Nicholas C. Rossis is an epic fantasy/sci-fi author. He has released two books in his “Pearseus” epic fantasy series: “Year 18: The Schism” and “The Rise of the Prince” which became an Amazon bestseller. Now, he’s treating his fans with six science fiction short stories that will whet our appetite for “Mad Water” the third book in the Pearseus series. “The Power of Six” will be available on Amazon on May 15. Don’t miss out on reading “Simulation Over”; an exciting complete story right from this anthology in MM Jaye’s friends write. 

 

The Power of Six

The Power of Six is an anthology of six short science fiction stories, originally written between July 2009 and March 2012.  Shortly afterwards, I started work on my first novel, Pearseus.  Although the stories seem to be concerned with various themes, there are certain passions that run through them, almost obsessively.  What is the nature of reality?  Is there more to the world than we can see?

The first story, “Simulation Over”, is based on a dream I had, and deals with Descartes’ age-old question; how far can we trust our senses?  With technology progressing rapidly, the time can’t be far off when it will be practically impossible to tell apart sensory fact from simulation.  How will we be able to tell fantasy and reality apart?  The story was published by magazine 9 on October 17^th, 2009.

The second story, “For the Last Time”, is lighter in nature.  Another common theme, explored in depth in Pearseus, is that of the choices we make and their consequences.  The main character here makes one mistake after another.  As a result, he keeps getting in deeper and deeper trouble, until he realizes how happy he was before all this.  As the saying goes, “I’d like to be who I was before I became who I am”.

The inspiration for the third story, “The Hand of God”, came while playing Starcraft™ (and getting pounded time after time in that final level).  It deals with that old question of the nature of reality – digital and corporeal.  What do the game characters do when we stop playing?

The fourth story, “I Come in Peace” (from the common sci-fi first contact words) deals with a tortuous question: how far would man go to alleviate his loneliness?  In particular, a man experiencing what is possibly the worst kind of loneliness; that someone feels when surrounded by people?

This story explores this basic human emotion – the need for companionship.  It won the SF competition titled Invasion and was published by Cube Publishing in the anthology of the same name.  Readers of Pearseus will certainly recognise here the birth of the Orbs.

The fifth story, “A Fresh Start”, is, again, about choices – and a favourite question: if we were free to go anywhere in time and space, where would we choose to go?  And, once there, would we repeat the same mistakes, or make new ones?  What does a man really need to be happy?

The sixth story, “The Sentry”, was inspired by Philip K. Dick’s first story, Roog.  Science fiction fans will surely recognize this nod to the old master.

One common characteristic of all stories is a disdain for names, both for characters and places.  This is because of my conviction that names inevitably restrict the reader’s imagination.  We all carry deep in our psyche an image for all names and places and this will necessarily carry on to the story, limiting the possible projections we can perform.  I’d rather leave the canvas completely blank, so that readers can colour it any way they like.

About the Author

Nicholas Rossis was born in 1970 in Athens. Greece. He got his BSc in Engineering from the Technical Institute of Pireaus in 1995, before moving to Edinburgh, Scotland, where he received his PhD in Digital Architecture from the University of Edinburgh.

In 1995 he founded Istomedia, a web design company that has created some 450 websites todate. He also taught various publishing courses at Napier University between 1997 and 2000.

In 2000, he moved back to Greece where he has continued working as web designer and teaching design and publishing at various colleges and universities. He has written a score of children’s books, through Niditales, his ongoing collaboration with illustrator Dimitris Fousekis. He has also had numerous SF short stories published in Greek magazines and in Invasion, a SF anthology. Finally, he has written Pearseus, a SF novel.

Nicholas lives in a forest outside Athens with his lovely wife Electra, beautiful dog and two remarkably silly cats.

Author Links

Blog: http://nicholasrossis.me
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nicholas_Rossis
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NicholasCRossis
Site: http://www.nicholasrossis.com
Pearseus Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Pearseus
LinkedIn: http://gr.linkedin.com/pub/nicholas-rossis/0/b7b/122/ 
Google+ http://google.com/+NicholasRossis