Pantheon is the story of a modern day delinquent teen that finds himself way over his head in a parallel world full of the earth's entirety of historical mythology. As a twin to our world, Gaia, Earth's magical counterpart, was separated from her twin just before the fall of the Roman empire. Knowledge of the existence of twin worlds was later destroyed during what we know of as the crusades. Select few have traveled between the two and even fewer have their memories intact. Richard Black, the latest of these elite now faces a now globalized mythological world. Wondering why it wasn't someone else who had a taste for this sort of thing he battles with fantastical creatures, evasive answers to questions of his past and the conscience of his future.
Clocking in at over 80,000 words Pantheon explores a "what if" scenario where the entire human history's collective mythology is not only the norm but has continued developing and intertwining since the days of antiquity. Supplemented by existing mysteries and history Pantheon tells of how the Chinese did in fact, before the Vikings, discover the new world. Commerce abounds among the sub-way canals of the Mediterranean Manhattan-like Alexandria. Arthur's nephew nemesis, Mordred, continues to plague the dreams of citizens of Camelot. Persians continue to craft the finest flying rugs and a Naga could spend a holiday in Atlantis.
History:
Pre-conceptualization, Proto-Pantheon began somewhere in the middle of '07. Im not exactly sure when as i havent fully examined the "created on" dates for every file i have on old hard drives, but i found an email as far back as june 11 '07. Even earlier i had wanted to write a story in which the main character journeyed from the known, everyday life of modern society to a thriving and growing fantasy. The idea being that the reader and protagonist both could begin the story on the same page. Inspired by the Lewis and Tolkien i too wanted to draw on reality first before connecting to the fantasy. This however felt like a tired vehicle, a shift that was all too present to find a fresh presentation. Especially with the world of Harry Potter on the forefront of the genre i wasn't confident that i could find anyway to accomplish this and at the same time stand out. Sometime in the first half of 2007 i read Brandon Mull's Fablehaven who's connection between fact and fiction felt new and unused, however similar it might have been to anything already in print.During my devouring of Fablehaven and idea on how to accomplish my desired transformation sparked. It grew well enough to get me out of bed in the middle of the night and crank out a chapter and a half. At the time i would sit and write no more than a paragraph or two at a time. I thought i was passionate about writing, but i only had the patience to conceptualize and daydream. The next morning i read over what i had written not having remembered most of it i realized i had something worth keeping. Energized by the most clever and well written document i had yet produced i abandoned all other writing projects and focused exclusively on what i then called "Otherworld." As time passed and i developed my writing along with my story the creation of Pantheon was sporadic. A chapter here, and there sometimes six or eight months between, but gradually i found my drive and harnessed my passion. Five years since conception i have completed the project, well the rough draft anyway. Everything is in place, a few things need a little tweaking but all in all ive got over three hundred pages combined into a solid fantasy novel.
Future:
I plan to write Pantheon into a several book series, supplemented by several strings of short stories and a parallel novel, focusing on various sub characters and back stories. I also plan on creating a compilation of "actual" versions of well-known and obscure world mythology as well as new myths set exclusively in the world of Gaia.
