THE SPIDERS OF EDEN


By Dennis Lantz


My newest project is now finished. Tentatively called THE SPIDERS OF EDEN, it is a first-person science fiction thriller. In some ways it is my most personal writing yet. It combines my love of the outdoors, primitive survival, genetically modified animals and an underdog loner who fights against an evil establishment. 

As I have written before, to say that I read a lot while growing up would be an understatement. I devoured westerns, fantasy and sci-fi like sugary desserts. My favorite authors during those years were Louis L’Amour and Orson Scott Card. Though different in many ways, there is a similarity in their thinking that resonates with me.

Not only did L’Amour tell a good story, he painted pictures in the mind of landscapes, horses and mountains. By today’s standards his tales were formulaic and predictable. The hero always survived and his enemies were vanquished. The good guys won and always ended up with a good woman. They weren’t Hallmark romances, but the endings were similar.

Orson Scott Card’s books took me to other worlds and opened my eyes to sci-fi in a way others did not. I read much science fiction and most of it was satisfying. But Ender’s Game remains a favorite. Its concise writing style, major plot twist and young protagonist elicited purity. Near perfection. His later trilogies brought elation and fulfillment. When I finished them I felt whole. The world was right and made sense.

Dystopian movies speak to me in ways dystopian literature does not. I love when others share bleak visions of the future. Not because I think they are prophetic, but because they can be both a warning and show the fantastic possibilities of what may come. In my imagined worlds I take a different view. I call it semi-dystopian. Likely, hopefully, the world will never be as dark as some believe. But it will always contain various degrees of authoritarianism, greed, pain and despair. In such a setting, hope and happiness can be discovered and appreciated.

THE SPIDERS OF EDEN is the story I was working on when I decided to rework the Circus story into three books. (That project is coming along well. The first part is roughly finished and the second started.)The idea for SPIDERS came to me when Christy and I traveled to Florida a couple years ago. I wanted a story of murder and weapons in a world where neither was abundant. I rewrote this story dozens of times. It ended up being around 73,000 words, which as I’ve stated before is closer to publication standards than my earlier venture.  

In some ways, SPIDERS evokes images of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series, but it is actually closer to those Louis L’Amour westerns I read so many years ago. It is a story of survival, of learned freedom and fighting against selfish, ruthless adversaries. It’s not a love story, but the ending will still remind you of L’Amour.

I have finished a preliminary query letter and synopsis and will begin sending that information to prospective agents this week. I still believe in traditional publishing.

Side note: I purchased a new book called Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents. What I have read thus far is fantastic. If you don’t understand the world of publishing, it will give perspective. When I read the chapter on query letters, I immediately re-wrote my query. I hope I made it better. We are salesmen or women pitching our goods to a group of people who receive an abundance of such queries. Make it concise and leave them wanting more. Only when the tale is finished should you feel satisfied.

Until next time,

Read, Learn, Live

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