The Impartation

Major David Jennings had got where he was by hard work, a few good breaks, and for not getting caught at everything he Main Characters... Click here to dowload a free sample PDF from The Impartation (970 kb)

Gary Hughes, Author of: The Impartation

Political conspiracy finds a place in most of my fiction, generally the same story but told from different angles and viewpoints: a web of misdirection and deceit, at the center of which the evil spider manipulates from the shadows. In The Impartation the structure is complete and the rotten ruler comes out in the open for all to see.

Although he dominates the world he doesn't own it or even truly control it, that privilege reserved for a greater, better entity. And so the bad guy falls short, never quite as powerful as he'd like us to believe. His impotence makes him all the nastier but thereby, for many of us, comes hope.

Tales of the future tend to be bleak and cynical, for we sense a dystopia closing in about us. And yet, like the introduction to the Tale of Two Cities, it will be the best of times and the worst of times. Even though men's hearts might fail them for fear there will be joy and laughter too, if nothing else for the awful administrator carries political correctness so far he becomes the butt of his own joke.

I've got to admit I like the toys too. Technology is fun, even when it becomes smart enough to be frightening. We need a few more stories of exploration, conquest, frontiers, and discovery. Who says that's over and done with?

In the fall of 2006 I began to wonder what to try next as a writer. My thoughts went out to the first half of the Epilogue chapter of Alyen where I'd delivered a brief glimpse into a totally different, yet somewhat related scenario. Why not finish it?

I sat down and pounded out five chapters. I liked them. They felt good. But I had no idea where the rest of the story was going. And so they sat several more months until I decided to try something different. I wrote an outline, a small page of notepaper to a chapter, and took off.

A year or so later a friend who'd read it and said he wanted more named an idea he would have liked to see explored. As he spoke, I realized I wanted to see it too. By the time the dust settled I had three more chapters and one of the faceless throwaway characters had acquired the name of Ty Shaw and a background to go with it.

A good story should do three things. It should take us somewhere we've never been, let us do things we've never done, and introduce us to people we've never met. The Impartation has done that for me, a personal journey into a world I almost recognize. More about Gary Hughes, here.