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Rand McLester Author Interview
Fifteen Billion Years I Alpha and Omega follow two men that are drawn in to the creation of the next universe without being aware of it. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
Writing has been a hobby since I was a teen-ager. The Book of Revelation, time travel, and the Bermuda Triangle [among other things] have always interested me. Why not write a book using them. Although, I didn’t intend to write more than one book until I finished Alpha and Omega [a long time ago] and realized “the story” was a lot longer, and more involved than I thought it would be, to complete the story.
What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?
Our world has “good” people and some really “bad” people. It has always been that way. The characters are either good [honesty, integrity, don’t lie or steal, etc.] or bad [real scumbags]. When I was a kid, our mom and dad made us go to church [until I was 16]. I hated it then, but sure appreciated it later in life. They were the best parents a kid could ever have asked for. I kinda modeled Reed [in the books] after myself. And some of his “life” is based on my own life. When Jessica told me her last name is Reed, I figured ok, that might be a “sign”. May sound dumb, but that’s what did it. I figured if Infused Media can make the trilogy affordable for regular people, I’ll republish it. That’s part of why I trust Jessica.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The primary theme is good vs. evil. The good is God, the evil is satan, but satan and his adherents are “disguised” early in the storyline and not actually revealed until book two, after the millennium.
Sub-theme: creation vs. evolution. We know there were dinosaurs and cavemen a long time ago; so, there are dinosaurs and giant Troglodytes in the story [book one], basically following the Earth’s timeline from beginning to end [Armageddon].
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
Right now, I don’t have time to do another book.
I was going to write a fourth book [a series] but decided the trilogy has a conclusion of its own, so I decided not to do it. I believe every good adventure story needs a cool battle for its climax and to be honest, one of the main reasons I didn’t write the fourth book is because the battle in the end of book three is between God’s angels [called Mystics in the books] and satan and his lost souls [called Dark Forces]. The battle is about 90 pages long and keeps changing as it progresses to the climax; so far, I haven’t been able to come up with a better battle for a fourth book [unless maybe it would take place in hell, and that would be difficult to describe].
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
Revelation 16: 16 (RSV) Holy Bible
In the not too distant future…
A blend of Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings, the Fifteen Billion Years Trilogy is an epic adventure loosely
based on the Book of Revelation in the Bible. With the end and beginning of mankind, the characters
must overcome impossible odds in the unending conflict of good versus evil… with hope for a future.
Alpha and Omega is the first installment of an engrossing adventure bound with unfailing friendship,
uncommon faith and undying perseverance.
Alpha and Omega:
An open-pit copper mine, the world’s largest superfund site now refilled and reclaimed. Disguised as a
scientific research center, but in reality, the planet’s most imposing military stronghold controlled by
the world’s most evil general.
Two men who know the secret… and a time machine.
The leap to a faraway and distant future through a horizon threshold on the edge of the universe… and
callow people in a new but primitive world beyond the Black Hole.
Then returning to an oppressive Federation controlling a world in tribulation… and a wiry little old man
with scraggly gray hair and bristling beard.
The entire planet on a collision course toward the ultimate conflict.
…Armageddon.
Fifteen Billion Years I: Alpha and Omega
Fifteen Billion Years I Alpha and Omega follows the story of Doctors Ames and Reed. The book begins in a secret military base disguised as an underground research center in the not-so-distant future. The book wastes very little time in making it clear that this is a dystopian future, on the brink of collapse. However, Ames and Reed are more focused on their day-to-day tasks. The two men are privy to the base’s secret. It houses a time machine.
Author Rand McLester dives straight in, throwing the two men 10 million years into the future. However, they’ve only managed to swap one dystopian future for another, which is much worse. They soon discover that the world as they know it is long dead, and society has begun again. Life in this new future is primitive and brutal. Ames and Reed venture out into this new world, scientific curiosity piqued. They make friends and enemies and learn about love and loss on their way. Ultimately, they must make decisions that will have drastic consequences in their own world and this new one.
Fifteen Billion Years I Alpha and Omega is a sci-fi book that is much more ingrained in the fiction side of things than the science. McLester inserts some interesting scientific principles into the novel, but the book leaves enough room for readers to form their own conclusions about how and why things happen. The relationship and banter between Ames and Reed are delightful. Throughout the book, they go from colleagues to brothers, which is one of my favorite parts of the book. New characters and relationships are introduced throughout the book, and the vast majority are handled well.
McLester has interesting things to say about science and religion in this alluring novel. The book is not light on subtext, giving readers a clear view of McLester’s feelings on the subjects. Readers can enjoy this as a fun time travel tale or as something a little deeper.
Fifteen Billion Years I Alpha and Omega is an engaging novel with time travel, exciting action scenes, and mysteries to be solved. There is quite a lot of violence described in detail at times, but otherwise this is a straightforward science fiction book that is easy to sit down with and enjoy for a few hours without overthinking.
Pages: 365 | ISBN : 978-1685060060
LITERARY TITAN 