'THE VISION OF THE BLIND KING' Blog Tour: Guest Post by Ako Eyong

TIME TRAVEL IN FICTION

by

Ako Eyong

As an author of fiction, I think that time travel will always fascinate me.  And I am sure that I am not the only one. The concept of time travel goes beyond books and writing. It exists in the conscious and subconscious levels of the human mind so that it is common to find ourselves as individuals speeding through time, as we look at the big picture of existence,  sometimes  in a bid to situate our exact position within the vastness of universal existence.   

It is a train of thought that will easily unleash the imagination and send it flying through time and space, as we try to fathom some of the shadowy events of the distant past, that we suspect, have somehow led to ‘us’ being here. And this mental exercise is not limited to the past alone. Science fiction movies will frequently delve into the future, to create  scenarios of what life will be, even though little or none of these created scenes can be verified. Knowing fully well that to be the case, we still hold onto our penchant for visualizing occurrences from the most distant worlds, if only vicariously, through our imagination.

 Melenoc, from THE VISION OF THE BLIND KING is a character wrought from that world. He is a man who has experienced historical events of the ancient past, yet he is still present in the flesh, living on in the contemporary world. How did he manage that? He does not have the ability to squeeze himself into alternate dimensions that speed him forward or backward into different eras. Neither does he have the help of some futuristic device that Jules Verne could have construed.  He has achieved this by simply finding a way to cheat death and stay alive. In fact, he has lived for four thousand years. He has traveled through four thousand years of time and space, so to speak.

As I work with Melenoc, using him to explore the distant past, I am fascinated by him. His unending drive to achieve a bizarre dream, as he goes through many years of time, make him the ideal vehicle through which I explore some of most fundamental philosophical issues raised by man.  And it is interesting because, although I created him, I do not know half the places Melenoc has been to, or the things he has done. Not to mention the aliases he’s had to use over the ages, - all the people, both famous and infamous, who’d been but a front for him. 

At best Melenoc is a mysterious fellow, driven by an intensity that has propelled him through history in a way that cannot be logically explained.  Does it have anything to do with his exaggerated fascination with Time? He travels through it, guided by an uncommon determination to find an amulet that may have been meant to serve his sinister purposes.  The very long journey makes Melenoc the ultimate fictional vehicle through which I travel through time as an author of fiction, highlighting events, Ideas, and thoughts that I believe have always been, and will always be important to humanity. He allows me to do something which cannot be achieved in the real world. The beauty of fiction. 

THE VISION OF THE BLIND KING

by

Ako Eyong

Literary Historical Fiction

Paperback, 354 pages; Published by Ako Eyong, February 2013

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A people find themselves caught in a web of circumstances that push them to question the most fundamental beliefs about existence. It is a time of distrust, confusion, and uncertainty, -a time when loyalties are questioned and love is challenged. News that a powerful foreign enemy has its army on the march will quickly complicate an already complex situation, exposing fault lines that accentuate the stakes into a drawn out debacle between survival and extinction. As the people fight back to undo the tightening vise, it never dawns on them that their predicament could be a function of one man's infatuation with Time.

Vision Of a Blind King Web Tour Schedule

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Deal Sharing Aunt Jan14 Review

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The News In Books  Jan 16 Guest Post

Cuzinlogic Jan 20 Review

Most Happy Reader Jan 21 Review

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Sweeps 4 Bloggers Jan 23 Review & Giveaway

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