Holmes County native finds voice, authors sci-fi trilogy
Combining science fiction and fantasy themes and geared toward kids and teens, "Thunder Stone Realm," written by Eugene Weaver, was published in July as the first of a trilogy. Book two is done and with the illustrator and will be published toward the end of the year while the third installment is currently in the hands of Weaver's editor.
When Eugene Weaver was a boy, his head was filled with sci-fi and space fantasy stories, and he would sneak in a movie on a TV in the basement of his childhood home whenever he could get away with it.
In that same basement, when he was 12, he labored over a science fiction book, spending hours writing in long-hand cursive. He called the book “Pivoron Mountain.” Having read “The Hobbit” and “Chronicles of Narnia,” his imagination took on a life of its own.
“I really wasn’t that much of a writer, but I’ve loved movies my whole life,” said Weaver, who was born in Holmes County and now lives in Canton. “I’ve seen enough of them that stories form in my head, and I’d wish someone would write them.
“Back then we only had channels 3, 5 and 8, and I watched enough TV and movies that these visions would form. And I would think, ‘What if I could do that?’”
Many years later the planets aligned, and his two boys found this book he had written — and kept — so many years ago. They begged him to read it to them, and they were amazed, loving every word.
“I read it to them, and they loved it, but then they said, ‘But dad, there are other titles you have listed on the inside cover as having written. Where are those?’” Weaver said. “I said I was just trying to make it look cool and look like a real book, but I had never written those. The first book listed was ‘Thunder Stone Realm,’ and I knew then I’d need to write it.”
Weaver’s boys had all sorts of ideas spinning in their head about book ideas, and he told them he’d write them a short story, maybe 15-20 pages, to satisfy them — a gift from father to sons. He wrote chapter one and realized the words were coming easy. Ancient aliens battling each other? He was in his element and decided to keep going with chapter two.
So he opened his computer and let the adventure across time and space begin. Combining science fiction and fantasy themes and geared toward kids and teens, “Thunder Stone Realm” emerged from the well of Weaver’s brain. In July 2023 he self-published the book, knowing it would most likely be a trilogy. Book two is done and with the illustrator and will be published toward the end of the year. Book three is already in the editor’s hands.
It seems the story he’d kept inside him all those years simply flowed onto the page. Weaver constructed a bevy of mythical creatures and spaceships with astronauts, writing and weaving them into a story that’s a page-turner. Authors many times have stories pent up inside them they didn’t know needed out.
As they say, write what you want to read.
“Thunder Stone Realm” has decidedly science fiction, space fantasy vibes, but the second and third books veer more into the science fiction with a bit of horror category with more adult themes. The second and third books are titled “Survivors of the Realm” and “Return to Thunder Stone.” To get to book three, he needed the second book to go darker.
“I’m big on the Indiana Jones cliffhanger scenes, so I wrote the book chapters to end leaving the reader in suspense in the what’s going to happen next style. I also ended the books that way as well,” Weaver said.
Weaver wrote nonstop and finished the first book in six months. Every author has a different writing style, and while he needs to be able to concentrate, he doesn’t let anything that breaks his concentration stop him. He writes in bursts of sometimes 15-20 minutes, busting out the words needed to further the story.
“I don’t let anything stop me. I could see this whole trilogy in my head and had to get it on paper,” Weaver said. “It’s hard for me to go half in, and I was really enjoying it. I’d read it to the boys and my wife as I wrote, and they had suggestions and ideas. It kept ballooning and getting bigger and bigger.”
Weaver said he knew that as he came to the end of “Thunder Stone Realm” that it would be hard to wrap up the story line, which is when he decided to make it a trilogy. He wondered how he could incorporate the story he’d written as a 12-year-old boy, but once he got around that, he let some of it go because he knew it wouldn’t work. His work as a boy, in his words, “was a total ‘Lord of the Rings’ rip off,” and he needed to change it to make it stand on its own today.
A self-professed horror movie fan, Weaver said it wasn’t hard for him to write the darker passages. He was influenced by several movies that make their mark on the story line of the second book. Any author must look inside themselves to tap into what it takes to get the words on the page, furthering the story for the reader, keeping them hooked until the end. Books two and three are considerably longer.
Now that Weaver is done with this series, he’s ready to write another book. It seems the writing bug has bitten him, and he will continue to add to his repertoire with a queued-up suspense thriller with horror themes he has in the pipeline.
Weaver and family lived in Florida for a while and then moved back to Ohio. When he was 6 years old, his mom took him to see “The Empire Strikes Back,” a core memory that has stayed with him until today. He fell in love with certain genres and every process that goes into making them, and in turn, this paved the path for him to also become a storyteller — a literal weaver of tales if you will.
Weaver’s book is available on Amazon to buy and review.