“Zylon ran.” It was not an ostentatious beginning, but at age 17 I loved it and little knew where it would take me. Zylon was running through woods made of stone, great pillars which reached into the sky. A similar scene occurs in my upcoming novel. Each day my friends at college would ask me how Zylon and the novel were coming along. I fancied myself a Terry Pratchett. Truth be told, I’m a terrible Terry Pratchett and before long had learned my first hard lesson about writing. Don’t try to be someone you are not.
From a young age I’ve enjoyed writing and remember creating stories to read to my younger brother. Zylon was my baby. The story is set in a unique, original and surreal world which is not round, but vertical, and in which thousands of tiny little Grim Reapers are marching on an unknown enemy to save the world from collapse. It is a social commentary on class issues with 15 vertical levels that people live in depending on their rank. No, you can’t steal the concept. I do think it has potential, but I first needed to expand and learn from experience. I needed to become an author in my own right and not become the shadow of an author I admire.
There were a good 30 pages written on Zylon. The main female character in the would be novel is Mae. She still exists in Pangea. The grand theme survived and morphed into what is now the “World of Pangea” trilogy. It has not been a waste. In retrospect it’s where Pangea was birthed and where it all began.
The World of Pangea 