With Advent (hardcover, paperback, Kindle, audiobook), author Seth Ring is presenting the first book of six in The Exlian Syndrome Series, with the second, Dark Dawn, on tap for June 3rd, and the rest coming just as rapidly.
In the following email interview, Ring talks about what inspired and influenced this superheroic LitRPG science fiction story, as well as why he thinks it’s got a little fantasy in it, but no space opera.
To start, what is Advent about, and when and where does it take place?
Advent is a story about a young man wanting to follow in his family’s footsteps. He lives in the last bastion of the human race, a city called New Emery, that is besieged by a terrifying, ever evolving alien threat called the Exlian. His greatest wish is to awaken a power like his brother and join the city’s defense force to fight for the glory of humanity.
Unfortunately, not all is as it first appears, and he’s going to have to learn that lesson the hard, but exciting way.
The series has a bit of superhero vibe to it, and it’s very much a story of adventure and exploration. Really, the story is about discovering that the world you thought you knew is actually quite different and learning to adapt to that.
Where did you get the idea for Advent, and how different is the finished story from what you originally conceived?
This story has been rattling around in my head for a long time. It was probably close to when I started writing, but I always had this nagging feeling that I wasn’t a good enough writer to tell the story yet. Over the years I’ve thought about the story and built the lore of the world and gotten to know the characters a bit better. Then, one day, I woke up and knew it was the right time for me to sit down and write it.
So, is there a significance to Mark being a dishwasher as opposed to some other job he’d consider “dead-end”? And does his specific job even matter?
Not really. But it is a job I have experience with. One thing about dishwashing is that it gives you a lot of time to think about everything else you would rather be doing. And I think that was the key. He is a dreamer, but one who feels completely stuck.
Advent sounds like it’s a sci-fi space opera story. But given your history as a writer of LitRPGs, I’m wondering if it’s one of those as well?
Advent is an interesting mix of genres. It is absolutely LitRPG and progression fantasy, and there is certainly future tech and aliens, making it sci-fi. But the society runs off of an ambient energy they call mana, and they use spells and enchantments of sorts, so it could be considered fantasy. Then there are the individual powers, which are sort of like superhero abilities. The only reason I wouldn’t call it a space opera is that it doesn’t have an interplanetary element.
And just so people are clear on the concept, LitRPGs are not like Choose Your Own Adventure novels; you can just sit down and read Advent like a novel, right?
Oh, absolutely. The best thing about LitRPG is that the systems and game elements are integrated into the worldbuilding. You don’t need to know anything about games or even particularly like games to get into this story.
Now, Advent is not your first novel. You have the ten in the Titan saga, nine in the Battle Mage Farmer series, eight in the Tower saga, four in the Dreamer’s Throne series, three in the Iron Tyrant series, and two in the Soul Caller series. Are there any other authors, or specific stories, that had a big influence on Advent but not on anything else you’ve written?
You know, I think I really pulled on my love of science fiction for this story. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, and pretty much everything Orson Scott Card wrote. I think my understanding of interspecies interaction is different in this book, since science fiction treats that subject differently from fantasy in a lot of ways. My love of pulp writers infuses everything I write, but I don’t often get to lean into technology in my stories, so it has been fun getting to pull those threads.
How about such non-literary influences as movies, TV shows, or games? Was Advent influenced by any of those things? Because having Mark want to be a solider, but only able to be one after he gets powers, makes me think of the first Captain America movie…
Yes! I really enjoy comic books, and there are a number of heroes who have influenced how I thought about the power system. You have your speedsters like The Flash, energy controllers like Captain Marvel, your Hulks, and pretty much all of The X-Men. I actually got the original idea for the Exlian from a video game called Prey, though in the book the aliens end up very different from the shapeshifting aliens in the game.
Now, like Captain America: The First Avenger, and your other novels, Advent is also a part of a series: The Exlian Syndrome. The second installment of which, Dark Dawn, will be out June 3rd. What was it about Advent that made you realize it was the start of something, not a self-contained story?
Honestly, the story I wanted to tell was just too big for a single book. It might be the way I learned to think about stories, but series have always been a big attraction for me as a reader, and that has carried over into my writing. I also know that once I get writing I’ll discover there is more story to tell, and that certainly happened with this series.
And what is the plan for this series? Is it an ongoing thing, is it a set number of books…?
Currently, the series is going to be six books. The first four books are already written and I’m having a blast. I picked six books because I knew the rough flow of the story wouldn’t fit into three and I like writing in threes.
In some ways, I think about this as two major arcs. First, the main character must transform. Then he has to deal with what he has become.
And do you know yet what the others will be called and when they’ll be out?
We have a pretty aggressive schedule for this series, which I love. The first four books in the series will be out by the end of this year, and the next two will come out in the first half of 2026. Every 4 months is our goal.
So then what is Dark Dawn about, and when in relation to Advent does it take place?
Dark Dawn picks up pretty much exactly where Advent leaves off, and we get to see Mark in his new role as part of the city’s Engineering Corps. But some people have it out for him and he is quickly thrown into the deep end when his battalion gets deployed to an abandoned mine outside the city, deep in the heart of Exlian territory.
Earlier I asked if Advent had been influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games. But to flip things around, do you think Advent could work as a movie, TV show, or game?
I think it would work well as both a movie or a TV show. Each book has the same sort of cadence as a superhero movie, and there is enough intrigue to keep viewers on the edge of their seat. The Exlian are also an enemy that would translate really well to the big screen.
A game might be a little harder, though now that I’m thinking about it, something like the Spider-Man games or even the InFamous series could be really cool.
And if someone wanted to make a movie or TV show based on Advent, who would you want them to cast as Mark, and why them and not Chris Evans?
I mean, Chris Evans would be pretty much perfect. I could also see Liam Hemsworth [The Hunger Games] being a great fit for Mark.
Finally, if someone enjoys Advent, and it’s the first novel of yours they’ve read, which of your other books would you suggest they check out next?
I think if you’ve enjoyed reading Advent and are looking for a bit more fantasy flavor, I’d suggest Chain Of Feathers, the first book of the Iron Tyrant Series, as a good place to start.
