Funny how some things come about. My new near-future
apocalyptic/survival horror series, Fading
Empires, actually began its humble beginnings not in a novel format, but as
a graphic novel. As a keen observer of history as well as anthropology, I’ve
always been fascinated by tribes, migration patterns, and gangs. From the
mighty Huns who swept across Europe, Asia, and beyond, to the ferocious
Visigoths who pounded on the gates of the Holy Roman Empire, to gigantic street
gangs here in Los Angeles, these large groups have had an overwhelming
influence on the societies that they were/are in.
My initial comic book was called Street Warz, and it focused on a street
gang in the near-future which vied for power with other gangs. Taking a cue
from the 1970s cult classic film The
Warriors, each gang had its own style of dress and was usually known for
something that made them stand out. The gang was called the Black Stone Villains and the main
characters consisted of a nihilistic psychopath, a violent pimp, and an ex-Special
Forces deserter. Yes, I was going for maximum grit. The Black Stone Villains fought against not only other gangs, but also
a futuristic police state which oversaw things the best they could with an iron
fist.
One night while brainstorming with a relative, I
realized that I had a lot more to say than just covering hyper-violent gang
wars. I started to back up and rise above these smaller conflicts, looking at
them within the context of a larger picture. Why were the cops so brutal? Where
were all of the power players in the rest of society? Was there a rest of
society, and if so, what was it like?
I needn’t look too far for inspiration and ideas; I
merely looked around at the world that exists today; filled with egregious
corruption, a disappearing middle class, encroaching police state,
environmental degradation, suppression of common human rights and dignities,
and so on. Only, I imagined all of these factors on steroids, as in how they
further develop down the road in the near-future; say 35 years or so from now.
At the rate we’re going now what I projected is most prescient. Today we live
in a world where even though 97% percent of the scientific community across the
board agrees that climate change is happening all around us, people have buried
their heads in the sand believing that if they ignore the facts, all the bad
stuff just doesn’t exist. And that’s not even touching on the wholesale
environmental neglect and downright conscious pollution that humans seem privileged
to inflict upon our Earth.
Government and corporate corruption are at
astronomical levels; every time that you turn around there are several new
scandals breaking out, it’s as if it’s the end of the world and true human
greed is revealing itself as company CEOs, government officials, and many of
their lackies and vassals are going for broke and reverting into their true
feral and devious natures, like unquenchable bottomless pits of shameless
gluttony. Corporations are now big information power brokers with you and I
caught in the undertow of shady agreements that have these massive
conglomerations farming our personal data to the governmental intelligence
gathering apparatus. Today, our individual privacy is just a little less than
it was yesterday and tomorrow it will be more eroded, along with our basic
human rights.
But that’s okay because most of the masses are
easily distracted by fast shiny objects, such as fluff celebrity news, a
multitude of contrived scandals, and numerous false-flag operations. And concurrent
with this is one of the largest contributors to the sheeple mindset; shopping.
As the highly compromised corporate media loves to ram down our collective
throat continuously, we are mere
consumers. As the unchecked rise of the corporate state started to form
gigantic conglomerations, especially in the 1990s, people morphed from being
citizens to be economic units; or consumers, fit to run off like heat seeking missiles
towards stores while trampling fellow sheeple to death in order to be the first
ones to buy shiny new things. And as much as the slimy advertising industry
would have you believe, corporations aren’t patriotic; they undersell American companies
and ship our jobs overseas.
As a result of all of these factors, many people
feel as though they are powerless to make any sort of change as these issues
just sweep over them, washing them out into an ocean of strip malls, car
dealerships, meaningless elections, and professional sports infatuation.
I thought that it’d be interesting to imagine what
this world and its murky prospects would look like a little ways down the line.
Being a fan of horror; true horror not slasher crap, injecting some aspects of
horror which could really happen seemed fun as well. And ultimately having
humans faced with apocalyptic events also up’d the ante, so to speak. All of
these factors lead to the germination of Fading
Empires, and its impetus began as I started to construct the scaffolding
around its universe. I wanted to make it as entertaining as possible while
still giving people something to think about, should they want to. I’ve had a
few people, who wanted to keep the blinders on, review my first novel in the
series as an action piece, and nothing more. And that’s fine but there is much
more there for those with critical thinking skills who can step away from
themselves and their own fragile egos. I’ve also created a wide range of
characters (it is an epic series after all) that with the hopes that each
reader out there can identify with at least one of the protagonists, or…antagonists,
as the case may be. The goal was that you, the reader, could come along and
feel as though you are making a difference by living vicariously through the
trials, challenges, issues, and growth that the characters face and undergo.
Rising
Storm is only the first of twelve novels and this is only
the beginning. My publisher, Assent Publishing, and I are planning to expand
the Fading Empires brand to include a
series of films, video games, and merchandise. You’ll be seeing a lot more of Fading Empires as soon as it gains commercial visibility and viability.
Ian Kane is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and
author. His new novel, Rising Storm:
Fading Empires Volume I, is available now
at the following links:
And
don’t forget to check out his website: iankanebooks.com
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