Title: Rise of the Ancients - Annuna
Author: JC De La Torre
Publisher: DLT Atlantis
Format: Paperback
Pages: 292
Release Date: July 31, 2009
Drawing comparisons to adventure writers Clive Cussler and Dan Brown, JC De La Torre has quietly become one of the most exciting young fantasy authors around. His debut novel, Ancient Rising, drew rave reviews from critics and fans a like. Now he brings his follow up – Rise of the Ancients – Annuna, which continues the saga of Dan Ryan, Prometheus and his team against the gods.
The Greek gods of antiquity are real, freed from their underwater prison in Atlantis and exacting revenge for their incarceration. One man stands against their destruction of humankind – Dan Ryan. Ryan was the man who inadvertently raised the fabled continent from the depths and freed the gods after being tricked by the sinister Hermes. Ryan, along with the Titan Prometheus as well as the remaining members of his team – Doc Constant, Doc’s granddaughter Mina, and their associate Martin Jackson; battle to stop the Gods from wiping out the human race.
As they flee across the Atlantic, the team encounters the gods at every turn, attempting to prevent them from reaching a secret location in the Mexican rainforest that could be the catalyst to saving mankind. Prometheus, as the champion of man, defends their Atlantean vessel from the various onslaughts.
Before Dan can journey to the secret location, he must learn from the mistakes of those who came before him. He learns how life was brought to the Earth by an ancient race of ascended beings called the Annuna and of a young Atlantean Prince named Alosletian who faced a similar situation. He learns of Alosletian’s rise to power and the eventual fall of Atlantis.
It falls on to Dan to convince the Annuna to join the fight against the gods.
De La Torre’s descriptive style places the reader in Atlantis, on the sea with Dan and his compatriots, in the dark cold of outer space, on a strange world, or in the hot, musty Mexican jungles. His action packed, thought provoking novel uses the entire pantheon form Roman, Greek, and Jewish literature to present his picture of the creation of the world.
“I tried to create an authentic world to transport the reader,” De La Torre said, “I performed extensive research on the ancient cultures and tried to incorporate as much authenticity as possible without hurting the overall progression of the story. Of course, when you’re talking about mythological worlds like Atlantis and Nibiru – there’s some dramatic license that can be applied. Still, I think I’ve been able to create a believable world and chronology that makes sense and adds to the ongoing action.”
About JC De La TorreSpeculative Fiction author JC De La Torre was born on September 4th, 1973 in Tampa, Florida. Author of the critically acclaimed underground success Ancient Rising, De La Torre has a special relationship with his fans, whom the author says he "loves dearly", and makes himself available to them via his website and email.
De La Torre has a passionate interest in Speculative fiction - including Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, the Occult, Alternative History, and strange, amazing worlds. His writing will include all of these sub-genres and other interesting excursions.
De La Torre also has a keen love for sports including American football (both professional and collegiate), NHL hockey, Major League Baseball, and college basketball.
De La Torre currently resides in Wesley Chapel, Florida with his loving wife Rita, their new Yorkshire Terrier, Lestat (aka Mr. Poopenstein) and their two cats, Marius (aka Blackie) and Artemis (aka Arty). Rita and JC were married on Novemeber 17, 2001 and in 2006 Rita completed her own work of Fantasy fiction, Dark Dragon, which should be re-released soon.
JC De La Torre – Ten Questions with the author of the Rise of the Ancients saga
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself
I live in the USA, Florida to be more precise. I've lived here all my life and couldn't imagine living elsewhere. I’m happily married to a wonderful woman, have two cats and a dog. No kids, and don’t really plan to have them. I’ve been writing for over two decades and have already published one novel, Ancient Rising, which pretty well received. It help give me the confidence to continue the saga.
2. Rise of the Ancients – Annuna is the second of the series – is that correct?
Yes, it is a continuation of the storyline that began in Ancient Rising. However, I’d say I balanced the recap of the first book so that my fans that read the first novel aren’t bored while those who have never read Ancient Rising can still understand what’s going on. I just hope that if they enjoy Annuna, they’ll want to see how it all began in Ancient Rising. Maybe that’s where the podiobooks come in - the book is available for free in podcast format on podiobooks.com…of course, I’d rather have them buy the paperback so I can get the support I need to continue my work.
