Official Interview: Trevor Daffyd

[kandscreeley]

Today's Chat with Sarah features Trevor Daffyd author of Catastrophica 1,2,3.

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1. How did you become a writer?

From my youth I was always interested in writing as a career but finances meant that I was employed as a teacher of English and Drama for most of my life. It was when the pandemic lockdown occurred that I sat down and asked myself, 'What to do in a lockdown?' The answer was to write the book I had been researching for ten years. Being now retired and in lockdown, I finished a 450-page novel in three months.

2. What does your writing environment look like?

I have a dedicated study with an all-in-one desktop computer. It's a bit messy with bits of paper with ideas and research floating around but it works.

3. Let's discuss your books Catastrophica 1, 2, 3. Can you give us a short synopsis?

A short synopsis will be very confusing, but here goes:

Hobart, Tasmania, present day. JARED (15) is a bright high schooler whose mother was recently killed in a tragic car accident. Jared lives with his father PAUL (40s), a university history professor who is extremely knowledgeable. So, when he's assigned a 5,000-word school essay on an ancient myth of his choice, which may or may not be historically true, he's eager to pick his dad's brains. Jared and Paul's historical discussions intercut the following saga. but for ease of re-telling, only important present-day moments will be referred to.

Ancient Greece, 9,600 B.C. DIOKLES (15, long red hair) is from Athens and is sailing with his father HYGINOS (30s), a rugged trader of goods and silks. At one trading post, Diokles is kidnapped by a white slave trader but thankfully his father tracks him down and rescues him. They continue on, passing the great Pillars of Herakles (the Straits of Gibraltar) and out into a vast 'lake' which Hyginos tells him is the ocean. They head for Atlantis, situated around the Azores, a mid-way point to the great 'land beyond' (the Americas). It's a fantastic city, built in three concentric circles, with high stone towers in the middle.

In Ancient Sumeria, on the other side of the Valley of Ten Thousand Lakes (before it was the Mediterranean Sea), SERAI (20s) is a scribe to LORD ENLIL who is an 'Annunaki', a being from Outer Space. He and his fellow Lords live for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Serai has always been terrified of the 'fiery chariots' they fly in but he persuades her to go up in a flying machine and she is to see the world from above.

In the city of Pavlopetri, in Ancient Crete, THALIA (15) is a servant girl/maid to the Queen, LADY GAIA (40s). DEMETRIOU (30s) is Gaia's court 'Seer' or prophesier, and he foresees a terrible flood that will destroy the earth as they know it.

In Athens, DEUCALION's (late 20s) father PROMETHEUS (50s) is in jail. He is the last of the Titans, gods cast out by Zeus who threatens them with a great flood. The prophecy dictates that 'one good man will survive' to re-populate the kingdom. Deucalion is married to his first cousin PYRRHA (20s, spoiled) and they have one baby. Prometheus, who is dying, urges his son to take his family to the safety of high ground on Mount Parnassus.

Meanwhile, Hyginos and Diokles have reached the Americas but their usual landmarks have been submerged by rising sea levels. Many Caribbean islands have disappeared altogether. They take in a few castaways but once they reach land (Mexico), the natives attack Hyginos, hitting him with a poisoned blow dart and sadly killing him. Diokles is furious and beats the two men to a pulp, killing them. Those who have seen him fight dub him 'Huitzilopoxtli' or 'left-handed hummingbird' for his wielding of his father's sword in his left hand.

During their journey south to Egypt, Serai comes across farmer NOACH (40s, tall, long hair) who had dreams of the Great Flood. He built a huge wooden boat, an 'ark' and sailed to safety with his wife and three sons, SHEM, HAM and JAPHETH (all 18-mid 20s). Ham and Nael are immediately smitten and he decides to join Serai's group, bringing horses, sheep and goats.

The party continues on and arrives in Western Egypt, crossing the great river Nile with difficulty. When their horses balk at swimming, Ruth leaps astride one and guides them across. They arrive at the area near the pyramids where there are plenty of leftover, scattered blocks of stone. They use these to construct homes and call the place, 'Giza', meaning 'hewn stone'. Thalia, Gaia and Demetriou join the community and Serai soon falls for the Seer.

Deucalion catches married Japheth raping Zena, his and Pyhrra's servant girl. He is furious and gives him a good beating and banishes him from their growing community of New Athens. Japheth flees east to Persia with his family. Diokles in Mexico asks Tlaloc to find him a virgin for a bride: it's time that he marries. MEZTLI (13) weds him in a fine ceremony and she is soon pregnant. They move to a new area outside the city where Diokles plans to build his own small empire, starting with an island in the middle of a lake. Meztli's younger sister XCOCO (11) comes along too – and Diokles ends up having sex with her. They both become pregnant! Meztli is furious at first but loves her sister too much so she ends up living with them. They both give birth to boys.

Deucalion and his army overcome Japheth's army when they attack again, using a cleverly laid ambush. Sadly, Stanislaus is killed. Japheth and Tiras are taken prisoner and the latter is furious when he learns that his leader tried to rape a child. Deucalion saves Tiras from execution and banishes him back to Persia. Japheth faces decapitation by sword or a more painful death if he can't outrun Deucalion's war hounds. He dies a horrible death.

In Mexico, Cipactli leaves his long-time lover and moves in with Tupoc, the father of the sacrificed girl. They gather other disgruntled citizens who are disgusted by Diokles' blood-thirsty rule. They make short raids at night to test their strength, stealing livestock and killing guards. Four suspects are captured and Diokles publicly cuts their heads off as a warning, tearing out their hearts as the crowd cheers their Sun God.

