Meet the Authors of "The Expanding Universe 4" - Nathan Mutch

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Today, we meet Nathan Mutch one of the 20 contributors the latest Expanding Universe anthology, and author of The Unity Empire series. Please welcome him to the blog.
 
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HOW TO DESTROY A SMALL CITY (AND HOW TO CHOOSE WHICH ONE)

The makers of disaster movies and comic book movies can’t resist the spectacle of a city destroyed by malignant fate, clashing titans, or the clockwork inevitably of an uncaring universe. Cities are easy marks. They are the ultimate innocent bystander. Historical and cultural landmarks, architectural and national monuments, and Paris are the usual suspects when considering your lineup of cities to destroy by earthquakes, meteors, or any other countless acts of god/alien invasions/superhero fights.

But what do you do when Paris doesn’t fit the bill? How do you choose when Hollywood has razed, crushed, and blasted every major monument the world over? I knew from the outset that the kind of story I was considering didn’t require a spectacle. What I needed was a place that existed on the boundary between life and death—a place that teetered on the precipice of the spiritual world, however figuratively.

Enter Medicine Hat.

I considered the destruction of a few other cities in the early stages of writing my latest story, The Spike, but none spurred my imagination more than Medicine Hat.

A picturesque city on the prairies in Southern Alberta, The Hat (as it is affectionately called) is most famous for its giant natural gas fields and Rudyard Kipling’s poetic and chilling description of the city as having “all hell for a basement.”

With the general shape of my story already cementing in my mind, I imagined the hierarchy of Heaven and Hell with our world sandwiched in between. I dismantled that hierarchy of good and evil, looking for the best place to shoehorn both The Hat and an uncaring universe.

I reordered the universe again, not as a strict hierarchy, but as a place where Heaven is a realm that brings destruction—where a peaceful city on the Canadian prairie doesn’t stand a chance when Heaven and Hell collide.

With The Hat firmly set in my new universe, this is what I wrote:
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Of all the places in the world, the falling ship’s trajectory sent it hurtling toward downtown Medicine Hat. In the blink of an eye, the city was leveled. The city that was built on a giant gas field—the city with hell for a basement—was destroyed by a fireball from the heavens.
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The Spike appears in the science fiction anthology, The Expanding Universe 4, now available in the Amazon Kindle store as a digital download or through your Kindle Unlimited subscription.

In this incredible collection, you will find nineteen other remarkable stories from award winning and bestselling authors. It is an honor for me to be included in such a talented and driven group of writers.

You can look me up at my website, nathanmutch.com, and if you have any comments, please drop me a line at nathan@nathanmutch.com. I am always happy to hear from you, and I will try to answer every email I receive. You can also look me up on Amazon and Facebook.

Amazon -- www.amazon.com/author/nathanmutch
Facebook -- www.facebook.com/nathanmutchbooks

My current projects include two co-authored books: a stand-alone fantasy novel tentatively titled, Between Realms, and of course, the third installment of The Unity Empire Series. The first of the two co-authored books is an experimental science fiction mind-bender written (so far) entirely by correspondence. The second co-authored book delves into the Fantasy genre.

Thanks for reading, now go get your copy of The Expanding Universe 4 today!

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Would you like to read more?

The Unity Empire series is currently available on Amazon, and “The Spike” can be found in The Expanding Universe Volume 4.
























Location: Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

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