3. How did you come up with the concept for the series?
Well, there’s a lot that goes into it. I love mythology, I have a passion for archaeology and researching things from the past – the Rise of the Ancients saga was birthed from that passion. The Greek gods, the Annunanaki (whom I call the Annuna), Atlantis – these are all fanciful things that captured my imagination and I hope will do the same with my fans. I also like action, adventure, and romance – I tried to infuse all of that into this series and I’m pretty happy with what came out. There was also a book by an author named Herbie Brennan called the Atlantis Enigma that sparked the ancient astronaut story in my mind. I added the Annunaki, the Greek Gods, even a little Jesus Christ, a couple of Brennan's theories tossed it all into the pot and let it simmer until the perfect concoction came out.
4. We noticed a long period between Ancient Rising and this book, why is that?
Oh well, mostly laziness on my part. Seriously though, I spent a good year and half promoting Ancient Rising, then…well, life happened. I tried to build my own publishing company and publish other speculative fiction authors but unfortunately, we never really got off the ground. It’s a shame, really. So I had to deal with that catastrophic failure and all the entanglements that went with it. Not to mention, I do still have a full time job in Information Technology. Before I knew what happened – bam – three years had passed me by and those fans had been waiting far too long and weren’t too happy with me.
5. You call yourself a speculative fiction author, why not just a Fantasy author or Sci-Fi author?
Excellent observation. I don’t just write contemporary fantasy. I write horror, sci-fi, alternate reality, paranormal – pretty much anything that falls into the Spec-Fic realm, I write. So I felt that the speculative fiction author label fit best. You’ll see examples of each when my short story collection, tentatively titled Welcome to My Nightmares, is released later this year or early 2010.
6. Are there any differences, structure-wise between Ancient Rising and Annuna?
Actually, I’d say there is quite a bit of difference. In Ancient Rising, we were telling the story of how Dan got into the predicament he found himself in. I liken it to Indiana Jones meets Clash of the Titans. Dan is thrust into a breathless search for Atlantis, traveling all over the globe to piece together the clues to find the fabled continent…then when he gets there, it’s a big surprise waiting for him.
Annuna not only continues the story, it also takes you back to the origin of the gods – introduces the Annuna and their home Nibiru and it also focuses on the rise of a young Prince Alosletian, who becomes King of Atlantis when it falls from the gods’ graces. Annuna I think may be a lot more fantasy at its core than Ancient Rising. In Ancient Rising, The fantasy side of the story (with the exception of Hermes and the Sacrolites – a band of zombie like creatures) really didn’t kick in until late in the book – while Annuna punches you right in the nose with fantasy themes from the start - so fans who expect a Da Vinci Code style investigation and chase may be disappointed. Annuna is truly a contemporary fantasy novel.
7. Even though this series is steeped in Greek myth, somehow you mix in Christian, and other religious themes as well. Tell us about that.
Actually, the last part of the book definitely has those characteristics. Angles, Demons, even Jesus all get involved. Thoth is an Egyptian god. It sounds confusing but they all have their place in the hierarchy of the Annuna. I tried to make sense out of the diversity in religion. The Sumerians believed in the Anunnaki and the Annuna, the Greeks in their Gods, and of course the Christians believe in Jesus – I wanted to find a way to incorporate all of those religions into one believable chronology (while giving a wink to Egyptian, Islam, Buddha, and Hinduism).
8. You mentioned Da Vinci Code, some reviewers have likened your writing style to Dan Brown – is he an inspiration?
Its very flattering to be compared to a mega-successful author like Dan, but to be honest, I hadn’t read the Da Vinci Code or any of Dan’s work until after Ancient Rising came out and I heard the comparisons. I liked the book a lot.
9. Who would you characterize as your inspiration?
Oh there’s many superb writers that I enjoy. My favorites include Stephen King and Anne Rice, and even to a lesser extent JK Rowling. I don’t really mimic anyone’s style – at least I don’t believe I do. I write as I like to read. Some people love a voluminous behemoth of a novel with 200 page chapters – not me. I enjoy short quick chapters, fast-paced action, with just enough detail and character development to paint the picture in my head. Sometimes I go a little overboard with description – but I try to put my reader right in the middle of the action. Still, I don’t think it slows it up and at least as I’ve been told, my style keeps you turning the pages to see what happens next. I think that’s a good thing.
10. What does the future hold for JC De La Torre?
Lots of writing – not only will I be releasing my short story collection, I also have a new time-travel saga I’m working on called Continuum Force (copyright JC De La Torre). It’s going to allow me to continue my passion of research into ancient cultures like Rome and Alexandre the Great. I’m really excited about it. We will continue to add episodes of Ancient Rising to Podiobooks.com. That should take us the next three or four months.
I’ll also have some more Rise of the Ancients fun…a prequel highlighting the first war in heaven, things like that. Stay tuned to my website at http://jcdelatorre.com for more information on all of that. I can promise there will not be another three year layoff.
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