~SQT
He calls himself Adam and he believes himself to be God. He descends toward Earth in the midst of a cloud of thinking matter that was once part of a solar system surrounding Xi Virginis, a solar system that he had disassembled molecule-by-molecule. The cloud orbits the earth, descending and coalescing into thousands, ten of thousands, hundreds of thousands of
dropships simultaneously crashing into every population center on earth. One burning teardrop of living metal blows through the dome of St.Peter’s and begins consuming the Vatican, and Adam walks out of the maelstrom and into St. Peter’s square. He places his hands on the pope’s shoulders and asks, “Do you choose to serve me?”
That’s pretty much where my novel, Messiah starts, with the end of the world. It’s a fitting send-off to a series of books where I have repeatedly indulged in my penchant for blowing stuff up. Messiah is the final book in the Apotheosis Trilogy, which is itself the third trilogy in the Moreau/Confederacy universe, a series that started with a limited nuclear war in Asia before the first book even began, and has followed through with a genocidal interstellar conflict, worlds ravaged by runaway nanotchnology, colonies with near light-speed projectiles fired from orbit, the destruction of entire star systems, and the explosive annihilation of a network of about ninety wormholes across several light years.
The Apotheosis Trilogy is, quite literally, the singularity as Armageddon.
The universes I create, in most every case, are in the process of either emerging from the chaos of the old order’s collapse, or are on the cusp of descending again into that chaos and collapse. If you’re writing against the wide swath of history— real or invented— these are the times that are the most fun to write about. However we may desire it in our own lives, in fiction, stability is boring. I much rather write about stuff blowing up, burning down, or otherwise going to pieces. And many times at the end of my stories, the carefully structured status quo is in far too many pieces to reassemble in anything remotely resembling the original.
In the end, to survive, my characters must face the fact that they can’t save the world— the old order. At best, they have a hand in forming the new order, which is just as transient. However much you fight it, things change, and they will always change.Society collapses, but individuals continue.
S. Andrew Swann is the pen name of Steven Swiniarski. He’s married and lives in the Greater Cleveland area where he has lived all of his adult life. He has a background in mechanical engineering and— besides writing— works as a Database Manager for one of the largest private child services agencies in the Cleveland area. He has published 19 novels over the past 15 years with four more coming over the next two years.
Messiah: Apotheosis: Book Three
The last stand against the self-proclaimed God, Adam, has retreated to the anarchic planet Bakunin-a world besieged by civil war. Humanity's last hope lies with Nickolai Rajasthan, a Moreau who believes that the human race that created his kind is already damned beyond redemption.
Just add your information to the form below to enter to win a signed copy of "Messiah" by S. Andrew Swann (all information is guaranteed confidential and will be discarded once contest ends) and I will randomly pick a winner by Tuesday February 8th. No multiple entries please-- all multiple entries will be discarded. Signed copy open in the U.S. only. BUT because I love you guys... I have an extra copy of "Messiah" that I am going to open up to worldwide entries. So that means there will be TWO winners of this contest-- one copy signed by the author, which will be for U.S. entries only -- and a non-signed copy for worldwide entry.
Good luck!
