Can you talk about the origin of the title "Scepter of
the Gods: The Rod of Truth" and how it ties into the book's themes and
story?
The title first occurred to me about fifteen years ago
when I was envisioning the overall storyline but the initial story first
occurred to me forty years ago as part of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign that
I created. The idea needed a lot of work and over the years as I saw our
technology develop and became fascinated with other things in the news and on
TV programs, I evolved how I saw this storyline. I can’t be more specific than
that because it would give away spoilers to not only The Rod of Truth, but to
the subsequent four books in the series as well. Back to the title question, I
knew that the story was too much for one book. I decided to break it into five
books but I needed each book to have a standalone purpose so that I wouldn’t
have what happens in a lot of series, which is an installment that only serves
as a bridge but isn’t a standalone story. To me that isn’t good storytelling. So
rather than having one relic or treasure that was the object of a quest, I
decided it would be a better story if there were pieces of one relic that had
to be assembled. The characters would have to rebuild a powerful item with
capabilities mostly unknown until they fully assembled it having faith in a
legend that stated this item would restore their civilization. So, I then
decided what these pieces would be and gave them names, deciding that the first
book would be about the core piece of the scepter, that being a rod and called
it the Rod of Truth. The second book will be titled The Rings of Azimuth
because one ring will go at each end of the rod, but that’s all I will say
about that yet. Each item or piece, such as the Rod of Truth, has properties
that tie to values and character and themes that bridge spirituality and functional
realism. Each piece also will tie to something having to do with one of our
main characters such as Alex and truth, of Phelia’s medallion which for now
shall remain an enigma.
The book has a unique mix of mystical power and rustic
civilization. What inspired this setting and how did you build this world?
Well, this is a huge question fraught with the
possibility of leaking spoilers, but I will do my best to explain. I have to
back up to the gods. Boy, this is difficult without giving things away all the
way to book five. I can say that the dynamic between the gods and the
civilization along with ancient history in this world gave rise to the rustic
civilization, however things have not always been so. What seems to be magic
may be something else and what seems to be ancient may not be so old. I can say
that there are different sources of different kinds of power. I wanted to have
some setting where big things had happened but where even the players in
orchestrating those big events in the past were not completely aware of a
larger history stretching back millennia. I built the world we see in Rod of
Truth as a backdrop that will change throughout the overall storyline.
Each of your four main characters, Alex, Mila, Phelia, and
Peter, comes from different backgrounds. How did you develop their characters
and ensure they would clash and complement each other in their quest?
Each of the four characters form a sort of haphazard
balance. Alex represents complacency that doesn’t recognize an underlying discontent
until brought off balance. In comes Mila who provides that tip to throw him off
balance and yet her background and core are all about balance of nature and
body/mind/spirit. Alex comes from a world of swords, shields, and armor in a
setting of deep spirituality. Mila is kind of a blend of ancient Celtic fairy
lore, Native American spirituality and medicine, and ancient Huna ways. Phelia
is a hot-headed, highly educated, self-entitled elitist with grandiose
ambitions who was already going to launch off on a personal quest for fame and
fortune but that was cut short by an intentional intervention by the gods.
Peter is an enigma and I would prefer to let him remain so until probably at
least book three, maybe book four, but he is more than happy to take advantage
of Phelia’s aspirations. But they all have their differences because I wanted
to have characters of different backgrounds, different abilities, different
worldviews, and different values having to learn to trust each other and work
together.
The quest for the lost relics is central to your story. How
did you go about creating these relics and their significance to the world
you’ve built?
My answer to the first question addresses a lot of the
intent behind this one, however I can add that if I just answer this question
at face value it will blow apart the entire series and there would be no point
in anyone reading them. The full answer to this question truly is the story of
the Scepter of the Gods. The gods, the relics, the ancient civilization, and
the hinted at but untold, deeper story are the reason for the relics and the
relics are the key to restoration.
Your book combines elements of adventure, friendship, and
deceit. How did you balance these themes to create a cohesive story?
