing. And as Stephen King said: “Just sit your ass down and write.” The words won’t write themselves, after all.

Anthem's Fall

By

S.L. Dunn

BLURB:  

Above a horrified New York City, genetics and ethics collide as the fallen emperor and a banished exile of the same herculean race ignite into battle over the city’s rooftops. In the streets below, a brilliant young scientist has discovered a technology that can defeat them both, yet might be more terrible than either.

Set both in modern New York City and in the technologically sophisticated yet politically savage world of Anthem, Anthem’s Fall unfurls into a plot where larger than life characters born with the prowess of gods are pitted against the shrewd brilliance of a familiar and unlikely heroine.

EXCERPT:

The sharp knife of apocalypse struck without warning, burying itself into the unsuspecting skies of a sun-swept afternoon.

In the northernmost continent of Anthem, the remote city of Municera abruptly reported massive and inexplicable reports of rioting and hysteria. The limited transmissions that came out of the city were fragmented and unclear. Imperial Army regiments were at once dispatched to restore order to the city of Municera, yet all troops lost radio contact within minutes of their arrival. Powerful reverberations shook through the surrounding lands, reaching miles in every direction. It felt as though the gods themselves were hammering the very world with furious impacts. From a distance, billowing black pillars of smoke could be seen reaching high into the sky above the smoldering city. When the smoke and cloud of ash dispersed in the northern winds, the glimmering skyscrapers that had long been an icon of the elegant Municera had vanished from the skyline. Their steel and glass splendor was replaced with a blanket of alarming ruin. By midafternoon, the once prominent city was nothing more than wreckage against the horizon.

Most disturbing were the spreading rumors that a number of Imperial First Class soldiers had flown into the chaos of Municera and had yet to return.

The migration out of the region—an anticipated exodus for which the Imperial Council had quickly prepared—never arrived, and as a disquieting sun set on the remaining cities of the Epsilon empire, the truth became increasingly clear. There were no survivors.

Municera had been home to seven million Primus.

Author Information 

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

S.L. Dunn is the debut author of Anthem’s Fall, a novel he wrote amid the wanderings of his mid twenties. He has written while living intermittently in St. John USVI, Boston, Maine and Seattle. Raised on big screen superheroes and pop science fiction, he sought to create a novel that bridged a near-sci-fi thriller with a grand new fantasy. He currently resides in Seattle with his girlfriend Liz and their dog Lucy, and is hard at work completing the next book of the Anthem’s Fall series. Get in touch at www.sldunn.com.

The Author will be awarding a $50 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour so enter using the link below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway