By and copyright of Owen Quinn
People always ask where a writer gets their inspiration from and the simple answer is…everywhere.
In the case of Magic Box, I was set a challenge. Messing about with an AI the above image came up of the reptilian guy in the top hat. Immediately, I was formulating a story around him in my head. That happens sometimes. The most random things can kickstart a story or an idea in your head that fits. Add to that, a friend of mine’s seven year old came up with a monster for me. She had put such thought into him that I had to work him in. She insisted he was a bad guy so at one point, I had to drop all redeeming features for Gobien. Gobien was described as below.
“He’s eating someone so he’s big, has two horns but one was broken in a fight with another monster. Claw marks from the other monster across its tummy, 4 eyes, slime for hair and its nostrils are on top of its head for breathing. It’s called the Gobien.”
I get a kick out of the fact, that the Time Warriors makes kids imagine all sorts. A kid’s imagination is endless. I was and still am, that kid. So I added her in as a character in one of the Tales of Ballinfree book series. It was the least I could do.
So my latest villain duo was born…almost. I had no name for the lizard ringmaster but he had the look of a ringmaster so obviously the concept of a circus came up. But this was space so it could be no ordinary circus. It became a flying fortress that would land on planets and still be broadcasting to subscribers while in space. The fortress would be the Magic Box.
The lizard was exotic looking, almost an anti Willy Wonka. So, Casio Candrelor and chief henchman, Gobien, were born. Running a family circus while maintaining a dark web. He was into alien trafficking, organ harvesting, snuff broadcasts and more.
The next issue was how and why the Time Warriors would be captured by him to fight on the dark web as his prisoners. In an earlier story, Left Unsaid, Michael and Rachel talk about an unseen story. In it, an alien chef, Chef Chemy had installed a hyperspatial biogenetic tracker in a gym. He was sending subliminal messages to users to stay fat and he would kidnap them and serve them up in his restaurant. What if Casio was Chef Chemy’s brother? That would give him motivation and make sense of why the Time Warriros suddenly find themselves in another glaxy and being broadcast to species and worlds, they had never heard of. A plot point there is, have they just painted a target on their backs or made alliances vital to the protection of Earth?
Time will tell, it always does especially when an old enemy makes a cameo at the end kicking off a future book.
The Time Warriors action figure range grows significantly with Magic Box with a host of new aliens and robots introduced to the Time Warrior universe. One day…
I’ll not spoil the story but it leads to a life changing decision for Michael and Rachel.
Magic Box is part of the Time Warriors When Angels Burn & Other Stories available on Amazon and all good book shops.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 