Ten Reasons to Read Echoes of Olympus, by Darrin Drader

Hey, I get it. You like to read, but there are a lot of indie books on the market these days. In fact, there are really a lot of them, they number in the thousands, and they're all vying for your attention (not to mention, hard-earned cash). Add to that the simple fact that many of these books are kind of... not so great. Between under-developed writing skills, poor spelling and grammar, and a basic lack of editing, many of these books just aren't worth your time. The purpose of this blog post is to explain why Echoes of Olympus is worth your time (not to mention, the small amount of money associated with its enjoyment).

Echoes of Olympus has been out for a while, but its original publisher has gone out of business, leaving me, the author, to re-publish it on my own. To celebrate this, I've given it a shiny new cover and finally, a series title (The Atheniad). But in a market awash with indie authors clamoring for your attention and hoping you'll buy their book, why should you give Echoes of Olympus a read? Well, look no further. Here are ten reasons you should read this book...

1. Ancient Greece, mythology, and fantasy come together
Have you read a lot of fantasy, but ever wondered why they always pick pseudo-medieval settings for these fantastic tales? Sure, it makes some sense, considering that the most well-known titles in the fantasy genre had that feel, for example, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Forgotten Realms, Wheel of Time, and the Shannara series. Despite the prevalence of the medieval period in fantasy, there are other periods in our history that would fit fantasy just as well, if not a little better. I picked Ancient Greece because on a fundamental level, the world was actually better suited to many of the fantasy tropes we're familiar with. I'd go on about this here, but that would be a multi-page discussion, which just happens to be the Historical Note, located at the front of the book.

2. I'm a Veteran Writer
Hello and well met! For those who aren't familiar with me, which I assume, is most, I was a consistently published roleplaying game writer for a dozen years before releasing my first novel. I first found success writing the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 supplement, Book of Exalted Deeds. Alongside others, I helped write Forgotten Realms: Serpent Kingdoms, Forgotten Realms: Mysteries of the Moonsea, D20 Apocalypse, and many other roleplaying game books, as well as dozens of game-related articles, which have been published by Wizards of the Coast, Mongoose Publishing, Paizo Publishing, and more. As if that weren't enough, I spent two years writing dialogue and backstory for an MMO video game.

3. Endorsed by Ed Greenwood.
Yes, THAT Ed Greenwood-creator of the Forgotten Realms, an ongoing roleplaying game setting, video game setting, and massive series of novels dating back to the mid-1980s. Sage, luminary, and builder of fantasy worlds, Ed Greenwood has this to say about Echoes of Olympus: "...Echoes of Olympus brings us an alternate Ancient Greece-and really brings it to life. Fascinating characters and no shortage of battle and derring-do. MORE PLEASE!"

4. I'll Be Writing a Novel for Ed Greenwood
Speaking of Ed Greenwood, he recently launched an all new fantasy setting called Stormtalons. The first couple novels are out, and they're pretty excellent. Although magic features prominently, it's not nearly as common as it is in the Forgotten Realms, making the setting distinctly unique, yet spiced by Ed's delightful and unmistakable fantasy flavor. When Ed launched his own group of creatives, I happily joined up, floated a novel proposal past him, and that's been accepted. I have a book on the schedule, though it is a ways downstream, at least for the time being. I can't wait to get going on it.

5. Inspired By Titles You Might Remember
Echoes of Olympus came from my day-dreaming mind in college history and science classes just as much as it was inspired by books and movies you might enjoy. I took inspiration from movies like Clash of the Titans (the original, not the horrific remake), Immortals, 300, and Troy (incidentally, I can't think of a better casting choice for Odysseus than Sean Bean. The literary inspirations for the book came from the Troy series, by David Gemmell, which is another quasi-historical re-imagining, and other fiction from the period. Put simply, if you like those, or even the ever-cheesy Hercules and Xena, you might just enjoy Echoes of Olympus.

