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I think ideas are generated without us always knowing it. I think anyone who is creative, whether they are an artist, a writer, a poet, an architect, is always inspired throughout everyday life, without even knowing it or thinking about it. We all draw from a vast range of what we see, hear, read or experience. A creative person doesn’t necessarily know how or why they create, they just ‘do’. They can’t help it, it’s built into their nature. Picasso is always quoted as saying that good artists copy, great artists steal. What he meant by that is a good artist will try and emulate a style whereas a great artist will select elements to include into their own unique style and I think that is true for good ideas when writing a novel.
I have always been a very creative person, and I have a wide variety of interests ranging from mythology and ancient civilisations, to studying the universe, to trying to understand consciousness. These interests came to life when I was about thirteen years old, and I obtained my first library card. I must have spent several hours in that library, every day of the week during the summer holidays. It was there I first discovered the mysteries of the universe, both natural and fantastical. I remember reading books about the creation of the universe and the solar system. I compiled an entire folder explaining the universe, from its creation to the various types of galaxies and stars, to maps of the moon and Mars.
My mind was also awakened to all the unexplained phenomena. I had notes on the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, the Yeti, UFO’s and had read books on the supposed finding of Noah’s Ark, books on Atlantis, Mu and Lemuria, the Bermuda Triangle, Stonehenge and other neolithic monuments. I read about the Mayans, Egyptians, the Greeks, and Norse mythology. At the same time, I was also reading the usual American monthly output from Marvel Comics – Thor, The Avengers, Silver Surfer and Galactus, and Captain Marvel. A good mix of ancient gods and cosmic heroes and places, something Timeslayers has as a central theme. It’s a steampunk adventure set in the cosmic world of the gods. Later I discovered the sagas of Conan the Barbarian – reading both the comics and paperback books by Robert E Howard. This kind of Fantasy world was completely new to me.
I guess this is probably true for a lot of creative people, ideas and influence are just gathered, without even realising it. Somewhere in our memory these things lay waiting for their potential to be released. Waiting for us to ‘steal’ the ideas and to weave them into whatever media we work in. I know that sometimes an idea will come to me at the most mundane of times. I don’t know why; I’m not thinking about the novel but maybe my subconscious is. I will then have to write it down. That might just be a word or two, a post-it, or I might write an entire scene or chapter, maybe without ever knowing where I am going to use it, all I know is, I have what I think is a good idea.
So, I think it’s difficult to put a finger on it as to where ideas come from. They are all around, the key is knowing when to use them, and how to access them from that deep subconscious and how to turn them into something original.
In a Steampunk Oxford, Ignatius and Indigo are both agents for the Union Jacks, a secret organisation. The role of the Union is to protect the British Empire, which is at the height of its powers, and help in its technological advances. They have discovered the existence of the mystical Book of Consciousness written by the creator of the cosmos, the genderless Omnisoul. The book is the history of everything that is, that has been and that will be. The agents are aided by Skye, who accidentally calls forth seven merciless immortals called the Charon.
Known as the Beautiful and the Damned, the Charon are the Infernal Dukes of Hell, created to carry out the will of the Omisoul. But they are tired of their immortality and want to end their existence. Elsewhere, the sorcerer Ragnar of Roc has conjured a hole in spacetime, allowing the draconic Elder God Calabi Ya to re-enter the cosmos from the Ghost Worlds. He is as old as the Omnisoul and wants the book to learn his destiny. The two Union Jacks leave Oxford and are taken on a journey across the cosmos in the great ship Taraka, which sails through space and time. Ignatius and Indigo are mere pawns in the cosmic ocean of fate, carried to fabled places, witness to bloody massacres, and half-willing conspirators in the Charon’s plot to thwart the Omnisoul’s plan and defeat the protectors of the Well at the Centre of Time.
Enjoy an Excerpt
He ran his hand through a shock of blonde hair that looked permanently wind swept. Isambard Ignatius was a tall young man; he was handsome, dressed in a frock coat of check tweed and an engineer’s waistcoat, complete with a large silver pocket watch and chain.
From previous research, Ignatius had discovered a vague reference to an archaic manuscript that was said to hold the key to reality, the story of the whole cosmos – what had been, what was and that which was to come. This was said to be the biography of the cosmos. Legend had it that the book was unique in being older than the earth, indestructible, and that whoever read it could see the events described within pass before their eyes. Ignatius didn’t believe this but did believe that in the wrong hands the book could be very dangerous.
Ignatius was beginning to realise that the body was, as many eastern aesthetics had taught through the ages, surplus, just a vehicle for the mind. This was a philosophy and science that would make religion obsolete. The view that the real world was nothing more than the physical world was destined to come crumbling down and be lost in the debris of all religious buildings. He knew this was why the Administorium were trying to keep an eye on his activities.
About the Author: 
Colin was born in Coventry and worked in the automotive industry for over twenty years before becoming an Engineering teacher. Obtaining his first library card at the age of thirteen, he became an avid reader of Fantasy and the mysteries of the Universe. He has an inbuilt curiosity for lost knowledge and ancient texts that may help to unlock the secrets of consciousness and the universe. Living in Oxford for many years, he has now moved back to his home county of Warwickshire where he enjoys creating and working with his wife on their garden in which he writes and entertains their two grandsons. He has always been an artist and writer and is inspired by the worlds created by Robert E Howard and Michael Moorcock, with the artwork of Frank Frazetta.
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They kept to the shadows so no one would know they existed, and preyed on the nameless who no one would miss. Where did they come from, and who was protecting them? In a city that had seen every kind of savagery, they were something new, something more than murderous. And one woman who had thought she had lost everything there was to lose in life would soon find that nothing could possibly prepare her for what would come when she entered their world.
A retired high-school teacher and former college instructor, Kevin R. Doyle is the author of four novels in the Sam Quinton mystery series, all published by Camel Press. He’s also written four crime thrillers, including And the Devil Walks Away and The Anchor, and one horror novel, The Litter, along with numerous short horror stories published in small magazines over the years. The first Quinton book, Squatter’s Rights, was nominated for the 2021 Shamus award for Best First PI Novel. A lifelong Midwesterner, Doyle currently resides in Missouri and has loosely based the city of Providence in the Quinton books on Columbia. 
Seeker: As societies grow increasingly fragmented, hopelessness, nihilism, and division are on the rise. But there is another way—a way of mystery and magic, of wholeness and transformation. Do you dare take the first step? Our path is not for the faint-hearted, but for seekers of ancient truths…
I believe in free-will, and that we all can make a difference. I believe that beauty blossoms in the conscious life, particularly with friends, family, and strangers. I believe that genre fiction has become generic, and it doesn’t have to be.
