First Saturday Sci-Fi - Oct 2018
Sorry about that !! I've been running behind for the last few days... so here we are in October and time is slipping away faster and faster... in honor of Halloween we are talking to E.C. Lemus
In E.C. Lemus words...
I’m an emerging writer, my first published book The Master Of Realities: The Labyrinth Of The Dead Soul, was introduced by the publisher as it follows: “An extravaganza of passages that invite the senses to the most unique and strangest of places; where reality meets the unreal, explodes and bursts in front of your eyes and inside your mind”.
It was catalogued as Horror but also blends with Science Fiction, Dark Fiction and Fantasy.
I guess this book was started from when I was a little kid; of course, I didn’t know back then, but I remember how fascinated I was by all this that was on TV, then in movies and later on in books. Like a lot of my generation I was seduced by Twilight Zone, The Midnight Gallery, Star Trek, the Invaders, etc. Then the movies… 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Blade Runner, La Dolce Vita etc. And then the writers…Fyodor Dostoevsky, J. L. Borges, just to mention a few of my influences (I also like Jazz).
I’m also an artistic painter, I love the work of Rembrandt, Diego Velázquez and Salvador Dalí. I’ve exposed my work in New York and the Art cover of my book is part of one of my paintings “Memories Of Us”.
For all that, I thought at the beginning that my gift was the understanding of art and drawing and painting were my talents, but now I realize that my great gift is my Imagination and then to create, the ability to put whatever I imagine (my creations) in paintings or in writing.
1-Tell us about your favorite work…what makes it special?
Well, that’s like an easy one since I have published only one book; although I had written some unpublished works, this is my first published book and I feel that it has strength, deepness and darkness too; it has been catalogued into horror; which I believe it has only a bit…. I don’t know. I can’t say much about it without being obvious. Without wanting to be very petulant, the concept is very interesting, I had always thought of doing something different…unique and I think I have achieved some of that. In the other hand when someone does something different it’s hard to like it and understand it at the beginning; so, in a way it has a risk, but I don’t mind; sometimes you have to take chances.
I want to give a different perspective in which the readers will feel the intensity, the fear…the horror as if they were inside of it.
But let me tell you a little bit of it…
There’s this part of the book in which this character lives in this unbearable and grotesque reality; he knows it, he feels it; but then he started to know and understand this other reality….a second reality, at one point he has consciences of both and keeps living like that; knowing that, eventually the second reality will destroy him, so a part of him will die, he knows it and he wants it to happen, actually he finds pleasure while it is happening…
I don’t know, those kinds of things that can drive you insane.
2- What do you think makes for good Sci-Fi?
For all literary genre a good story and characters are the most important of the novel but maintaining the quality of the story throughout the book is extremely challenging. The fact that there are so many things written in all literary styles makes it difficult. I think that a new, original and well-written stories are the key ... to hear and read new and original concepts is urgent. Something new for the readers that could make them feel interested and passionate for it.
Sometimes it is easy to just follow an idea, but sometimes what we have to do is challenge it; work hard to develop a good story around it, find new and different paths and characters, take it to the limit and then come back...remember that it always has to make sense.
3-Do you think your book can help shape the future and if so how?
Of course, there is something within you that tells you that your work is needed, that your novel has a place in a collection somewhere, in the minds, hearts and souls of readers…can’t you see them? they’re out there…waiting. Something drives us and it’s not the venality of fame and fortune…I’ll settle for no less than eternity.
All that is true for me, but in this obsession of mine I think about my work as if I was creating of a masterpiece; I’ll probably never accomplish that…but I’ll keep on trying…always.
So, going back to the original question…how many times has a book changed the minds of people?
In other words…
How far can a thought reach?
That is one of the questions of my book.
4- Do you have inside jokes or true events hidden in your writing?
Not really…well, there’s this part of the book that mentions a place, and it’s kind of tricky in the way that there’s a place that actually exists with that name (well, very similar; you know) and it was brought to the story for specific reasons, I will say no more; hoping that some of the readers will find it, but they probably won’t find the reasons why it was chosen.
5- Which do you prefer…model your characters after people you know or just make them up?
In my case the concept initiates everything, then the characters start to appear according with the evolution of the story; most of the time the details are not defined completely; in many ways the characters along with the story are growing and changing; which makes it interesting and good for the novel. So, the characters are actually not going away from their nature, it’s just that the readers discover more about them than they thought they knew; and it happens almost the same with the writer.
You see, after a while the writer writes through the vision that even though it was defined from the beginning; nobody knows how it’s going to get to where it was expected to end. It’s weird…I'm sorry for what I’m going to say; but in a way you become some kind of God? you can make things happen like the killing and resuscitation of men.
6- Is There a message in your novel that you want readers to take away?
Sometimes we lock up inside our perceptions and although that way of thinking it has helped us before to define and establish a mental and analytic process that have been successful in many occasions in the past; sometimes we need to challenge it and evaluate it in order to grow and evolve emotionally and mentally. It can be applied in the developing of an idea for a book, solving a conflict in the storytelling or as a way out from a creativity crisis or even in our personal life.
One chapter of the book tells the story about this character that changed his fate because of that; he found a different way of seeing things. Sorry but I'll say no more.
7- What is your favorite review?
Well, I’ve received a few but I think that knowing that my book has touched the soul of someone is very rewarding. Just to think that what you think and write can be enjoyed by someone else is fascinating.
And yes we all dream with greatness and eternity but sometimes those concepts are very superficial, I mean; I think that there’s two ways to see things…one is the aspect of trying to reach the biggest audience that you can and try to be the best writer of all times and being recognized for it, why not; nothing wrong with that; but I think that at one point you start to lose the connection; even yourself…there’s also this other way in which you experience the feel of having touched the soul of someone…that is a miracle if you think about it.
What comes next?
I’m working on a compilation of short stories, but The Master Of Realities: The Labyrinth Of The Dead Soul is very complex and of course it leaves the door open to a sequel.
Where can we learn more?
Well, you can find me on Twitter, Instagram and book stores…
Twitter: @ECLemus1 Instagram: E. C. Lemus
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17270263.E_C_Lemus
https://www.amazon.com/Master-Realities-C-Lemus/dp/1787101983/ref=sr
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/755956
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-master-of-the-realities-e-c-lemus/1127455072?ean=9781787101982
