Young New York veterinary student Geoffery McKenna travels west into a potentially fatal game of hide 'n' seek involving the recently discovered fossil of what may indeed have been the legendary unicorn; a creature which existed just before the dawn of man and whose horn is reputed to cure illness, banish poisons, and seperate the wicked from the innocent. No one is safe from corruption in this twisting tale where deception may lie in the alleged justice of a band of wronged Native Americans, or as easily in the hands of a four year old child. Follow Geoff on the trail of thieves and would-be murderers as his dreams are ripped out from under him while he digs for answers and the way back home in a 35 million year old mystery...Trumpet Of The Unicorn.
Querant: Is this a book about a unicorn?
Ed: Not in the fanciful sense. Technically, any animal with a single horn or horn-like growth on its head can be called a unicorn, and that's what the diggers in my story discover--a previously unknown early mammal featuring a single, slender, backward-curving horn set at about the middle of its skull. I based it somewhat upon the general build of a protoceras, a sort of early deer.
Q: Trumpet is about a paleontological dig in Montana. Did Michael Crichton's Jurrasic Park influence you at all?
E: JP was the first Crichton book I ever read. I enjoyed it so much I reread it several times in a short period of time. I was thrilled when I heard they were making a film of it, and started to follow as much as I could about the movie-making process. When I saw the dinosaur sketches by Crash and knew Spielberg was a part of it, I knew it would turn out to be something special. I saw the movie eleven times in the theatre, and of course I now own a copy myself. I've been fascinated with animals, zoology, and biology since I was very young, but I'd never really done any research on dinosaurs before. Crichton definitely influenced me in that direction. The study of dinosaurs and early reptiles lead me into the study of early mammals and other life. So I obviously can't deny there's a connection there.
Q: Why a unicorn?
E: Geoff McKenna is a semi-retired veterinarian with a smart alec adopted daughter in my sci-fi story Quasarmoon. The story was the first one in my Quasar series told by someone other than the hero, Alex, and so many people liked Geoff when they read the early manuscript, I was compelled to make him a regular in the series. I still have trouble believing so many people find this cookie-cutter character so appealing. The hero of Quasar is rough-cut and flawed. He burps, he farts, he swears, he gets violent when he's angry...a hard-boiled meat-and-potatoes kind of guy. (Hard boiled meat and potatoes? Hmmm...) I like Alex because I can be aggressive with him, I can emote darker shades of masculinity, I can work out my own problems with a roar and a flex and wink at some lithsome lady.... Geoff is tall, handsome, blond, well articulated, honest, innocent to the edge of naivety, intelligent, observant, analytical, tame, non-confrontational...some of the other characters tease him by calling him a Boy Scout. I didn't think people still rallied behind shining glory perfection heroes. I thought we were well into the age of tough guys with inner problems who get the job done, but then slink off to lick their wounds where nobody can find them. Anyway...Geoff had this whole past that was blanketed in mystery. He's like 45 in Quasarmoon. I decided to see how he'd spin off in his own tale, and I didn't want it to be something sci-fi. In Qmoon, he's got an interest in parapsychology and aspects of the occult, and I needed to try and explain where that came from. He also lives in Montana, but he's originally from New York. How'd that happen? I took him back to his early twenties, sent him to Montana for the first time, then needed a freaky reason for him to be there--once again, without the story turning into sci-fi. Let's see...veterinary student...aha! Cryptozoology! He could maybe find evidence of some mythological creature! Yes! Montana...Bigfoot? Nah. Something stranger...Jurassic Park...dinosaurs in Montana...yes, yes...a fossilized skeleton of some dinosaur that became the basis for legends of some made-up animal. Dinosaur...gryffin? Basilisk? I wanted a creature easily recognized so my readers could easily see an association...they could picture the creature without resorting to looking one up somewhere...unicorn? Hm. What kind of dinosaur looks like a unicorn? I mean, dragon's the easiest thing to choose... I went perusing my newly acquired books on dinosaurs and early animals. Early mammals! Ah! Yes! Something common...base it on something that really did exist so it's all that more believable...and then it just popped into my head. Let's make it a protoceras!
Q: Who is Geoff based upon?
E: Physically, I only wanted to contrast him against my gritty Quasar hero, so I took Alex and gave him manners and cleaned him up and basically produced Geoff. Geoff and his daughter Macy are loosely based on a couple of characters from a popular cartoon that was on at the time I first began the rough draft of Trumpet. Trust me--even if I named them, you'd find little or no resemblance. Again, I just needed a contrast to Alex to tell another Quasar story, and Geoff, who began as a shiny little stick figure, has since evolved into a very complex guy.
Q: At the end of Trumpet, you mention a sequel called Ravensara. How's that coming along?
E: Dragging. I'm close to completing my first run of Quasar stories--so that's been taking up most of my writing time lately. I started Ravensara, then had a really wild dream I liked and trashed the original idea completely to base the sequel on the dream instead. It'll be out eventually. Right now I'm letting Geoff lead the way for readers to enter my Quasar realm. When there's a demand for more sci-fi-less McKenna, I'll get cracking on it again. I'm also working on a mystery set in 1939 featuring all of the main characters from the Quasar series, including Geoff. The weird thing is, it has nothing to do with either Trumpet or Quasar 169.
Q: That is weird.
E: (sighs) I've always wanted to do a film-noirish period piece. Quasar was intended to be nouveau noir, like Blade Runner, but occasionally funny. It's taken off in it's own direction, though. I'd say it's flavored of The X-Files, Men In Black, and Michael Turner's graphic series Fathom.
Q:What flavor is Trumpet?
E: I hate silly questions like that. Trumpet is...I dunno what I could compare it to. The writing style is light and easy. It's quick and funny here and there. It's very clean compared to Quasar. I tried to keep it as realistic as possible...huh...what's it like? I suppose that's a mystery unto itself...
