The Shrouded Omen of the series, The Leviathan Order, started as a story of a murder on board a cruise ship ten years ago and became a juggernaut combination of drama from a call center. It sparked imagination mixed with comedy, with a touch of darkness, creating the perfect blend of suspense and mystery. Already out on Amazon.com, this story proved exciting to readers finding out who did it. So, what inspired this unlikely story?
It began while we were on a cruise. My family was vacationing, heading to the Caribbean, on a cruise from Miami. We wondered about real-life mysteries of people who disappeared at sea. These tragic circumstances inspired the embryo of a project called Rain Clouds Over Miami. It was about a family who discovered clues on board a cruise ship leading to a murder. This fantasy held strong roots in folklore and true stories about disappearances, tragedies of ships sinking, sickness spreading uncontrolled, and crime. This unfortunate truth led to great ideas, but not enough for a full novel. I loved the idea, but it never held enough interest for me to pursue seriously. So, I postponed it.
Recently, while working in a call center, I imagined a romantic comedy of a workplace romance mixed with a mystery. Call center drama stories were rare, something I couldn’t ignore. But with little imagination, it was far too thin to consider. I felt it was missing serious pieces of substance. What would be the core story of this drama? It certainly had potential, with plenty of fertile ground to plant seeds. I watched videos of former employees on cruise ships to piece together their daily lives, the KGB, and Alaska’s Russian roots. Then it hit me. Why not make a story based on an Alaskan call center? They could sell cold-weather clothing, providing the perfect ironic background for a company that was corrupt enough for my plot. Now the story had all the makings of a great mystery, and when I combined ideas from Rain Clouds Over Miami, I knew I was on to something special. Still, it lacked heart.
I struggled through my first and second drafts and found little emotive detail. Yes, there was a murder, but nothing stood out to me that popped. No wonder, as it was stuck in a mundane story about ordinary call center employees who go on a cruise together to Alaska. If I couldn’t find something to bite onto, I knew my story was in trouble.
It wasn’t until a personal tragedy struck that I found the answer. I lost my father as I began my third draft. Most of my ideas were very dark and troublesome. I had little patience and felt the sting of loss through my writing. Still, I pressed on. It wasn’t the first time I’d written about it, but this was as real as glancing at myself in a mirror. Then it came to me. Why not have the characters fresh off a loss? I had no desire to do this, to revisit such horrible feelings, but as I did, it hatched a three-dimensional twist that was sorely lacking. And so, both my main characters began with a horrific casualty in their lives. Levi, fresh off the death of his fiancé, and Zaria, the death of her mother. I made the right decision, but still I wanted it to be a lighthearted story. How could I bring humor to a tragic book? My answer came as I was bingeing my favorite shows and finding inspiration for comedy. It provided me with the influence to take on darker topics of loss with the perfect combination of humor. I mixed enlightenment from other sources to make unique character blends. This was a similar approach I took in earlier books.
I found the ultimate piece wrapped in Alaskan folklore and culture. A totem pole mixed with Danish culture, called a Nithing Pole. This dark relic, cursed and coated in blood, provided the terrifying glue to keep this story mysteriously haunting. Seemingly indestructible, and many decades old, this dark omen appeared in myth and legend as a token of death. When Levi finds it in his luggage, things take an ominous turn. Will he find who gave him this terrifying object before the next murder?
The Shrouded Omen emerged as one of the most multi-layered stories I’ve ever written. Readers will read in earnest as they discover secrets layered in mystery. I’m very proud of this work, a page-turner until the last sentence. Find it quickly by clicking here.
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