Well, I started, obviously, with adventure. I wanted to
write a story with a compelling storyline, but you can’t just write a story
that goes from A to Z, no matter how fast the story goes, without bumps, roadblocks,
disasters, celebrations, and mystery. It’s not the good stuff that makes a
story interesting, it is bringing main characters to the brink of disaster and
then giving them a way out that makes a story interesting and engaging. So,
friendships must form. But in life, none of us have friendships that have been
totally without withdrawals and conflict. Your best friends have stayed your
best friends throughout your bumps, times you’ve let them down, times they have
let you down, but they’re still your friends. The deal-breaker in a lot of
friendships and acquaintances is when there is deceit. Now, sometimes that
deceit comes from fear. Maybe one person has a secret so horrendous that they
can’t tell even their best friend and to keep it secret, eventually they may
have to lie about something or a lot of things. Then, that deceit comes back
around to create more adventure. Maybe characters launch off in some direction
based on that deceit and then it creates a lot of problems. Maybe.
Can you talk about the role of the Ruach in the story and
how it affects the characters and their journey?
Well, this is huge and the elephant in the room is that
any Star Wars fan will say, “Oh, well he’s just ripping off Lucas and the
Force.” So, that needs to be addressed. In truth, George Lucas engaged
theologian and historian Joseph Campbell as his spirituality consultant and the
mysticism throughout those stories is based on multiple religious practices,
beliefs, and constructs. So, no, I’m not ripping off Lucas or the Force, I’m
going back to the source that informed where he got it and creating my own take
on the matter. The Ruach is a major pillar throughout the entirety of the five
books and will be … let’s just leave it at that. The word “ruach” is a Hebrew
word that runs throughout the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible, meaning “breath
of God.” In the New Testament, the Greek word used is “pneuma,” which is where
we get the word pneumatics. Alex and Mila start off as the two characters
well-versed and practiced in the Ruach, however Mila also performs a healing
using Native American words from the Quapaw language. The contrast in the story
between light and shadow is a spiritual theme. The very idea that matter is
reality manifest from spirit is a theme that has been in countless literary
works as well as many, many religions such as even Wicca. A HUGE theme is the
contrast and conflict between the practice and belief in the Ruach and technology.
An oversimplified way of stating that is that Tekka represents technology and followers
of the Ruach represents power that exists but is usually unseen. There are
countless more layers to it than that, but we have the same dynamic present in
our own cultures worldwide and that dynamic is addressed as a major plot
development throughout the entire story.
Your book includes some unusual elements, such as
fire-breathing rabbits. What inspired these fantastical aspects and how do they
contribute to the story?
Fire-breathing bunnies. I love it. I mentioned earlier
that I need ways to bring our characters to the brink of disaster and then give
them a way out of it. I couldn’t just have Peter and Phelia just saunter down a
white brick road through a forest and come out the other side as if they’d
taken a walk in the park. I also needed a way to disclose another major piece
in the mystery of what is going on in Adamah. Dreams are great tools for disclosing
mysteries. Suddenly being thrust into conflict and danger is a great tool for
characters digging deep within and pulling out things they’ve never known about
themselves. What could be the worst, most dangerous way you can imagine being
waked up? For me, fire would definitely be involved, but what would cause the
fire? You can’t just have a forest fire if you’re going to need the forest
later. There are no fire departments in Adamah. So, they’re in a forest, what
lives in the forest? Rabbits. Bunnies are cute. Usually. Unless they breathe
fire, which makes waking up really scary. So, it occurred to me that having
fire-breathing rabbits would be funny, dangerous, and also provoking to
Phelia’s character development. In fact, that spot is a major piece of her
development.
I’ve used the same kind of thought process for the other
fantastical beasts I put into the story. Sure, there is a griffin and there
will be other beasts that we’ve all seen in stories before. I like doing new
things or changing old things to create unexpected twists and turns. I created
the branch munching creature in the forest where Alex and Phelia are running
from guards because the reader wouldn’t know what to expect. That thing is new
so we don’t know whether it will be dangerous or not. So, for me, the
fantastical beasts are not just to have critters to slay or to make it
interesting, I believe these animals can be used to drive the story where it
needs to go and sometimes, like in the case of Koss, get included as
interesting ancillary characters.
