An Author Bursting With Ideas

Many years ago, Jerry and I were fortunate enough to becomes friends with a young fan of our books,(always a good sign of a reader's remarkable intelligence), who aspired to become a writer.  He was always plotting out new stories and researching fine details to make them more interesting.  As for so many of us, life sorta got in the way and while he was still plotting them, the actual writing was put on hold.

Moving forward, these stories are no longer on hold.  Don has been busily putting his epic tales in book form for our reading pleasure.  His first two books are the start of a diverse character driven military-style, Science Fiction series entitled FIRST GUARD. Lots of action!  But that's not all!  He is indeed bursting with stories to tell in many different genres.  Let me introduce you to author DON TOPE

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO BECOME A WRITER?

I started writing as a kid in school, writing short stories. Later I wrote scenes. Then I met Jerry and kind man that he was, he put up with me picking his brain, ‘how do you do this?’, ‘how do you do that?’, ‘How do I make this look like it isn’t?’ He patiently listened and walked me through it. Then I reached out to other writers and picked their brains. As I got older and raised a family, writing got put on the back burner, then one day I took it out and I finished something.  Several somethings later, I finished First Guard, which I started back in the 80’s and then mothballed it. Then I pulled it out and finished it.

GIVE A SHORT SYNOPSIS OF THE FIRST GUARD STORY

Fair warning. Spoiler alerts:

A benevolent empire,falling into corruption, loses a civil war with an evil confederacy. The queen and her family are trapped behind enemy lines. On the run they discover the survivors of an ancient race and a powerful creature.  Her personal guard are keeping her and her family safe while trying to get them home but there is an ancient prophesy that foretells all of this.

     In their effort to get home they become stranded on a back water world, staying out of sight, blending in. Her people back home are working tirelessly to track her down. Her rescuers find them only to have the direst part of the prophesy play out with them as participants while still having to cross a galaxy of enemy territory.

     This is an epic style story that follows the adventures of several groups of characters, showing how the paths of each of them plays out only to bring them all together again.

ARE THERE ANY SIMILARTIES BETWEEN TODAY'S COURSE OF EVENTS AND YOUR FICTIONAL STORY?

I wrote one of the opening scenes in the 80’s on a trip to Georgia. That scene would later become First Guard. I worked on it on and off over the years then shelved it for a long time, before taking it out and finishing it.

     The politics in the story are for the most part the same but today’s events seem to mirror some of it, with one exception, that being that today’s events are much more extreme than when I started the book. You see people being canceled and attacked for exercising free speech, and not agreeing with the left. You see attacks on people for their faith, and for people having the audacity to stand up for our country and traditional values.

THE STORY IS VERY CHARACTER DRIVEN.  ARE ANY CHARACTERS BASED ON REAL PEOPLE OR GROUPS?

My father was a medic in Vietnam, I have a lot of friends that are vets. I wanted to show what vets are up against, and show their struggles are real and there is hope.  I wanted to show various other victims of trauma in the story finding hope and a path to healing.  I have family members with ashburgers, what we now call neural diverse, and I’ve seen many times how they are treated. TV shows even openly mock them. That’s why I have a character that is neural diverse, and he stands up and does what’s needed despite the odds against him and what people think about him.

DO YOU SEE ANY OF THE TECHNOLOGY YOU CREATED FOR THIS SERIES BECOMING REALITY IN THE NEAR FUTURE?

In general, not really, with what the ships can do, they would need armor, or shields, or force fields or whatever you want to call them to keep from being destroyed at the speeds they travel. A single speck of dust can destroy a ship at close to light speed, not to mention faster. The energy alone needed to accomplish these things is well beyond our reach yet.  The same for the weapons, the power source is out of reach at this time.

     The closest thing I could see being developed today is the comms. The future version of the cell phone. You don’t see it much in the first book, but it makes it’s appearance a lot more in the next two. The comms are hand held in low tech areas of the galaxy, like they are on earth today, but in other places their comms are a piece implanted behind the ear, that can display on the eyes retina, and pipe sounds directly into the audio nerve. I can see that in the not too distant future.

HAVE ANY OF YOUR CHILDREN READ FIRST GUARD AND IF SO, WHAT DO THEY THINK OF THEIR DAD'S STORYTELLING?

No, I’ve asked a couple of them to read it and tell me what they thought. You’d think I’d asked them to clean the garage and write me a one page report on it. (I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND)

ANY MORE BOOKS YOU'VE WRITTEN, OR IN THE PROCESS OF WRITING, THAT WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT? 

The sequel to First Guard is out now, The Remnant Shall Rise.

     I have another book series that is Urban Fantasy called the Rise of the Fallen under the pen name T.D. Raymond. There are three books out now in that series. Jack Frost, Brimstone, and Apocalypse.  I am currently working on Volume 3 of First Guard.  All of my books are available as ebook and print.

     I have a few other projects in other genres I want to write. One is a sword and shield fantasy, and a spy thriller, and a few others.

Don tope lives in the Midwest with his wife, seven children, and three dogs.  In his life he has been a nurse, construction worker, packing house worker, and worked for a commercial honey producer.  He has spent over twenty years in Information Technology.  You can learn more about Don and where to find his various books at Haniel House Press. https://hanielhouse.com/ and https://books2read.com/u/mvqkKJ

Sharon

Comments

[Karrin]

I appreciate you sharing, and I think the themes of your story span a range of social issues, including the plight of veterans, healing after trauma, and neurodiversity awareness.