Monsters (40 page)

Could monsters like this exist in real life?

Monsters similar to those depicted in this novel this have existed at various points in time, right up to the present day.

Haast's eagle of New Zealand went extinct in the 1600s. It had a wingspan of 10 feet and is rumored to have snatched Maori children.

Ligers are a cross between a male lion and a female tiger. Ligers can reach 800 pounds and 12 feet in length, which is roughly the size of the dogs described in this story.

Brutus is a wild crocodile found in the Northern Territory of Australia. At 5.5 meters (18+ feet), Brutus has been known to feed on full-grown Bull Sharks.

The Giant Golden-Crowned Flying Fox has a wingspan of 1.7 meters (5'4")

Friesian cows can stand 6'5" in height and weigh in at over a ton.

Male polar bears regularly reach nine feet in length and up to 1,500 pounds.

The Japanese Spider Crab is long and lanky, reaching up to 12 feet in length, while the Bobbit worm is 10 feet long and venomous.

In 2014, a hunter killed a nine-foot grizzly with a skull bone half an inch thick.

The Blue whale, the whale shark and basking shark, along with elephants and rhinos are all examples of megafauna (large animals) that have survived to modern times.

In
Monsters
, a combination of Natural Selection and the fallout from Comet Holt allows the outliers in the animal kingdom to become the norm and dominate the food chain.

If the animals became enlarged, why weren't humans also bigger?

The history of life on Earth shows us that Natural Selection doesn't favor one particular size. Even such giants as dinosaurs ranged in size from that of a cat to a three-story building.

During the age of the Megafauna some 10,000 years ago, carnivorous sloths reached sizes larger than an elephant, and yet the humans alive then were roughly the same size as we are now.

What is your favorite Monster within the novel?

Ah... that’s a bit like asking me, who’s my favorite child? I love all of them. In writing Monsters, I wanted to show that monsters aren’t simply dark, foreboding creatures of the night. Some of the scariest monsters in this book are bacteria, or the loss of medical knowledge that costs one of the characters her life. Then there’s us, people. Humans can be monsters every bit as scary as a giant, blood-sucking bat.

Will there be a sequel to Monsters?

I hope so, but that depends on how well the book is received. I’ve got enough material for a sequel, appropriately titled Monstrous.

Are you active on social media?

Yes. My twitter handle is
@PeterCawdron
, and I can be found on
facebook
,
tumblr
and
pinterest
. I also keep a science fiction blog, called thinking scifi
http://thinkingscifi.wordpress.com/

What books do you read?

I enjoy reading a wide variety of books, and I’m never short of someone suggesting another good read. My problem is, I’m a slow reader. The more I enjoy a book, the slower I read, savoring each moment, so I don’t get through as many books as I’d like.

I often struggle to finish books. I’ve been reading
Rendezvous with Rama
for about five years now. Anyone that follows me on Goodreads will know I have half-a-dozen books I’m reading at any one time, but they can sit on my virtual shelf for quite some time before I finish them. I chop and change between them as my interest grows and wanes.

In particular, I enjoy the classics: Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein
, H.G.
Wells War of the Worlds
, Charles Darwin’s
The Descent of Man
, Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. But I also enjoy Michael Crichton, Alistair Reynolds, Hugh Howey and Stephen Baxter.

In our day, there’s so much competition from newspapers, the internet, blog posts, video games, movies and TV, that it easy to lose sight of reading books. And yet reading a good book achieves a level of immersion these other, quick-fix mediums lack.

In five years’ time, what will you remember about the TV show you watched last night? Or the news report you read online this morning? Books are formative. A good book can stay with you for a lifetime. Most evenings, I’ll read with my two girls. My son’s a little old for reading with dad these days, but he’ll wander past and hear us reading out loud to each other. At the moment, we’re reading
Inkheart
,
James and the Giant Peach
and
The Magic of Reality
.

Do you watch much television or movies?

Reality TV was the best thing that ever happened to my writing, it got me off the couch and in front of a keyboard. I love a good science fiction or action/adventure movie. I try not to pick apart movies, but plot inconsistencies throw me out of a story quite easily.

What hobbies do you have?

I enjoy running in the forest most weekends. It’s a nice way to unwind and leave a hectic week behind. Here in Australia, it’s common to see wallabies and kangaroos in the early morning. I’ve seen goannas and snakes, and even a wild koala.

Having grown up in New Zealand, I enjoy watching rugby and rugby league. If you’ve never seen either game, imagine a bunch of grown men acting like mountain goats in the rut, running hard at each other and butting their heads together. Throw in an inflated pig skin along with a few white lines on the grass and you get the gist of it.

Do you get help writing your novels?

I do. My wife and close friends help by reviewing early drafts, but there’s a lot of input from fans as well. As a writer I’ve “met” people from around the world without ever actually meeting them in person, including my editor, Ellen Campbell. This is a wonderful part of publishing eBooks. I’ve had the opportunity to “meet” university professors, physicists, surveyors, doctors, aerospace/astronaut instructors, other indie authors and indie book reviewers from as far afield as Florida, well, at least that’s far from Australia.

Sometimes they’ll have some scientific input, correcting technical mistakes, other times they’ll pick up on plot inconsistencies or typos, or problems with a particular stylistic approach. Sometimes they’ll just provide a kind word of encouragement, all of which is deeply appreciated.

Is it hard to write an independent book?

Yes.

