By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
copyright Owen Quinn
THE GIFT:
I had already started to expand the supporting cast as it helps add to the mythos and expands our main characters.
Robert is Tyran’s brother and a real millionaire’s son, living a lifestyle using his father’s success and name. In Tempest he had been tricked by one of the Family’s operatives Sharon into thinking she was pregnanat with his child when in fact he was being used to gain access to the Juggernaught.
A lesson I learned from Doctor Who writer Malcolm Hulke was to give life to even the smallest of characters. With Robert I wanted to see the consequences of the trauma they had all been through in Tempest. Is it possible that people can change for the better through pain or is it a temporary reaction?
In The Gift at the request of his father and Varran’s graciousness, Robert is spending time with the Time Warriors especially where his sister Tyran can keep an eye on him. While exploring another world, they come across Zara, a girl being hunted. Rescuing her they discover she is from a world where her gift in communicating with the dead makes her hughly prized and a prisoner for life in a golden cage. Varran is uneasy as it goes against his beliefs and an argument breaks out between them all. Robert takes Zara and they go off the grid.
The story focuses on just them in a cabin where no one can find them and over the weeks Zara brings Robert an inner peace he has never known. He teaches her about Earth customs and they fall in love. But tragedy is just around the corner threatening their new found happiness…
There was a scene originally where Zara and Robert have sex for the first time but upon reflection I cut it so it was implied rather than shown.
It’s an enjoyable coming of age story.
FIRE AND ICE:
This was designed as an intro to Rachel following her return to Michael in Tempest. Rachel finds herself in another reality where the Earth has been invaded by the reptilian Saurians. Fighting to free humanity is a seemingly one man band, Yuri. Escaping with him, Rachel discovers there is more to the invasion than meets the eye.
This is an action packed story which allows Rachel to showcase herself as the newest member of the team. Hopefully between this and Tempest, she will endeared hrself to the readers.
IRISH EYES:
In a famine stricken village in Ireland Varran finds something alien is terrorising the shrinking population. Can he help stop the starving villagers from leaving to America and stop whatever it is that is stalking them? With the help of a local teacher, Varran suddenly finds there is more to fight for than he realised.
As you know I love a village under seige and I thought it would fun to not only explore part of Varran’s past but set a story during the Irish famine to educate people on what happened and the reasons behind it. Irish Eyes became a lot more poignant than I intended but also became a nice exploration of what motivates Varran to help a strange planet.
TWISTED:
Alternate future time when Michael and Jacke are thrown into a world which knows about the Xerebans and the Juggernaught is a stripped out hulk in Hyde Park. Internment camps hold thousands of people, Tyran is in the resistance and Varran is working with one General Castle who has an agenda to wipe out every last Xereban who have secretly invaded the Earth. Hunted by the government Michael and Jacke must fnd a way home before they are captured and executed.
I love alternate world stories like Star Trek’s Mirror Universe so this one had to be done. It’s a joy to put our characters in different situations and see different versions of themselves. You can do anything you want and push the envelope.
TRINITY:
In ancient Ireland something alien has buried itself beneath the land watching and waiting. The Warriors arrive and are helped out of trouble by a young shepherd boy. He is plagued by visions and when alien parasites begin attacking the human and animal population, the fight is on to stop the monstrous Soogara from making Ireland their new power base. With every life on the planet on the line, Maewyn the shepherd boy must fight alone when the Warriors fall.
THE MOON ONCE MORE:
With this story I wanted to see what it would be like for a seemingly ageless being like Varran to watch helplessly as a friend dies. This is set in a hospital room where Varran sits by the bedside of his terminally ill friend, Derek. Would Varran be jealous or sad as he listens to the clock tick tock its way to Derek’s last breath?
This one is essentially a stage play with two people in one room. This allows a bit more intensity and reflective dialogue with the clock a constant reminder that time is running out. So what does that mean for a Time Warrior?
The Time Warriors and Beyond 