6. Professional Editing by Daniel Rider
Many people who write will happily tell you that editors are the unsung heroes of publishing. Even some of the most published writers look like amateurs without them. The editor steps in, looks at everything from plot consistency, to word arrangement, spelling, and grammar. It's their job to spot your plot holes, be your worst critic, all the while navigating around the troubled waters of an author's overly-inflated ego. Daniel Rider is over-qualified to be an editor of fiction, having a lengthy background in academia in English, and having taught writers for many years. The amount of time he spent reading, critiquing, and re-reading this novel really contributed to it being released as a solid work of fiction. It would be impossible to over-state the importance of Daniel Rider to this work.


7. Well Researched
Echoes of Olympus grew out of my imagination as well as the classroom. While it is an alternate take on history, I spent a great deal of time digging into the details of the period so I could make it as authentic as possible. From the little things, like cities being referred to as "polises," to authentic weapons from the period, to the inclusion of certain stories from the the time (the fate of Syrpax, Alexander's march East, and some of the people, such as Demosthenes, and Aristotle, it strives to present a Classical Greece in a way that brings it to life for the reader.

8. Not the Ancient Greece You Studied in School
While I wanted a certain degree of believably and authenticity, I also wanted the book to be fun and relatable, so I had to pick and choose which details to include, which to omit, and which ones to change. There is magic in this world. There are magical artifacts. There is divine magical healing. The mythology you know remains mostly unchanged, but much is different behind the scenes, so it might not match up exactly with the myths you've studied in your literature classes. This is heroic fantasy, not a history lesson, but I was well aware of the history I was changing.

9. It's a Fun Read
If you've read this far, I can only assume you enjoy stories about heroes and villains, swordplay and adventure, magic and mystery. You might even enjoy reading about a touch of romance.Echoes of Olympus has all these things and more. From memorable characters to intense battle scenes, this nicely sets up the next two books well, while taking the reader on an adventure they won't soon forget.


10. Lovecraftian Tenatacular Goodness
Without giving away too much of the plot line, let's just say that Greek myth wasn't the sole inspiration for this book. Lovecraftian horror has been a major inspiration for decades, and has spawned a fair number of movies, original novels, and notable novelists such as the master of horror, Stephen King, and the creator of Conan the Barbarian, Robert E. Howard.

Echoes of Olympus is available for sale here, in Kindle and print formats.

Star Trek Didn't Save My Life

Star Trek has been celebrating its fiftieth anniversary all year long with the new movie, various books, retrospectives, and memorabilia, but today is the actual day it turns fifty. Half a century ago today, Star Trek premiered, and this is a significant event, from a cultural and historical perspective. In all of television and movies, very few franchises have had the staying power of Trek. But this isn't about history or culture. As with anything that has lasted this long, Star Trek has personal meaning, and that's what I want to talk about.

I've heard some people say Star Trek has saved their lives. Fortunately, having never been such a social pariah that suicide has ever been a consideration, I can't say that. I've always had friends, and Star Trek is one of the things is one of the things me and my friends enjoyed together.

As a child and young adult, I had what many would call an overactive imagination. Although it wasn't ADHD, I would often let my mind wander in class because I was building stories in my head that I intended to write, or thinking about the things I was into. At a young age, Star Trek was one of a trinity of interests--the other two being Dungeons and Dragons, and Star Wars. While D&D and Star Wars are fun and have also provided a lifetime of enjoyment, Star Trek was different. Even though it had its share of action and excitement, Star Trek was also cerebral in a way the other two aren't... at least not in the same way. I feel it helped me develop a sense of morality, an inquisitiveness toward science, space, and the natural world, and a love of adventure.

But let's back up.

Like many people my age, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is what drew me into Star Trek. Before that I'd seen my uncles watching reruns of the show, and as a young child I didn't understand it. I didn't have a concept of why starships, green women, giant green hands in space, and aliens that looked like burned marshmallows were cool. When I was a kid and very much into Star Wars, Star Trek the Motion Picture was released and I wasn't interested. I'd seen the reruns and that was a movie for adults. Whatever. in 1982, a friend and his family took me to see Star Trek II, and it was something that the original series had not been: accessible.