Well, I guess that answers the question, but do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

* Writing is an art.

* Don’t underestimate the effort involved.

* Never stop learning.

If I seem a bit withdrawn on the subject, it’s because I could waffle on for hours about it, but I think those three points sum things up nicely.

Independent publishing is tough. Big name authors are, well, big names. If you look at their book covers, their name is the most dominant aspect of the cover. Think about Stephen KING novels you’ve seen. Often, the actual title of each book will be quite small, because books sell on his reputation. And, to be fair, that’s understandable, as how can anyone purchase a book based on its contents before they’ve read it? Independent authors, generally speaking, haven’t developed a name for themselves and so sell almost solely on word-of-mouth.

In this regard, reader reviews are the lifeblood of indie writers. Is Monsters a good book? That’s a question I can’t answer. Well, I can, but no one will believe me. They’ll believe you, though, the reader. In my experience, less than one percent of readers will leave a review on Amazon, GoodReads or Smashwords,
etc.
But that one percent will carry absolute authority in the mind of other potential readers.

Is Monsters based on any personal experience?

None of the characters or monsters are real, but several of the scenes are loosely based on some of my personal experiences.

I once went mountain climbing in the Colorado Rockies. With snowshoes strapped on our boots, my wife and I hiked up to a peak at just over 11,000ft and I was fascinated by all the dwarf trees on the summit. I wanted to get my photo taken by them, but our guide told us the trees were in fact 30-40 feet high, buried by snow drifts. He explained that because of the conical shape of the trees, it was quite dangerous to stand next to them as you could fall through the branches to the ground so far below. I never did get that photo, but I drew on that moment for one of the scenes in this novel.

Oh, and the section where James paints a harvest bin “
the same
” is another loosely true story, although the farmer I was working for was quite kind and laughed at the misunderstanding. He’d wanted the bin painted the same as it was originally, red and green, but I painted it the same, all red.

One final question. Where did you get these questions? Did you make them up yourself? Hey, wait. Come back... You haven’t answered the question...

~~~

Thank you for supporting independent science fiction. I hope you’ve enjoyed Monsters.

Please take the time to provide a review on Amazon. Self-published authors like myself don’t have big budgets for advertising and rely on word-of-mouth to find new readers.

You’ve read the book, now get the shirt!

http://www.cafepress.com/thinkingscifi

Other books by Peter Cawdron

You might also enjoy the following novels also written by Peter Cawdron.

MY SWEET SATAN

The crew of the Copernicus are sent to investigate Bestla, one of the remote moons of Saturn. Bestla has always been an oddball, orbiting Saturn in the wrong direction and at a distance of thirty million kilometers, so far away Saturn appears smaller than Earth's moon in the night sky. Bestla hides a secret. When mapped by an unmanned probe, Bestla awoke and began transmitting a message, only it’s a message no one wants to hear: “
I want to live and die for you, Satan
.”

http://www.amazon.com/My-Sweet-Satan-Peter-Cawdron-ebook/dp/B00NBA6Y1A/

SILO SAGA: SHADOWS

Shadows is fan fiction set in Hugh Howey's Wool universe as part of the Kindle Worlds Silo Saga.

Life within the silos follows a well-worn pattern passed down through the generations from master to apprentice, ’caster to shadow. "Don't ask! Don't think! Don't question! Just stay in the shadows." But not everyone is content to follow the past.

http://www.amazon.com/Silo-Saga-Shadows-Kindle-Worlds-ebook/dp/B00HDQV422/

THE WORLD OF KURT VONNEGUT: CHILDREN’S CRUSADE

Kurt Vonnegut's masterpiece Slaughterhouse-Five: The Children's Crusade explored the fictional life of Billy Pilgrim as he stumbled through the real world devastation of Dresden during World War II. Children’s Crusade picks up the story of Billy Pilgrim on the planet of Tralfamadore as Billy and his partner Montana Wildhack struggle to accept life in an alien zoo.

http://www.amazon.com/World-Kurt-Vonnegut-Childrens-Crusade-ebook/dp/B00JFHIMQI/

THE MAN WHO REMEMBERED TODAY

The Man Who Remembered Today is a novella originally appearing in From The Indie Side anthology, highlighting independent science fiction writers from around the world. You can pick up this story as a stand-alone short or get twelve distinctly unique stories by purchasing From the Indie Side.

Kareem wakes with a headache. A bloody bandage wrapped around his head tells him this isn't just another day in the Big Apple. The problem is, he can't remember what happened to him. He can't recall anything from yesterday. The only memories he has are from events that are about to unfold today, and today is no ordinary day.

http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Remembered-Today-ebook/dp/B00IR9XWGU/

ANOMALY

Anomaly examines the prospect of an alien intelligence discovering life on Earth.

Mankind's first contact with an alien intelligence is far more radical than anyone has ever dared imagine. The technological gulf between mankind and the alien species is measured in terms of millions of years. The only way to communicate is using science, but not everyone is so patient with the arrival of an alien space craft outside the gates of the United Nations in New York.

http://www.amazon.com/Anomaly-Mr-PeterCawdron/dp/1478175559/

THE ROAD TO HELL

The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

How do you solve a murder when the victim comes back to life with no memory of recent events?

In the 22nd century, America struggles to rebuild after the second civil war. Democracy has been suspended while the reconstruction effort lifts the country out of the ruins of conflict. America's fate lies in the hands of a genetically-engineered soldier with the ability to move through time.