Kuro-Sil: The Book of Humans, Reptuuls and God – Book Tour and Giveaway

Q: What inspired you to write this book?

A: My stories were inspired by childhood imaginations of mine. One of the things I loved when I was a kid were the various monster and alien people in movies like Star Wars, and I always imagined being in their world to meet them, befriend them, and go on adventures with them. I always wanted to see a big sci-fi or fantasy story with a story like this, about a boy and a monster becoming friends and saving the world, but no story I read or skimmed came close to capturing that idea. Not to mention, the ridiculous amount of reboots and retreads from Hollywood and other entertainment corporations with terrible stories that undermine what came before really upset me. So I decided to write the story of my dreams myself. I was worried if my ideas would be too dumb for a big story, but I’m willing to take that risk and put it out there, hoping it will resonate with people some day. We need new stories, after all, and not the millionth Marvel movie.

Q: What can we expect from you in the future?

A: The most I can say is that you can expect a six part series of my Kuro-Sil books in the future, with the first chronological book, which I call “Rebels of Kuro-Sil”, in the series coming in the near future. (The first book I published is a standalone story, and not part of the greater narrative). Aside from that, I can’t promise anything else. I hope to make Kuro-Sil my life’s work, and at this point have nothing aside from it. Anything else I may have is merely an idea, and nothing more.

Q: Do you have any “side stories” about the characters?

A: I guess, technically, my first book called “Kuro-Sil: The Book of Humans, Reptuuls, and God” is a side story. It’s set within what will be the first official story of my series, and is a standalone, and isn’t supposed to affect the main story in any way. I have some side stories focusing on my main character’s father that I might publish as novellas. I would love to do other side stories following other characters, but as of now, I cannot think of anything outside of the main narrative.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Kuro-Sil: The Book of Humans, Reptuuls, and God?

A: I would love to. I have a really diverse cast of humans and aliens, both in this book, and the wider series.

The main cast of my series contains a boy named Orren Hawkins, and two Reptuuls (that’s the name of the reptilian aliens prominent in the story) named Kor’Ba and Ti’Ran respectively. Orren is a boy who, despite being raised among humans who tell him Reptuuls are the enemy trying to enslave humanity, longs to live with them and befriend them. He’s a curious and optimistic boy who longs for a dear friend who will help him grow. Kor’Ba is a disgraced soldier of the Reptuul military who bought Orren from a slave market. Kor’Ba is surly, stubborn, quick to anger, lazy and gluttonous. But despite this, he has a noble heart, and deep down cares for Orren, and will protect him from all dangers. Ti’Ran is the noble young prince of the Reptuuls. He helped Kor’Ba buy Orren, and helps train the boy up to withstand the dangers of the Reptuulian planet. He’s noble and outgoing, if a little pompous, but never to talk down to his friends. The trio has a deep friendship that is key to the story. Despite Orren’s situation as a slave, he idolizes Kor’Ba, and considers him his best friend. Kor’Ba acts like he doesn’t care, but deep down loves the boy. It will just take him a while to admit it. Ti’Ran is like Orren’s big brother, and the two adore each other dearly, while the prince’s relationship with Kor’Ba tends to be a little hostile. This is a story of a found family between two species, and what I hope it captures the hearts of everyone who reads my books. There are plenty of other heroes, but they aren’t as prominent in my first book.

There are other characters, such as Krull, one of the primary villains of my story. He’s the second in command of the Reptuul military, and the leader of a group of elite hit men called the Garathal. Krull is murderous, violent, and highly arrogant. He hates humanity with a passion, and wishes to conquer the universe and make humans the slaves of the Reptuuls. He seeks the power Orren contains, seeing it as his key to victory in the war between humans and Reptuuls. Though he is ruthless, he is also very charismatic. He loves to boast about his accomplishments and strengths, and is very bombastic and proud. I hope people find Krull to be an entertaining villain, as he is constantly hounding Orren and his friends.

Q: How did you come up with the concept and characters for the book?

