His writing has been
recognized by the Writer’s League of Texas and the Pacific Northwest Writers
Association. In addition to his writing, he provides editing services to other
writers and is the editor of an online science fiction and fantasy journal, Del
Sol Review. His three published humorous crime novels ride the sometimes thin
line between fact and fiction in Texas. DIE BACK,
his first fantasy thriller novel, has been published by Del Sol Press.
When not writing he’s singing
in a vocal jazz ensemble, cooking with a sous vide and a blow torch, or
exploring the Pacific Northwest with his wife and his springer spaniel, Jazz.
Website Link: http://www.richardhacker.com
Twitter Link: @Richard_Hacker
Facebook Link: http://www.facebook.com/RWHacker
Behind
the Curtain of DIE BACK: Alexandria 272 AD
In the fantasy thriller DIE, League
‘Inkers’ use the knowledge revealed to them in the Alchimeia to protect
the time continuum. Using alchemical ink, they write themselves into past
lives, leaving their bodies in the present. To return home, they must die in
the past, breaking the link with their host. All
of these journeys into the
past have a foundation in actual events, from a battlefield near Cantigny,
France in WWI to the flight test of the Wright Brothers’ aircraft for the Army
at Fort Myer to the Inca encounter with Pizarro in Peru.
The opening scene of DIE BACK unfolds in
272 AD at the Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt. The city, founded by
Alexander the Great in 331 BC, quickly became a center of culture, learning and
commerce due to its harbor and geographic position. The Great Library,
purported to have housed the most extensive collection of writings on the
planet at the time, was damaged by a besieged Julius Caesar in 48 AD.
Apparently setting fire to your ships near a library full of flammable
materials does not bode well for the library. Go figure.
The year the League inkers enter the city,
272 AD, the Roman emperor Aurelius was in the process of putting down a revolt
led by Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, destroying much of the remaining library
buildings and contents. At its height, the library acted to gather as much of
the knowledge in the world within its buildings as possible, housing from an
estimated 40,000 to 400,000 papyrus scrolls. Librarians would depart Alexandria
in search of new writings and ships coming into the harbor were asked to
surrender their books for copying by the library.
The League Inkers have ‘inked’ to this
place and time in order to keep the dangerous knowledge of the Alchimeia
from those who want to control the time continuum and reality itself. So, the
League has found an excellent location to hide the Alchimeia among the
many scrolls. Not only is the document hidden among thousands of others, more
importantly, it has been placed in a ‘time lock’. In 272 AD the Alchimeia
will be destroyed within twenty-four hours of placing the scroll on the shelf.
Only an inker with specific knowledge of the time and location will be able to
reacquire the document.
Sounds like a very good strategy and I’m
sure we have nothing to worry about…
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