In Giza, Ziu's son SETH kills his brother Osiris as foretold: he tricks him into a 'magic box' that is covered with jewels and valuables and then sticks his sword in the air holes, stabbing Osiris to death. Ziu banishes his own son to the wilds of the desert where he befriends warlike tribes.

Osiris's sister, NEPHTHYS, who is married to her own brother Seth, secretly takes his body to be buried in a secure tomb. She uses her new techniques of embalming and wrapping in cloth bandages. Isis was already pregnant by Osiris and gives birth to a son, HORUS, who becomes ruler of Egypt.

In Mexico, there's an all-out battle between Diokles and Cipactli and Tupoc and their army. Twenty prisoners are captured and decapitated. Diokles' wife and her sister are so disgusted that they banish him from their room and refuse to have sex with him again. No matter: Diokles is soon siring many children with various women around town.

Cipactli is finally captured and Diokles brutally rapes his four-year-old daughter in front of him. He orders five virgins for the sacrificial ceremony in which Cipactli will be killed and rapes them all the night before. Just before he's about to cut Cipactli's head off, lightning strikes his sword, felling him to the ground. Tlaloc steps in and kills his former lover.

In Egypt, Seth and his desert rebels won't stop attacking. Horus, now 14, sets up a clever ambush, challenging his uncle to a duel. He then nimbly outpaces him, exhausting him before killing him. Decades later, Diokles is an old man and suffers a fatal stroke. In Athens, Deucalion, who has plans for a beautiful temple (our modern-day Parthenon), dies of a heart attack on the grounds. 250 years later, Serai is still alive in Giza. Part 'star-man', she has the gift of almost eternal life. All of her friends and relatives are long gone. She values Thalia's journal of their time during the great flood and the rebuilding of society. Egypt flourishes under wise, just Horus, whose father Ziu becomes known as 'Amun-Ra', the Sun God.

4. There's a dual narrative between the past and present. Was that difficult to write?

With four different stories plus the modern narrative, it was hard to keep track of all the elements, so I just wrote one story, then the next and so on. Then I started splitting them up so that they all integrated. Hopefully, that works. My reviewers say it is successful. Books two and three were easier in that book 2 is about five characters in the space of one calendar year, and four of those continue into the third book by forty years into the future.

5. Which character are you most like? Which character is most different from you?

Paul Vaughan is the character that is most like me: he is the mouthpiece for the things I believe in. Gradually, in the third book, that changes so that his son Jared becomes my mouthpiece as his father retreats somewhat into the background. There are two characters that are most unlike me. The first is Diokles/Huitzilopochtli who becomes obsessed with live sacrifices in the pre-genesis of the Aztec civilisation, and in the second book, the antagonist is Dougie McDonald, a thirteen-year-old psychopath whose date with destiny in the shape of Jared's dog is the unexpected and riveting conclusion to book 2.

6. The reviewer discusses the masterful blend of fact and fiction. How did you balance the two?

The blend of fact and fiction was difficult: I had to balance the first book, set on five continents over twelve thousand years. The fiction was the stories and the characters that I created and the fact-checking was carried out by the conversations between Jared and his father. Book 2 was easy, with just five characters in Tasmania in one calendar year. Still, book 3 goes into the present and the future, balancing real-life incidents in the Ukraine/Russia war and using real-life characters such as President Zelenskiy in a way that hopefully does not result in legal proceedings!

7. Who would be your ideal reader?

The ideal reader is someone with an open mind, who can accommodate a bit of ancient history with a retelling in an alternate manner, along with a bit of sci-fi. There are, however, trigger warnings: book 1 contains graphic violent images that a friend of mine has said, 'Those sequences, was seen, cannot be unseen.'

8. What's next for you? Do you have more books in the works?

Already completed are two books in a series called The Lost Princes, retelling the story of the Princes in the Tower, but overturning Shakespeare (how dare I?) and based on the latest factual research which proves fairly conclusively that both boys survived until after the death of their 'wicked' uncle, Richard III. When one considers motive, opportunity and power, there is only one man who fits the bill: Henry VII. The two books are not about Henry, however, but each one is the story of one of those boys. The Lost Heir is the story of Edward V and The Lost Spare is the story of his young brother Richard of Shrewsbury who may or may not have been the pretender Perkin Warbeck.

In Final Stages is a different type of modern story that looks at the phenomenon of remembrance of past lives by young children. I have created a character, Dexter, who at the age of six tells his mother he is buried in a cemetery, then leads her directly to a grave where the date of death is his own birth date. He claims to be that man. Under gentle counselling, he reveals multiple 're-incarnations', meeting up with other children from around the world and becomes quite famous when his counsellor writes a best-selling book about him.

I like to end with fun questions.

9. What are your favorite authors?

Stephen King's The Shawshank Redemption, The Stand, Misery and The Body (the basis for that wonderful film Stand by Me).
Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies, Dickens, Isaac Asimov (with whom I share a birthday), Frank Herbert and John Wyndham.

10. In a movie of your life, who would play you?

I have often been told that I have a resemblance to Donald Sutherland, but he died this year. Perhaps Benedict Cumberbatch.

11. Do you have a favorite quote that you can share with us?

Professor Brian Cox: 'Science is different to all other systems of thought because you don't need faith in it, you can check that it works.'

12. If you could travel to any time period past or future, what time would you travel to?

I would travel to the time of the building of the pyramids where, perhaps, I would find a time when the ancient gods ruled and amazing machines flew through the air.

[Blessed Hope]

the synopsis was well done and it seems the book is highly captivating but the author has a caveat. You must be open-minded because some of the stories touch on scenes thousands of years ago and some are purely fiction