A: Again, they came up from childhood fantasies. I love the aliens and monsters of fantasy and sci-fi like Star Wars, and wanted to make my own world where the aliens and monsters were more or less the stars of the show, since they tend not to be major characters in a lot of those stories, at least from my point of view. My aliens called the Reptuuls were inspired by various lizard people from other series, and thought they would make for cool heroes of a story. There are other aliens throughout my series, such as a race of spider people, orc people, and others inspired by like Star Wars. I would love to share what creatures directly inspired the Reptuuls, but I hope my potential future readers will figure that out themselves.

Q: Where did you come up with the names in the story?

A: I kind of just made them up. I just brainstormed ideas for names, and settled on whatever I feel fits the character or alien species. For example, I wanted my species called the Reptuuls to be named after “reptile”, with part of the name being something that sounded alien and menacing. So I created the suffix “tuul”, which in the Reptuul’s language means “mighty” or “strong”. That’s probably not the most inspired answer, but it’s the truth, and I feel there is a lot of just BS-ing when authors create names of characters or species.

Q: What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

A: My favorite thing is writing the character dynamics. I absolutely love team dynamics in stories, and figuring out how they act and how they treat each other. I have a lot of characters, and think I’ve done a good job at making them all stand out and having good chemistry with each other.

Q: Tell us about your main characters-what makes them tick?

A: Alright. Let me give you a little rundown:

    -Orren is a hopeful young boy who adores the Reptuuls, and wants to befriend them, no matter how much they hate him and persecute him. He enjoys adventure, reading, and gaming. He can be very closed off around people who don’t understand him. But when he’s among Kor’Ba and Ti’Ran, he comes to life. He loves his alien friends, and would do anything for them.

    -Kor’Ba is stubborn, short-tempered, and gluttonous. He loves to eat and sleep, and would prefer to sit back, fatten himself up, and watch the Reptuul sport Ba’Kralla, and is often forced into adventure. He acts like he doesn’t care about Orren, but deep down loves the boy.

    -Ti’Ran is noble and outgoing, if a bit full of himself. He longs to become the Valkaara (emperor) and save humanity from Reptuulian oppression. He loves sword fighting, history, gaming, and reading. He adores Orren like a little brother, and is always eager to show him the Reptuul world.

   -Burk is a klarok, and the heroes’ pet. He is lazy and stubborn, but deathly loyal to the heroes, except Kor’Ba, who he holds a grudge for selling him at an earlier point in time.

   -Krull is the leader of the Garathal, and the most powerful Reptuul in their empire. He loves to conquer and pillage. Nothing gives him joy than the cries of torment from his human slaves. He also loves to drink and feast with his companions, sleep with his harem, and plot more conquest.

   -Kedrik is a Skiterkas (a spider alien that appears a bit in my first book, and more prominently in the main series), and a close friend of Ti’Ran’s. He is a major troll, and loves to prank and scare his friends and especially his foes. He is the one who made the prince a gaming nerd.

   -Nalari is a Cerval (a deer-like alien that also appears as a cameo in my first book, and more prominently in the future). She is a servant of Ti’Ran, but is treated like a sister. She is more interested in mentoring him and Orren, is a bit uptight and lecturing and regularly butts heads with Kedrik, but is a kind, sisterly figure to the heroes.

   -Harrison is humanity’s greatest protector. He is a serious man who puts his life on the line to protect humans from being sold into slavery. He has no time for jokes, but cares deeply for his family, and is desperate to fix the divide between them.

Q: How did you come up with the title of your first novel?

A: The title “Kuro-Sil” came from a lot of brainstorming. It means “Lost Universe” in the language of my reptilian aliens called the Reptuuls, and it signifies the corruption and spiritual darkness of the state of the world our heroes live in. I wanted a title for a space fantasy series that could be about the universe and not relegated to the heroes. Like how Star Wars can be about the universe as a whole, and not just about Luke Skywalker, you know? The term “Lost Universe” sounded generic, so I decided to make up some words for this fictional language. I came up with the word “Siluk” for “lost”, and “K’kurosh” for “universe”, and combined them into “Kuro-Sil”. It’s something I hope stands out. And I came up with the subtitle “The Book of Humans, Reptuuls, and God”, because it’s about the war between humans and Reptuuls, and about how the Christian faith, which has been nearly forgotten in that time period, brings them together. I felt it would make for a good title for a standalone story.

Q: Who designed your book covers?

