CrossTown
by Loren W Cooper
Date of
Publication: November 14th 2017
Publisher:
Red Hen Books
Cover
Artist: Red Hen Staff Artist
Genre:
Fantasy/SF
Tagline: CrossTown is the crossroads
of possibility.
BLURB
Zethus is a sorcerer―a
self-described spiritual thug for hire. He makes his living in CrossTown, a
place where the manyworld hypothesis of modern physics manifests itself, where
possibilities and probabilities overlap.
Caught up in a web of intrigue as
he investigates the death of his master, Corvinus, and pursued by agents that
want to erase all knowledge of Corvinus’ work, Zethus discovers that the key to
his master’s murder lies in the last project he had pursued before his death.
The roots of this project lie deep in the past, at the origin of CrossTown’s
fractured reality.
Once he understands the stakes,
Zethus must make the dangerous journey to the cradle of history. The price he
must pay to find the answers he seeks will threaten everything he holds
dear―including his own humanity.
“Beware
the road outside your front door, for it is all at once old friend and passing
stranger.” –CrossTown
“A
sorcerer explores the frontier of theoretical physics.” Publisher’s Weekly
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Excerpt:
Roads and
streets run like veins and arteries through the beating heart of
CrossTown. Each runs through all manner of distant and not-so-distant
possibilities.
There's a theory in modern physics that posits a universe for every decision we
make. Each time we choose, right or left, high or low, vanilla or
chocolate, we split into separate universes. A vanilla me here, a
chocolate me there, a rocky road with pistachio me somewhere else, and some
poor lactose intolerant me further down the line. The dominant me is my
subjective reality. In CrossTown, the probable mes collapse into the
dominant wave, but all those wandering Ways continually wash other alternate
lives, lives meant to be lived in CrossTown, up on its jagged shores.
The names
of roads are choices; the turning and branching of roads are choices; roads are
physical manifestations of their builders’ decisions…
Everywhere, every place
and every time where man or something like him has lived, roads run into one
another, branch, disappear here and reappear over there as if they were quantum
tunneling. They run, meet, part, cross again, and form a bewildering
Mandelbrot set of linked probabilities.
Beware the road outside your front door, for it is both old friend and passing
stranger.
All those choices, all hooked together, comprise a vast sea of
possibility. A knowledgeable traveler can ride the currents in that sea
to unimagined destinations…
CrossTown is the crossroads of probability.
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How would you describe your style of writing to someone
that has never read your work? Hardboiled myth meets science fiction.
What mindset or routine do you feel the need to set when
preparing to write (in general whether you are working on a project or just
free writing)? I don't set much in routine, other than to clear some time. The
primary thing is to capture and collect the ideas as they hit, then get some
time to execute and put flesh on the bones. To that end, I'll jot on anything at
any time, then put it aside and come back to it later for inspiration.
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do you nurture
the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do you people watch
to help with development? Or do you build upon your character during story
creation? My thesis advisor had a few questions to ask about your character.
Like what's in their cupboard? Their closet? Their trashcan? Roger Zelazny used
to write throwaway short stories about the main character to get a feel for
them beyond the initial work. I don't go quite as far as Zelazny, but I do like
to have a character's habits in mind. I people watch as a part of life. You
build a library of observations and experiences to draw on for the writing over
time. Drawing on history and mythic archetypes helps as well (though here the
storyteller has to be careful to avoid stereotype and cliche). All of those
elements go into the mix of the character, who the character is, where they
came from, where they're going, what they want, what they need, and most
crucially, how those differ.
Have you found yourself bonding with any particular
character? If so which one(s)?In CrossTown, the White Wolf is a key character:
a nature spirit in the main character's Legion of bound spirits. He has an
acerbic, sarcastic voice that appeals to me on a deep level.
Do you have a character that you have been working on
that you can't wait to put to paper? Usually, my characters are on paper, even
as sketches, long before the book comes out. Since I'm working a couple of
different things right at the moment, that's where any interesting characters
are going to begin to flex their muscles, prance on the stage, and start
clearing their throats.
Have you ever felt that there was something inside of you
that you couldn't control? If so what? If no what spurs you to reach for the
unexperienced? A lot of personality is about reining in our impulses. Some of
that is keeping the most powerful forces (rage, fear, desire) in check and
below the surface, and on occasion those things burst out of their bonds like a
river in flood. Storytelling is a way of relieving pressures and keeping those
forces in check. Creativity is the unexpected connection between unrelated
things, or as Marvin Bell puts it, the surprising but inevitable turn. Those
two things come together in a rising emotion that must be checked, and art is a
way of both absorbing the force and uncovering new connections. That's what
makes art that touches us powerful to experience, whether in creation or
consumption.
Author
Info
Loren W
Cooper is the author of four novels, one short story collection and one
nonfiction work. He has won the NESFA in 1998 and the EPPIE for Best Anthology
in 2001. He is married with two daughters. He currently lives in Cedar Rapids
Iowa. Favorite authors include Zelazny, Hammet, Steakley, and Catton. Loren
Currently works for Hewlett-Packard.
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