What Makes a Hero by author Travis Simmons

Today on the blog we have author Travis Simmons with a guest post and information about his fantastic book!

So today I have a great guest post to share with all from author Travis Simmons, he is chatting with us today about what makes a hero. 

DESOLATION is so much more than a zombie story, or a love story. It is a story of survival, and all that entails. It is amazing to see zombie stories where people are tough as nails and just slaughter everything with seemingly no emotional investment but I wanted something different. I wanted a person who was struggling to survive and struggling to remain human through this entire experience.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are people out there who would take great pleasure in mowing down zombies, and maybe I would be one of them, though I think I would probably end up one of those people who killed myself out of fear of being attacked.

Asher couldn’t be one of those people. I wanted him to really be affected by this more than anything else. I wanted him to not become one of those unfeeling people. I wanted him to struggle with doing what he had to do and doing what he wanted to do.

Asher had to be a person, he had to be human, and no matter what happened, he had to want to keep his humanity. There is a line in the book when he says “what’s the point of surviving if we become worse than the monsters we kill?” To me, this is a powerful line. Asher wants to remember that he is a human, and there is no point in living if he can’t remain a human. Honestly, if people make decisions to kill so flippantly, then they are no better than zombies who kill without thinking. In a sense, they are becoming a zombie themselves.

DESOLATION is a story of survival, and while being that, it is more than just living, it is about keeping the human spirit alive while struggling to not be eaten alive. I can see Asher as the type of person who would hold an infected person through their death just so they wouldn’t have to be alone, and then killing them afterwards.

I could never be a hero. I am too selfish, I am too scared, and I would make all the wrong decisions. Asher leads with his heart, and while he isn’t a leader of his group, often he is a voice of reason that keeps them all focused on the end game, surviving yet another day as a human.

And there it is. Many people won’t agree with Asher because he is human. Many people will think he is weak for not doing what they think they would do, or he should do. But the best part of a book is placing yourself in the characters mind, and feeling what they are feeling. Could you so easily kill all those people you have ever loved? Would you be conflicted about it? I think most people would be.

I feel Asher is a very three-dimensional person because he has human conflicts that come up all the time. He is wounded from what he has faced, and he is struggling to make it through those emotions and a sea of zombies and then the revelation that he is a necromancer who can control the zombies.

This is another huge hurtle for Asher, because all he can find on necromancers is that they do evil things, and he doesn’t want to trade his humanity for that, either. It is all a big balancing act, and trying to figure out how to live in a new world with no rules, where he could really become as evil as he wants.

Have you read DESOLATION yet? If so, what did you think of Asher and his struggles? If you haven’t read it yet, who are some of your favorite hero’s, and what makes them your favorite? Find me on Facebook and let’s talk about books!

Asher St Paul thought it was just a typical

zombie apocalypse like in the movies, until the

necromancers crawled out of the woodwork.

Since the undead have chased the living into

hiding, the necromancers are able to roam

freely in a new America of their making. Asher is

seeking safe harbor. The need for safety is what

drove him from his home in Philadelphia Pennsylvania
before it was shelled. He hassearched from quarantine to
quarantine, always finding them overrun with zombies until
he hears of The Refuge, a military compound in Binghamton New York. With his family and lover lain to rest by his own hand, he has nothing left to
lose and gives everything he has to reach the safe haven. But
questions arise when he reaches The Refuge, mainly, how has
he been able to sustain multiple zombie bites and not change?
He thinks he has found safety in the military compound turned
quarantine, but he was wrong. Even now there is a necromancer trying to make The Refugetheir kingdom of the dead.

Travis is the author of The Bonds of Blood, the first book in his
epic fantasy series The Revenant Wyrd Saga. He has also written
a young adult novel called A Lament of Moonlight which is book
 one of his pre-apocalypse series The Harbingers of Light. He is
currently seeking publication for the first book of a third series, a
zombie novel called Desolation. When he isn’t writing he is
helping his family and trying to live a normal, under the radar
life. His interests lie in cooking, gardening, green living, and
human rights advocacy. He is a huge supporter of the Trevor
Project and all agencies that seek to preserve natural resources
 and protect pets from abuse.

Contact Details

http://www.travissimmons.

net