Author Spotlight with Alex Galassi

Welcome! Introduce yourself and tell us a little about your writing.

Hello! I’m Alex Galassi and I published my first book in November of 2022. Battle for Eklatros, Book 1 in the Rebalancing the Cosmos series, is a science fantasy novel. It is mainly epic fantasy, but in it there are five interlude chapters that jump to a different world that has advanced technology. The story follows Ànifa and her party of companions as they travel across Eklatros to help Ànifa regain her memories while also defending the planet from an alien invasion.

However, before I get too into everything, allow me to tell you a little bit about myself. I was born in Littleton, Colorado in the early 1990’s and I’ve lived in Colorado my entire life. I love hiking and exploring our amazing mountains. I also play a lot of Dungeons and Dragons and enjoy Magic the Gathering as well. I read mainly science fiction and fantasy, and some of my favorite authors are Stephen Baxter, Russell Kirkpatrick, and George R. R. Martin.

What’s something unique about your book that will make readers immediately want to check it out?

I have had many people tell me that my inclusion of the interlude chapters is something they’ve never come across before, and all have really enjoyed it.

To clarify, what I mean is that most of the chapters follow Ànifa’s party and their journey across Eklatros. But chapters 8, 16, 24, 32, and 40 all jump to a different planet and are written in a completely different style.

So, if you want to see how I take two seemingly completely separate stories and make them connect, read Battle for Eklatros. The ending, as I have been told, is quite shocking.

What inspired you to write the Rebalancing the Cosmos series?

My main source of inspiration comes from playing with LEGO when I was a kid. I think I was around 6 or 7 years old when I started building and playing with the LEGO characters that kicked off this story (and I still have those original LEGO characters today). The story I started developing back then is actually the story featured in the five interlude chapters and that story will be continued in the sequels.

For the main story featured in Battle for Eklatros, that source of inspiration comes from Final Fantasy games – mainly 7, 6, 13, 9, and 12, which are my favorite ones. I always liked how in those games the main character would come across people on their journey that would join up with them to help fight against the main antagonist. So Ànifa’s party grows in a similar way. Also, I actually started building out this story as a video game using RPG Maker, but it got too complicated and I turned it into a book, which allowed it to become what it is today.

So, while the overarching story and many of the characters in Battle for Eklatros are old, some ranging from ten to twenty-five years old, the actual story of Battle for Eklatros is much newer. I wrote it to incorporate all of my previous ideas to create a story that is truly epic in its scope—I honestly don’t even know how many books there will be in the series!

Tell us about your favorite character you’ve written about and why?

My favorite character to write was either Vesten or Cecil, both of whom are members of Ànifa’s party. The reason being that they are the only two normal humans in the party. Ànifa is an elf, Theodore and Tyrona are magic users, Dasch has his own special thing going on, and there’s also an angel, a faerie, and a dark elf that join the party as well. That being said, Cecil is a knight, so in my mind that makes Vesten the only true average person in the group. So I really enjoyed showing how someone with no magical powers or special abilities can shine and be a valued member of a party consisting of mainly non-humans and magic users. Also, I should mention that Vesten curses like a sailor since he is a sailor.

As for Cecil, even though he is a knight, he’s very lost and confused about who he is when you first meet him in the book. I really enjoyed writing his character arc and watching him grow and find himself.

Um, you mentioned there’s a Platypus God named Ornithor. I need to know more!

Throughout Ànifa and her party’s travels, they come across many different animal gods. Some of the gods are allies and some of the gods are enemies. Some of the animal gods featured include the sabertoothed lion god, dire sloth god, wyvern god, spider god, dire rabbit god, platypus god, and many more.

I love animals, so I included many of my favorite ones in Battle for Eklatros. There are many different varieties of animals as well, from existent animals to extinct animals, mythical animals, and a few animals of my own creation. There are dinosaurs on Eklatros too, but none are actually seen in the story aside from the wyverns, which are considered dinosaurs in my story.

Without giving us any spoilers, what’s your favorite quote or scene from your book and tell us a bit about it?

It’s really hard for me to choose a favorite quote from my book without it having some sort of spoiler, haha. But I have one that I will share, which is from a particularly intense action scene—one of my favorite action scenes. However, most of my favorite scenes are ones of deep conversation between characters, because that’s when you really get to know them. I also want to say that my three favorite chapters are 15: Battle for Purpose, 36: Battle for Vision, and 30: Battle for Desire.

Now, here is that quote, which comes from chapter 18: Battle for Speed.

“Ànifa closed her eyes and stretched her arms out wide, feeling the wyvern beneath her as it caught her. She opened her eyes, then commanded it to fly up so she could see the others. She flashed them a grin and flew off, heading straight toward a dragon driller. The wyvern screeched, then shot a blast of fire at the dragolum, scorching it in midair.”

Where can readers find you?

To get all of my latest updates, join my email newsletter. By signing up you’ll receive the prologue and first two chapters for free!

https://alexgalassi.com/keep-in-the-know/

I’m really not a big fan of social media, but I am the most active on my Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/alexgalassi_author/.

I also have a Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AlexGalassiAuthor) and a Twitter (https://twitter.com/AlexgalassiA) but I rarely log into those accounts.

Also, you can find me on Goodreads and Bookbub:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/26190709.Alex_Galassi

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/alex-galassi

You can find all my links on my Linktree as well: https://linktr.ee/alexgalassi_author