Rilloön: Dark Passage follows a young and strong humanoid-like female who takes off on a dangerous seafaring adventure to save her people. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Believe it or not, a very vivid dream served as the inspiration behind Rilloön. I dreamt of an island clan that I presumed had once lived on Earth.  It was simple hunter gatherer society that farmed from a rice paddy field.  Life was somewhat simple for these people with one major exception.  The problem these folks encountered was a major snake infestation.  This issue was so bad, they had created a temple for the snake gods.  

Unfortunately, this wasn’t exactly a pleasant dream.  These people practiced ritualized sacrifice so their entire population wouldn’t be decimated by the plague of serpents.  Sacrificial beds lined the deepest room in the temple.  The unlucky few were slid into the snake mouth carved at the foot of the bed.  This tunnel, in turn, emptied into the dark “underworld.”  These lost souls were never seen again.

What was the inspiration for the culture of your characters? Is it modeled after any particular society?

Primarily, the culture is heavily influenced by ancient Mesoamerica.  I studied the Aztecs and Mayan while in school.  There is also a generous helping of Greek mythology mixed in.  I paid homage to Apollonius’s ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ in the later chapters.   As you can probably guess, I was pretty much geeking out the whole time.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

There are a few themes that I explore in my book.   The first is that of an oppressive society.  The echniodyne are a poor and ragged society.  They have somehow managed to survive after the brutal decimation of their world.   (Fun fact.  The name I gave them is a zoological reference to barnacles.  They literally cling to the volcanic spires that jut out of the Alkaline Sea.) 

The echniodyne are ruled by the Fettaris, an upper-class order of priests.  This sect administers the fell will of their new gods, the evil Lecht’veneá.  It was interesting to dissect the many different levels of their hodgepodge society.  The echniodyne work together to survive, but things are far from harmonious.  From top-down, every level preys upon the other in some manner. 

You could also say the book is very environmentally friendly.  Karoquil is an extreme example of what happens to a world when industrialization runs amuck and unchecked.  Let’s just say that there is no love lost between the surviving mutants and their forebears.  Their world is a living hell.

Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out and what can your fans expect in the next story?

This is the first book. I am planning on finishing the story up in a second which will be a bit different from the first.

Author Links: Facebook | Twitter | Website