Today, I'm handing over my blog to JOHN FIORAVANTI so he can talk about his new book.
Over to you, John!
THE GENESIS SAGA
TOUR
I’m grateful to my host of this fifth post
of THE GENESIS SAGA TOUR, and to Nonnie Jules of 4WillsPublishing who arranged
it all! The full lineup for this tour can be found @ http://wp.me/P43s9i-2g
My purpose, is to give readers a greater
familiarity with planet Genesis – within the Equations universe created by
author and friend, Kenneth Tam.
To this end, we embarked upon a series of
interviews of some key players in Book One of The Genesis Saga: PASSION &
STRUGGLE. Nonnie Jules of the famed interviews, ‘Who’s On The Shelf With Nonnie
Jules?’ agreed to lend her
formidable skills to this process. She gave me the nickname “Fio” a while back
– so keep that in mind in case she opts to use it!
Nonnie and I are together in the formal
living room of Professor Marco Rossini’s home on the University of Genesis City
(UGC) campus. Marco is about to give us some historical background about the
earliest days of humans on Genesis going back roughly 700 years – to the year
2181 CE. Let’s listen in…
MR: Nonnie, I want to take you back to the year 2181 – the human
survivors of the Omega Virus are aboard the United Nations colonizer ship, UNS Divine Scepter, and are only a few
days’ travel from Genesis. John actually found this story buried in the
archives. I plan to make it part of a book I’m going to write. Do you mind if I
tell you?
NJ: Not at all! I love a good story, right Fio? (John grins and winks at Marco.)
MR: Great! This story involves Jethro Hodge – an ancestor of today’s
Navy Marine Commandant, Gillian Hodge – and his five-year-old grandson,
Joachim. Jethro was not a military man, but rather a civil engineer and
architect. He was preparing to direct the construction of Genesis City when the
ship arrived. The story unfolds in his home…
Joachim Hodge bounded into his
grandfather’s cozy reading room to find its owner sitting in his favorite
chair, absorbed in an old-fashioned book. Hearing the boy’s running steps, the
sandy-haired family patriarch dropped the book in his lap just in time to reach
out, catch his airborne five-year-old, and set him upon his book.
“Great catch, Papa!” The boy
squirmed as he reached for the book under his bottom. “What’s this, Papa?”
“That’s the story of our people,
JoJo.”
“Our family?”
Jethro Hodge smiled at his only
grandchild. JoJo gave himself that nickname when he was learning to talk at
twenty months. All he could manage from ‘Joachim’ was ‘JoJo’ – and it stuck as
the family began to use it from that day forward.
“Yes and everyone else’s family too.
Tell me, what did you learn in school today?”
His Papa asked him that question
almost every day, but today young JoJo’s face lit up with excitement as he
remembered the big news.
“Papa, do you know that we’re all
flying in a spaceship? It’s called Divine
Semper! How come, Papa?”
Hodge opened the book in Joachim’s
lap so the boy could see the picture of the ship on the inside cover of the
leather-bound volume. “This is our ship, JoJo; it’s called Divine Scepter.”
“That’s the same picture we saw in
class today,” Joachim said pensively as he studied the drawing carefully. The
boy looked up from the book and locked eyes with his grandfather. “What’s a Divine Semper, Papa?”
Jethro settled in to tell his
grandson the story. “Well, JoJo, a
scepter is a fancy staff carved from wood used by kings a long time ago. The
staff was a reminder to their people that the king had the power to rule. The
word ‘divine’ means something that belongs to the Gods.”
Joachim scrunched up his face in
thought for a moment as he looked at the picture. “It doesn’t look like a
staff.”
“You’re right, it doesn’t. This ship
was provided by the Gods as a sign of their will that we travel to a new
world.”
“How come, Papa?” Hodge smiled
indulgently at the oft-repeated question.
“Well, young sir, that is an
interesting story. Shall I tell you?”
“Please, Papa!” Jojo’s face was
animated as he clapped his hands together in glee. He loved his grandfather’s
stories.
“Alright, Jojo, get comfy now. It
all started a long time ago, before any of us on this ship were born. Our
grandparents and great-grandparents came from a world called Earth. But there
was a terrible war – people fighting each other, and killing each other because
they disagreed about the Gods they believed in.” Jethro looked to see if the
boy was following. He nodded his curly head, so Hodge continued.
“One day, some people created a very
powerful disease to make their enemies sick and then die. They called it a
virus. It was so powerful that no one could control it… it had a mind of its
own. They called it Omega. You won’t
believe what happened next… Jojo… are you listening?
Little Joachim had fallen fast
asleep in Jethro’s arms. The story would be finished another time…
NJ: Marco! You’re just going to leave me
hanging? I want the rest of it…
MR: And so you shall have it, Nonnie! But first, let me get us some
refreshments. I baked chocolate chip cookies this morning, and I know they’re
John’s favorites…
Join
us next time when Marco finishes the story for Nonnie!
Author Bio:
John
Fioravanti is a retired secondary school educator who completed his thirty-five
year career in the classroom in June, 2008.
Throughout
his career, John focused on developing research, analysis, and essay writing
skills in his History Classroom. This led to the publication of his first
non-fiction work for student use, Getting It Right in History Class. A Personal
Journey to the Heart of Teaching is his second non-fiction work; it attempts to
crystallize the struggles, accomplishments, and setbacks experienced in more
than three decades of effort to achieve excellence in his chosen field.
John’s
first work of fiction is Passion & Struggle and is set within Kenneth Tam’s
Equations universe (Iceberg Publishing). He claims that, after two non-fiction
books, he’s having the time of his life bringing new stories and characters to
life!
At
present, John lives in Waterloo, Ontario with Anne, his bride of forty-one
years. They have three children and three grandchildren. In December of 2013,
John and Anne founded Fiora Books for the express purpose of publishing John’s
books.
Contacts:
Book Purchase Links:
Blog Tour Links:
Goodreads Event
Page – https://www.goodreads.com/event/show/953117-the-genesis-saga-tour
Rafflecopter
Giveaway Page – http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/4af5be7f10/?
"This tour sponsored by 4WillsPublishing.wordpress.com."
"This tour sponsored by 4WillsPublishing.wordpress.com."
No comments:
Post a Comment