A: The people who designed my book cover is someone I found online called JustCallMeInsane. I have someone else doing my next cover, as my previous artist is unavailable. However, I will say that my main characters (Orren, Kor’Ba, Ti’Ran, Burk, Krull, Harrison, and Kul’Rath, the latter of whom is the emperor of the Reptuuls) was drawn by my brother in law, which served as the basis of later designs. He doesn’t work with me anymore, but I couldn’t be prouder of his skill.

Q: If your book was made into a film, who would you like to play the lead?

A: First, I would prefer a TV show. That would best medium for my book (I’d also like to do it animated, if I could). Second, I don’t have anyone in particular. For one thing, a good portion of my main characters like Orren are children, so I would have to find good child actors, which would be difficult. For the rest of the cast, I might want to get some unknown actors, which might be cheaper and could give some much needed spotlight to newer talent. I do have an idea for Kor’Ba. There’s a voice actor named Matthew Waterson, who played a character I dearly loved on the show Trollhunters, and I feel he could bring a good, gruff charm to Kor’Ba.

Q: Do you want your show to be live action or animated?

A: I want it to be animated. I’ve always been an animation fan, with two of my favorite shows being Avatar: The Last Airbender and Trollhunters, and would love to push the medium in new ways. I would love to show people that animation is for everyone and not be held back by it being “for kids” or something. Anime can be much darker than anything made in the West, and I would love to have that evolve. Though live action would be cool, and I would love my aliens to be designed with practical effects, it might be a financial nightmare. Plus, animation has the benefit of making aliens blend in more naturally to the world. I’m shocked that animated sci-fi never caught on.

Q: Do you have any other desires if your show was made into a movie or show?

A: I have a dream for the music for it. First, I want themes to return. So many modern shows have no theme, and the soundtracks are so forgettable. I want themes to return. And here’s a fun fact: I would love the composers of my story to be the teams of the Xenoblade Chronicles video games. Those are among the best gaming soundtracks I’ve ever heard, and I think it would make my show be amazing to watch. Though I might want some sci-fi tinge to the music, so I could also think of the Super Mario Galaxy teams or Xenoblade Chronicles X music to give it that futuristic edge.

Q: Did you learn anything during the writing of your recent book?

A: I think I learned that an idea may be good, but you need to put it down for a time and come back to it with a fresh perspective. The book I’m currently writing was something I started in 2019, and it was supposed to be my real first book, but I put it down because of my self-consciousness. My other book, “The Book of Humans, Reptuuls, and God” helped me flesh out some things and train my skills. So there’s that. I took a detour, which helped me greatly increase my writing skills before I returned to my original project.

Q: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

A: I think I’m pretty satisfied of my upcoming book. It could have a shorter word count, but I wrote everything I wanted to tell, and don’t plan on changing that. If I would change anything, I did have an idea a few years ago where Orren grew up under Kor’Ba’s care like an adopted son, and learn that he’s a human and try to find his real family, something like the Jungle Book. It was a little idea that never went anywhere, but it was a neat idea for a rewrite of the main story.

Q: What age demographic do you want your stories to cater to?

A: Teen boys. I feel most comfortable telling stories for teens or preteens. Kuro-Sil is something I would have killed to read if someone else wrote it in my teen years. Plus, I feel young boys have been done dirty with how they’ve been catered to by modern readers, so I want to give them something to connect with.

Q: How did you come up with name of this book?

A: I created the title “Kuro-Sil: The Book of Humans, Reptuuls, and God” as a general idea for the overall series. It’s about the Kuro-Sil, or the Lost Universe, how it’s about humans and Reptuuls, and how God brings them both together. For the rest of the series, I came up with a naming pattern similar to some of the Dune novels. My next book will be called “Rebels of Kuro-Sil”, and the follow-up will be called “Fugitives of Kuro-Sil”, and so on. The first word of each title is a description of the heroes’ status in each book, which evolves over the course of the series.

Q: What is your favorite part of this book and why?

A: In terms of my first book, it would probably be the climax. I loved bringing everyone together to overcome Krull’s scheme in one big final battle as they escaped the factory he trapped them in, rescuing a hundred slaves, and the final clash between Orren and Krull. It took me a while to figure out how Kor’Ba and Ti’Ran would rescue Orren from Krull’s clutches, but once I got over that hurdle, it all went swimmingly. (Don’t want to spoil anything for my next book).