Of course, having seen the movie, and very much liking it, then I wanted to watch the show. It just so happened that it was on TV every evening. So I watched it, and while I felt the special effects were campy, the uniforms looked like pajamas, and some of the aliens still looked like burned marshmallows, I was beginning to appreciate the show for what it was, as well we the kinds of stories it told. Star Trek was rarely about stopping the bad guy. Instead, it was about solving problems-problems that took place on a galactic scale.I learned about Vulcans, Klingons, and Romulans. I learned about the Federation, the Prime Directive, and IDIC. I learned that genetically engineered people could be put in suspended animation for hundreds of years as a way of solving the problem of them trying to take over the world, and despite their lack of knowledge of the 23rd century, they could become a major threat again, and this required a new solution. I learned that the differences that some allow to define us as humans beings are usually trivial and inconsequential. I learned that you couldn't cold start an anti-matter warp core without potentially blowing up your starship. I learned that maybe what ancient cultures thought were gods and magic were just highly advanced aliens and technology. I learned that time travelling to the past and saving the life of one person could cause massive damage to the timeline. I learned that tribbles were bad news, and Klingons hate them. And along the way, I learned that Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty, Sulu, and Checkov could use their brains and their specialized sets of skills to get out of any jam. I learned that there were rewards in being people of high moral character, intelligence, and education. I wanted to someday be the kind of person who could sit on the bridge of the Enterprise and explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no one had gone before.

I remember I was at my aunt's house when Star Trek the Next Generation premiered. She refused to watch it, so I had to flip the stations between commercials, and try to catch what I could when no one was paying attention. I would be a few years before I actually got to see Encounter at Farpoint. At the time we lived in the country, and while we did get the channel they were shown on via antennae, the station was so fuzzy that I never could really watch it, so I tried to arrange time at friends' houses when new episodes were shown. I knew the characters through the few episodes I was able to see, and the magazines I picked up at the bookstores, and through the novels. I was one of the few people who probably read just as much Star Trek as I watched... and that's still the case. A few years into its run I finally had access to cable, and I never missed an episode. A friend who ran the local comic books store loaned me all of his Next Gen tapes, so I was finally able to get caught up on the show. Later, I was there for the premier of Deep Space 9, and I learned to love those characters too. I was at the movie theater for every movie with the original cast, and I watched the final episode of TNG, and then I was there for the premier of Voyager... at which point I was finally introduced to a Star Trek show I didn't love. I felt Enterprise was an improvement, but it didn't last. Nemesis came out, it was bad, and then Star Trek went into a hibernation that it wouldn't come out of until the 2009 movie. Once again, I thank the books for keeping it going during one of its extended slumbers.

And I want to talk about the books, because to me they're just as important as "official canon." Yes, there are some bad ones, and I've read them. But there are also some amazing ones as well. You can read about some of the better ones in this article, which was written for Star Trek.com by Dayton Ward, who just happens to be one of my favorite Star Trek authors. The books allowed me to access Star Trek at a time when I couldn't get it on TV, it continued the entire Next Generation era after Nemesis, and did so in a way that I sincerely hope is never invalidated by anything they put on TV or the big screen. As far as I'm concerned, that era now belongs to the books and the amazing authors who are crafting some of the best stories ever told in this universe.

Even with all the words I've written above, I'm still not sure I've properly conveyed my appreciation and love of Star Trek, so I'll just finish by saying that while Star Trek may not have saved my life, it did play a large role in making me the person I am today. I'm a father, a writer, a game designer, someone who works hard to support his family, and still an avid fan. It's still looking like I might be doing some work for the next incarnation of the Star Trek roleplaying game (I'm told I'll get the brief I've been waiting for by early next week). 

In fact, upon further consideration, maybe Star Trek did save my life after all. Happy 50th anniversary, Star Trek,