The Zodiac Cycle

I've always been into astrology. I don't think the horoscopes in the Times are worth the paper they're printed on, but I've known too many hornball Scorpios, meticulous Virgos, and delusional Pisces to think there's nothing to it. It's a hobby, and I'm not fluent in the mythos, but I have a better working understanding than most. This is precisely why it drives me fucking crazy when nobody in fiction gets it right.

Usually, outside of his or her own sign, writers don't know jack about astrology, and yet insist on using it for a witty one-liner, a one-dimensional character quirk, or even a plot point. And they do it wrong almost every time. I remember several years back there was a short-lived comic series I read of, hyped in Wizard magazine. Reign of the Zodiac was about a world where twelve peoples, each for one sign of the Zodiac, were in the midst of political strife. When it seemed the writers were adopting the elemental aspects of the signs and using them as a plot point, I was intrigued and hopeful.

Then I read the first issue. "Steaming pile of crap" doesn't even begin to cover it.

In addition to being poorly written, they got the cultures all wrong. I mean ALL WRONG. Virgo, the sign of pragmatism, analysis, and order being represented by a shallow, foppish, decadent prince (and not in an intentionally ironic way) was just wrong. I couldn't even make it to Issue #2. Well, that had been disappointing. I vowed then and there that one day I'd write a Zodiac-themed story, and I'd get it right! And then I pretty much immediately forgot about it.

A few years later, I caught Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica, one major element of which was the Twelve Colonies of Man, Aerilon, Tauron, Gemenon, etc. I thought, "Okay, interesting. Oh, hey, Caprica is the seat of government and politics. That's actually pretty right on. Maybe there's hope." Then Gemenon became the world of religious fundamentalism (should've been Picon), Aerilon was known as a primarily agricultural world (should've been Virgon), and Sagittaron? Thinly veiled Christian Scientists (I have no idea). There was some minor improvement in The Plan, where Libran was noted for its court system, but for the most part it was clear the writers really hadn't given it much thought. And even when this was amended later (apparently, an elaborate document on the characteristics, cultures, and economies of the Twelve Colonies was written between BSG and Caprica), I highly doubted it was based on any kind of astrological lore.

This awoke the fire in me anew, but what to do? I had no idea. I mean, building a fantasy world from scratch... that's a tall order. And I didn't even have a story or characters to work with, much less a medium. That was a recipe for disaster. So, I thought, "You know what? Fuck it. Build the world. Build the world and the cultures in it with as much thematic accuracy as possible and let that world tell you what the story is.

So I got to work.

For nearly a year, I'd been devising geographical domains, ethnic and cultural templates, economies and religions for these twelve zodiac tribes. I took into account each sign's archetypical traits, its elemental designation, and behavioral quality. For instance, Aries is the cardinal fire sign. Active fire made me think volcanoes. This combined with the Arian tendencies toward rough edges and confrontation made me think of the Vikings, so their environment would be akin to Iceland, a subtropical volcanic terrain. And from there, I began to further develop the culture. And then onto the others.

And then slowly, quietly, a plot began to form. As it did, a structure came and I realized I was looking at a novel. And then I realized I was looking at three. Now, I don't subscribe to this fad nowadays that states everything cool needs to be a trilogy. Stand-alones are fantastic, but 1) The trilogy structure works well for a reason; 2) I've always been an epic kind of guy. My stories do indeed grow in the telling, sometimes even just the dreaming; and 3) it was just. too. perfect.

I decided to call the trilogy The Zodiac Cycle. It's simple, descriptive, got some nice word play going on there. Each volume would be split into four sections or books, each of those representing one of the signs of the zodiac, going through it in sequence, starting with Aries, ending with Pisces. Each sign's book would feature that culture in a prominent role, but wouldn't exclude the others. That way it would keep things from getting too predictable. Just because Leo wouldn't come until the beginning of Volume Two doesn't mean we won't hear about or even see them in Volume I, and other cultures could play important roles in the Leo segment, but Leo will prove in that book to be the most important. In the beginning of it? In the end? Who knows? So...

VOLUME ONE covers Aries to Cancer.
VOLUME TWO covers Leo to Scorpio, putting the sign of intrigue and mystery right at the end of the second installment. Nice!
And VOLUME THREE covers Sagittarius to Pisces.

I'm not going to give away what the myth arc is really all about, but I can say that as we're starting in Aries, the protagonist is a young Arian man of about twenty, and the story follows his journey though the world. Aries being the sign of energy, initiative, and impulsivity, it seemed a great place to start with a character, giving him a lot of room to grow from his enlightenment and increasing worldliness.

I am more and more excited about The Zodiac Cycle every day, and I can't wait for even more elements to take shape. Without giving too much away, here's a basic idea of what can be found in Volume One: Rising Signs.

In the first "book," Aries, we are introduced to our protagonist, Aerik, who is neither the classic hero nor the bad-ass rogue. He is simply a man of his culture, which will be admirable, repugnant, or both, depending on the personal values of the reader. In his efforts to find his friends, several of whom were serving aboard a ship that's mysteriously gone missing, Aerik comes across Sianna, a common Scorpian girl far from her homeland, on the run from a strange and relentless cult hell-bent on her abduction. Sianna doesn't know what they want with her and has no intention of getting close enough to them to ask. Overburdened with troubles of his own, Aerik is content to leave Sianna to her fate until he realizes that not only is she a useful traveling companion, but she just might be the key to discovering where his friends are... assuming they're still alive. In the process, they'll pick up lots of hints and clues that, while irrelevant to their initial goals, will awaken them to an impending conflict that will change the word as they know it forever.

No, they do not fall in love. Ever. Did you really think I was going to be that pedestrian?

More to come as I have it.