CrossTown
Loren W Cooper
Genre: Fantasy/SF
Publisher: Red Hen Books
Date of Publication: Nov 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-1939096029
Number of pages: 340
Word Count: 95000
Cover Artist: Red Hen Staff Artist
Tagline: CrossTown is the crossroads of possibility.
Book Description:
Zethus is a sorcerer―a self-described spiritual thug for hire. He makes his living in CrossTown, a place where the manyworld hypothesis of modern physics manifests itself, where possibilities and probabilities overlap.
Caught up in a web of intrigue as he investigates the death of his master, Corvinus, and pursued by agents that want to erase all knowledge of Corvinus’ work, Zethus discovers that the key to his master’s murder lies in the last project he had pursued before his death. The roots of this project lie deep in the past, at the origin of CrossTown’s fractured reality.
Once he understands the stakes, Zethus must make the dangerous journey to the cradle of history. The price he must pay to find the answers he seeks will threaten everything he holds dear―including his own humanity.
“Beware the road outside your front door, for it is all at once old friend and passing stranger.” –CrossTown
“A sorcerer explores the frontier of theoretical physics.” Publisher’s Weekly
Excerpt:
Roads and
streets run like veins and arteries through the beating heart of CrossTown. Each runs through all manner of distant and
not-so-distant possibilities.
streets run like veins and arteries through the beating heart of CrossTown. Each runs through all manner of distant and
not-so-distant possibilities.
There's a theory in modern physics
that posits a universe for every decision we make. Each time we choose, right or left, high or
low, vanilla or chocolate, we split into separate universes. A vanilla me here, a chocolate me there, a
rocky road with pistachio me somewhere else, and some poor lactose intolerant
me further down the line. The dominant
me is my subjective reality. In
CrossTown, the probable mes collapse into the dominant wave, but all those
wandering Ways continually wash other alternate lives, lives meant to be lived
in CrossTown, up on its jagged shores.
that posits a universe for every decision we make. Each time we choose, right or left, high or
low, vanilla or chocolate, we split into separate universes. A vanilla me here, a chocolate me there, a
rocky road with pistachio me somewhere else, and some poor lactose intolerant
me further down the line. The dominant
me is my subjective reality. In
CrossTown, the probable mes collapse into the dominant wave, but all those
wandering Ways continually wash other alternate lives, lives meant to be lived
in CrossTown, up on its jagged shores.
The names of
roads are choices; the turning and branching of roads are choices; roads are physical
manifestations of their builders’ decisions…
roads are choices; the turning and branching of roads are choices; roads are physical
manifestations of their builders’ decisions…
Everywhere,
every place and every time where man or something like him has lived, roads run
into one another, branch, disappear here and reappear over there as if they
were quantum tunneling. They run, meet, part,
cross again, and form a bewildering Mandelbrot set of linked probabilities.
every place and every time where man or something like him has lived, roads run
into one another, branch, disappear here and reappear over there as if they
were quantum tunneling. They run, meet, part,
cross again, and form a bewildering Mandelbrot set of linked probabilities.
Beware the road outside your front
door, for it is both old friend and passing stranger.
door, for it is both old friend and passing stranger.
All those choices, all hooked
together, comprise a vast sea of possibility.
A knowledgeable traveler can ride the currents in that sea to unimagined
destinations…
together, comprise a vast sea of possibility.
A knowledgeable traveler can ride the currents in that sea to unimagined
destinations…
CrossTown is the crossroads of
probability.
probability.
About the Author:
Loren W Cooper is the author of four novels, one short story collection and one nonfiction work. He has won the NESFA in 1998 and the EPPIE for Best Anthology in 2001. He is married with two daughters. He currently lives in Cedar Rapids Iowa. Favorite authors include Zelazny, Hammet, Steakley, and Catton. Loren Currently works for Hewlett-Packard.
https://www.facebook.com/WanderWays
Interview with Loren Cooper
Where
do you get inspiration for your stories?
Other
stories. I think Twain said good writers borrow, great writers steal.
Truth be told, stories are all around us. I've always been fascinated
by myth, so I often draw on myths or mythic characters. For example,
Zethus (the main character of CrossTown) is a throwaway character in
Greek myth. Zethus is the brother of Amphion, who was a great
musician. His music was so great, that when Zethus and he competed to
build the walls of Thebes, Amphion played and the stones daned into
place, whereas Zethus had to move the heavy stones by hand. Mphion
wins, and Zethus vanishes from myth. But what might have happened to
Zethus after that? Might he not have been inspired to seek out a
magic of his own? And where might that search have taken him? And so
the inspiration for the main character of CrossTown came about.
How
did you do research for your book?
Write
what you know. That is to say, I'm a voracious reader, so when I
write and I need historical detail (like for the Tri-State Tornado,
which is the inspiration for the episode of the Gold in the book) I
dive deeper into hooks I already have in mind from references I may
have come across in a book, or a documentary, or in a story I hear. I
then go back and read more books specific to the topic to get as much
detail as I can. Detail is the key to verisimilitude. Detail is key
to keeping the reader interested. A great deal of writing is drawing
on a building repository of experience. When I travel, I like to
explore the history, the food, the culture of the places I travel. I
always put that information for later use. I listen to as many
different people as possible, trying to soak up different
perspectives and experiences. I never know when that may be useful
later. Everyone has a story to tell. In addition I try to draw on as
much direct experience as possible. For example, I've studied martial
arts for years—so I use that knowledge in conflicts in the books I
write, even though Zethus is no traditional martial artist. As a
sorcerer, his conflicts are more purely spiritual.
Do
you have another profession besides writing?
I
do. I am a Global Systems Engineering Manager for HP Inc. I have a
team that collectively maintains and develops large scale software
infrastructure for HP Inc.
If
you could go back in time, where would you go?
That's
a time and place questions—when and where. There are so many
possibilities. And I don't know that I'm currently prepared (the past
is a dangerous and complex place). But with preparation, I'd love to
go to Alexandria before Julius Caesar arrived. The Lighthouse of
Pharos and the Library would both still be intact. Imagine with a
little training in Greek the manuscripts one could discover that no
longer exist. Imagine climbing the lighthouse and watching night fall
over the Mediterranean. Imagine traveling a short distance outside
Alexandria to look at stars undimmed by atmospheric or light
pollution.
What
is your next project?
I
have a couple of things going on... I am in the process of submitting
a finished novel based on the end of days drawing heavily on Norse
myth, but crossing through historical characters, times and places,
as well as impinging on the present day. I'm also working on a
semi-sequel to CrossTown centered on a character who finds his way
onto the WanderWays with no knowledge or experience. There's a loose
tie to Gilgamesh framing up around the main character, and the
discoveries he has to make of his own hidden nature, as well as the
discoveries he makes once he sets foot on the wild roads of
probability.
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