Dec. 21, 2012 came and passed, and with it went the idea of the Mayan's prediction of the end of the world.
However, one West Virginia Wesleyan College professor took the idea of a Mayan the end time and ran with it, publishing three books focused around the event.
Pete Galarneau, a communications professor at the college, began the idea to pen a novel-turned-trilogy after a dream he experienced in 1995. The dream launched into a nearly 1,000-page experience that took close to 17 years to finish and culminated in "Journey of the Daggers: The Complete 2012 Trilogy," which includes "The Cubit," "The Djed," and "0-Time."
"I knew it was going to be a trilogy," said Galarneau, "but I could not write it all at once, so I started releasing it in sections. 'The Cubit,' 'The Djed,' and the first section of '0-Time,' called 'PUSH' were released separately. I finished 'Predicate and Presage,' the final two sections of the last book, to be published in the trilogy."
"The Cubit" began as a short story based upon Galarneau's dream, but it turned into so much more. He began reading about different end-date scenarios because he wanted to base the work on something real. He became very interested in the idea of a Mayan end of time, which was based on a real science the Mayans created thousands of years go. So Galarneau coupled the end-date theory with something believable and created fiction from it.
It took Galarneau three summers to complete the first installment, which was published in 2008. However, in the time between his dream in 1995 and the publishing of "The Cubit," Galarneau completed his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan and his master's degree from West Virginia University. After he became a full-time faculty member at Wesleyan and the first book was published, he was granted a sabbatical to complete the penultimate book, "The Djed."
Galarneau is a self-publisher, publishing all installments of the trilogy himself. This experience has made it easy for him to pay it forward to Wesleyan.
"I teach public relations, and publishing a novel is a lot of PR," stated Galarneau. "Writing is one struggle, and getting people to know your work exists is another struggle. I try to teach my students to not take it for granted. Just because you create it does not mean people will know it exists unless you go about a strategic way of writing, presenting and distributing it."
With its Dec. 6, 2012 release, "Journey of the Daggers" has quickly become a familiar name throughout the state. This is not the end for Galarneau, either. He plans to continue writing and has a novelette that will be released within the next year.
"The last four years have been consumed by these characters and these settings in my head, and now that it is over, I feel very empty," commented Galarneau. "But I cannot stop writing just because these characters are all gone. I have tons of ideas, and I will keep writing."
"Journey of the Daggers: The Complete 2012 Trilogy" is available at all major book retailers online, on Kindle eBook, and at www.journeyofthedaggers.com, as well as the Fast Stop Food Mart, Wesleyan's bookstore, and the Samson & Delilah Beauty Stop, all in Buckhannon.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WBOY. All Rights Reserved.
