Blog Tour: Guest Post from Richard Hacker, Author of Die Back

Title: DIE BACK (Book One of the Alchimeia)

Author: Richard Hacker

Publisher: Del Sol Press

Pages: 332

Genre: Fantasy/Thriller

Six hundred years after a fifteenth century scryer gains the alchemical knowledge to create a dark future in his own image, Addison Shaw inherits a destiny to fight this ancient war threatening all he loves with extinction. Using an alchemical pen, he writes himself into past lives, leaving his body in the present. Upon completion of his mission, he must die in order to break the link and return home. While his enemy, Kairos, plays a three-dimensional chess game across the centuries, with each ‘Inking’, Addison’s world shifts further into chaos. From ancient Alexandria to modern Tokyo, Addison and his fellow Inker, Jules, battle against Kairos’ machinations. After Jules is murdered in the present and her consciousness trapped in an Inca princess five hundred years in the past, Addison, alone and close to defeat, discovers the only way to save his world might be to destroy it

Enjoy this guest post from author, Richard Hacker!

Behind the Curtain of DIE BACK: Alexandria 272 AD

In the fantasy thriller DIE, League ‘Inkers’ use the knowledge revealed to them in the Alchimeia to protect the time continuum. Using alchemical ink, they write themselves into past lives, leaving their bodies in the present. To return home, they must die in the past, breaking the link with their host. All of these journeys into the past have a foundation in actual events, from a battlefield near Cantigny, France in WWI to the flight test of the Wright Brothers’ aircraft for the Army at Fort Myer to the Inca encounter with Pizarro in Peru.

The opening scene of DIE BACK unfolds in 272 AD at the Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt. The city, founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, quickly became a center of culture, learning and commerce due to its harbor and geographic position. The Great Library, purported to have housed the most extensive collection of writings on the planet at the time, was damaged by a besieged Julius Caesar in 48 AD. Apparently setting fire to your ships near a library full of flammable materials does not bode well for the library. Go figure.

The year the League inkers enter the city, 272 AD, the Roman emperor Aurelius was in the process of putting down a revolt led by Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, destroying much of the remaining library buildings and contents. At its height, the library acted to gather as much of the knowledge in the world within its buildings as possible, housing from an estimated 40,000 to 400,000 papyrus scrolls. Librarians would depart Alexandria in search of new writings and ships coming into the harbor were asked to surrender their books for copying by the library.

The League Inkers have ‘inked’ to this place and time in order to keep the dangerous knowledge of the Alchimeia from those who want to control the time continuum and reality itself. So, the League has found an excellent location to hide the Alchimeia among the many scrolls. Not only is the document hidden among thousands of others, more importantly, it has been placed in a ‘time lock’. In 272 AD the Alchimeia will be destroyed within twenty-four hours of placing the scroll on the shelf. Only an inker with specific knowledge of the time and location will be able to reacquire the document.

Sounds like a very good strategy and I’m sure we have nothing to worry about…

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About the Author

Richard Hacker is a longtime resident of Austin, Texas who now writes and lives in Seattle.

His writing has been recognized by the Writer’s League of Texas and the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. In addition to his writing, he provides editing services to other writers and is the editor of an online science fiction and fantasy journal, Del Sol Review. His three published humorous crime novels ride the sometimes thin line between fact and fiction in Texas. DIE BACK, his first fantasy thriller novel, has been published by Del Sol Press.

When not writing he’s singing in a vocal jazz ensemble, cooking with a sous vide and a blow torch, or exploring the Pacific Northwest with his wife and his springer spaniel, Jazz.

Website Link: http://www.richardhacker.com

Twitter Link: @Richard_Hacker

Facebook Link: http://www.facebook.com/RWHacker