Walking shadows is a cool thing that just came to me
while trying to figure out how Mila was traveling and during the first draft I
decided to have it play a major part. In fact, I liked that it gave me a way to
contrast physical and spiritual themes of light and shadow, good and evil. I
also like that it provides a way for us to see a character deal with
preconceived notions of something thought to be dark and evil and come to
understand that they had it wrong and then accept a new understanding. That
kind of thing will come up again and again but maybe the opposite. What was
thought to be good and acceptable is revealed to be heinous or diabolical. Fantastical
constructs are fun ways to wrestle with things like this.
The relationship between Alex and the headmaster is a
significant part of the story. Can you talk about how you developed their
dynamic and its importance to the plot?
This relationship is actually a successful accident. My
first draft of this story was with Alex waking up suddenly from his vision,
that was initially just a dream. My wife loved it but she couldn’t get past my
detailed description of his swordplay in the courtyard after waking up to clear
the dream from his head. She said it was too drawn out and bogged the story
down before it even got started. Then I started thinking how characters waking
from a dream as an opening sequence has been vastly overused and I needed to
change it up but keep the important stuff. I rewrote the opening another five
or six times and she didn’t find any of them interesting. I already had in mind
that the headmaster would be mentioned in this book but have more importance as
the stories develop, so I came up with the idea to start the story later in the
morning with Alex in the headmaster’s office explaining the vision and his
students, etc. I also had two other entire chapters of the mysterious traveler coming
to the Citadel and searching for something and to get the story moving forward
more quickly I decided to fuse it all together in the first chapter.
I say all that to say that this gave rise to the
headmaster’s character development in ways I didn’t originally conceive and I
was able to give him his own mysteries and secrets and apparent abilities all
hinted at in the first chapter. As with most of this book, things are not as
they might appear. The dynamic between Alex and his headmaster will continue
but that’s about all I can say about it at this point. As Alex says at the end
of the first chapter, “Headmaster Jornigan absolutely knew more than he ever
let on.”
Trust and power are recurring themes in the book. How do you
hope readers will interpret these themes in the context of the story?
These are both commodities and each human being trades
with them every day. If we value trust, we take care of relationships where we
trust other people and they trust us. Stephen Covey wrote about a dynamic that
he called the “emotional bank account,” in which we make deposits every time we
earn another person’s trust and vice versa. When we or another person violate
trust, we make a withdrawal and as long as there is still a balance in the
emotional bank account, we’re good. Do something big that overdraws that
emotional bank account and then there are big problems. Contrasting to that,
the seduction of power, the promise of power, the use and misuse of power, can
all serve to violate or build trust. The ancient phrase, “absolute power
corrupts absolutely” may come into play through these stories but I can neither
confirm nor deny that at this point. Clearly, there are characters discovering
new power but it isn’t quite so clear as to how that power may affect them
later. My hope for interpreting this dynamic is that no matter how much power
we have, it should always be secondary to protecting trust and not misusing
trust to further one’s power or one’s schemes.
What do you hope readers will take away from "Scepter
of the Gods: The Rod of Truth"?
The easy answer is what I’ve already been hit with is,
“Where is book two? I want book two!” I was almost afraid on one occasion. Just
kidding, but so far people have been already pressing me for the next book,
which is currently a sketchy outline and mostly still in my head. I am working
on it fast and furiously. The more complicated answer is that I hope this story
helps readers ponder our relationship with nature, with the Universe, with the
indwelling spirit within that gives rise to our creativity and gives us far
more power than we ever admit we have. Do I believe any of us will be using the
spirit within to blow holes in walls or blast a hole in the middle of a forest
or walk shadows? No, not really, but who knows what a human being can really be
capable of doing if we eventually fully embrace what we are and what we are
created to be?