Troy Loy Talks About His New Book: Echoes of Forsaken Galaxies
“What drives the monstrous Broogh in their vast Flow across the galaxy? Just what sort of salvation do the ancient Dinathog-Trulg offer to those to be “saved”? What of a lost pack of werewolves on a quest for vengeance in a strange valley? This anthology contains short speculative fiction by the author published elsewhere online set in a variety of universes and diverse genres and styles.”
As my second book, Echoes has been huge fun to write. It is a collection of flash fiction I’ve published on other venues online, brought together in one volume. It uses a set of genres, from science fiction, to horror, to fantasy, to lyrical fiction.
There are aliens to be found within, the enormous Broogh, or the murderous Dinathog-Trulg, and monsters to be feared, the sinister festerlings and werewolves on a hunt for vengeance. I’ll offer a bit on how I came by some of them:
The Broogh were inspired by the giant aliens of Macross, the humanoid Zentradi, but rather than them being giant-sized humans, I made them something more plausible for that scale, real world dinosaurs, with extra limbs…legs and arms, for supporting their mass in normal gravity and for wielding huge weapons. But the similarities end at size and warlike temperament, as the species are refugees, fleeing something…even more dangerous and terrifying than they! Two stories, A Day in the Life and Countdown feature them.
The Dinathog-Trulg were conceived as the exact opposites of Doctor Who’s villains, the Daleks, dangerous not because of hatred, but from a twisted sort of love. They are featured in the stories Squorium and Party Crashers, less directly so in Festerling and Games People Play.
The story Howl at the Stars is my first piece of werewolf fiction, using the theme of arcane knowledge which is indistinguishable from magic, as with the following excerpt:
“Jake-Looks-At-Stars searched the skies for signs, using his magicks to guide his pack to safety. Fortunately, the skies were clear, the stars and moons bright this night. Jake-Looks-At-Stars was both magician and werewolf, a powerful astromancer who consulted the stars on the best path to take. He let the stars speak to him in twinkling, silent majesty. The pack was lost in this strange valley, and needed to regain its way…”
For that, I got the basic idea from a Jimmy Buffett song, ‘Boathouse on the Moon,’ and added werewolves to the mix.
All of these and others were enormous fun to write and update for publication in this little volume of just 31 pages! Do check it out, at only $0.99!
It may be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Echoes-Forsaken-Galaxies-Collected-Fiction-ebook/dp/B01ND0R1VC
I may be contacted online at:
https://troythulu.blogspot.com/
on Twitter, @Troythulu
Agnishatdal The Ezine 