Q: If you could spend time with a character from your book whom would it be? And what would you do during that day?

A: It would easily be Orren Hawkins. Not just because of his heroism and super powers, but because I would get to spend time with Kor’Ba and Ti’Ran. I would love to meet the Reptuuls in real life. I would have the time of my life with them, because they’re very fun, and surprisingly cuddly.

Q: Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?

A: There are some that might be. I feel there are some parallels between my real family and Orren’s human family that are unintentional. Most of the characters in my series are based on my own imagination, and others were drawn from fictional characters. For example, the main leader of the Reptuul military is a dignified and serious Reptuul named U’Bluk, and I derived his character from Grand Moff Tarkin from Star Wars: A New Hope, and Admiral Zhao from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I have a bully character I designed after Bakugo from My Hero Academia, and a robotic drone that could be considered like the droids from Star Wars, but I designed mainly after Wheatly from Portal 2. One character I designed sort of after Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop. There is an alien crime lord I have planned designed after Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars. That’s all I can say for now, because I could go on for a long time. I also don’t want to spoil too much, as well.

Q: Do your characters seem to hijack the story or do you feel like you have the reigns of the story?

A: I think I have tight reigns on my characters. I do outline how my story will go beforehand, so I that I won’t let the story go too off the rails. It’s an interesting challenge keeping all of my characters relevant throughout my story, and it will be interesting to bring them to a conclusion as my story comes to an end.

Q: Have you written any other books that are not published?

A: No. I have written other things in the past, but they are all fanfictions with just an outline, and no dialogue or anything like that. Many of them are lost, and the ones that aren’t I have no intention of publishing.

Q: What did you edit out of this book?

A: There isn’t too much. A lot of edited out stuff in both my first book and my upcoming book is just merely refining information and exposition and stuff like that. However, in “The Book of Humans, Reptuuls, and God”, I did edit out some stuff for time. One was some banter between Orren and Kor’Ba, which I might try inserting in another book. Another was a part where Krull had captured Kor’Ba, Ti’Ran, and Burk alongside Orren, and the heroes had a funny bit of banter. I edited that out because I didn’t know how to make the escape work. There was also scene where Ti’Ran splits from the group to stop some prison guards from torturing slaves, and gets angrily called back by Kor’Ba. It was supposed to be a funny bit, but I thought dragged the thing on a bit, and introduced some characters a bit too early. Most of the stuff hasn’t been anything that prominent, so far, unless it’s to have story revelations at a more impactful place.

Q: Convince us why you feel your book is a must read.

A: My story is styled after stories like Star Wars, Avatar: The Last Airbender, One Piece, and even Persona and Final Fantasy. If you want stories with heroes journies to defeat an evil empire, galaxy spanning adventures, over the top battles with supernatural powers, child protagonists, and colorful characters with great team dynamics, then read Kuro-Sil. Want something new after the millionth Marvel movie, and one with inspirational heroes after being burned by modern Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, Doctor Who and the like? Then read Kuro-Sil. Even want a sci-fi story about all species coming together through the grace of God? Kuro-Sil has got you covered. Let Kuro-Sil be the story for the next generation!

Q: Do you have an audiobook for your story?

A: Sadly, no. I would love to have one, though. I need to do some research on the finances and stuff for it. But rest assured, one will hopefully come. It might take some time for me to find a good narrator, and to coach him on the pronunciations of my made up words. (Maybe you can give me pointers on where to create one?)

Q: Do you prefer to listen to audiobooks or read a book? What was the first audiobook you ever listened to? Do you have a favorite?

A: I much prefer reading books. Nothing against audiobooks. I find reading much more appealing. As for the first, I don’t know. Would the old Hank the Cowdog books count? I loved listening to those as a kid. I also remember listening to some of the Harry Potter books when I was younger. I haven’t listened to a whole lot, but one that is my favorite is easily The Disaster Artist. That was a book written by one of the actors of The Room, one of the worst movies of all time. He narrates the audiobook, and does an incredible impression of that movie’s lead actor Tommy Wiseau for his dialogue. The book is funny and insightful on what went on behind the scenes of that film.