By James Bowler

First trilogy only the beginning for local author

Oct 14, 2014 | 12:27 PM

A short-time ago in a galaxy very close by, a man had a dream that led to an entire trilogy of a new space opera.

Local author Trent Gillespie recently announced the publication of a third book, ‘Legion of the Red Ring’ in a series he calls the Galactic Odyssey Trilogy.

 Gillespie said the idea first came to him in a dream when he was a child.

“When I was seven years old I had a dream I was a space captain trying to save a planet from an alien invasion,” said Gillespie. “I helped lead the charge to defeat the aliens.”

Gillespie said his dream translated into everyday play where he would use his action figures to help play out the story over and over again.

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“Being a giant fan of Star Wars at the time and having a whole bunch of Star Wars figurines at home, I started to create my own world,” said Gillespie. “If I had a Han Solo toy that became the main character, if I had a Princess Leia that became the female lead.”

He said he began to build this world on paper with some assistance from his father.

“Finally I was able to focus it down and come up with the Galactic Odyssey,” said Gillespie. “It is very much inspired by Star Wars, it is very Space Opera-ish, but I’m not scared to get a little gritty with it and a little more violent and darker.”

Moving more to the ‘Dark Side’ with his story was also inspired by Stephen King.

“Stephen King was one of my earlier first reads, where I actually began to appreciate the idea of visualizing what I’m reading,” said Gillespie. “Stephen King’s style of writing with description came out in my book, and I definitely had to fine tune it so I’m not spending three pages talking about a landscape or something.”

Gillespie added that inspiration continues to hit him even now when he’s playing video games or watching a movie.

“It may have an idea that sends me off on a journey,” said Gillespie. “A plot will all of a sudden make me go off on my own tangent and maybe I’ll throw in a little bit of that to honour in my own stories.”

When it came to publishing his series Gillespie said he had explored the option of going through a publishing agency, but it became a frustrating endeavor.

“It was a bit of a jumbled mess, some places were like send in a full manuscript and others were like don’t send in a manuscript at all, just send in a synopsis and an outline for your story and we’ll get in touch with you,” said Gillespie. “Different companies wanted different things, and it just got to the point where I was getting frustrated of getting mixed results.”

Gillespie said his research into publishing led him to the idea of self-publishing.

“The first place I went to was Lulu.com, they had an easy process to publish my book, and I did it and I really enjoyed it,” said Gillespie.

From there Gillespie was able to connect more with the writing community in the area, which led him to a new website.

“I had other friends who were publishing books through createspace, which is a subsidiary of Amazon and it was much cheaper to produce them so I could sell them,” said Gillespie. “I started going through createspace and I haven’t gone back.”

And while the sales of his book might not be as high as going through a publishing agency, Gillespie said it’s not all about that for him.

“I’ve sold a couple hundred books and I’m quite happy with that,” said Gillespie. “It’s more about getting my story out and have people talk about my story, because I think it’s a pretty decent story I’ve got stuck in my head.”

“With this third book now being released I’m starting to see more people wanting to buy the trilogy.”

The future is bright for Gillespie’s space opera with new stories to tell and even a bit of an expanded universe into children’s books.

“I’m continuing on in more adventures with these characters,” said Gillespie. “I’m working on another trilogy in which the three books are going to be standalone, but they’re all going to be connected by a common thread.”

“I actually started writing a saying based on a kids horror book I read years ago, one of my characters in the book says ‘I’ll just wait till Max comes’, so I’ve titled the book ‘What happens when Max came?’.”

But there will also be a more kid-friendly connection to his universe as well.

“I’ve actually met an illustrator out of Saskatoon,” said Gillespie. “He and I have kind of been tossing an idea around of doing a kids novel based on one of the characters in my story, because one of my characters is a cute little bear, and I want to do a kids book so my kids can read it.”

“I don’t want my kids to read my book until they’re like 15 or 16, but I want them to enjoy the world right now.”

In the main series Gillespie hopes to break it into four trilogies.  

“There’s one overarching story that goes over 12 books,” said Gillespie.

Gillespie may have some new announcements as early as next year when it comes to the continuance of his Galactic Odyssey.

If you’re interested in keeping up to date with Gillespie you can find out more through his blog site or like him on Facebook.

jbowler@panow.com

On Twitter: @journalistjim