I Got to Write an Episode of The Twilight Histories

As I'm sure you know, I've been a huge fan of the Twilight Histories podcast for a long time now.  There really is nothing else like it, and I'm constantly amazing at the brave new worlds Jordan and the gang dream up.  I had, from time to time, fantasized about getting to write an episode or two of my own.  I fantasized, but I never considered it a serious possibility.  Then one day I saw a pig fly by, and then it began to rain malted milk balls.  And by all of I that, I mean, of course, that Jordan opened it the podcast to guest authors.

This was the chance I'd been waiting for.  And yet, I wasn't sure if could measure up to the standards of The Twilight Histories.  So, I tried to pitch a couple short stories I'd been shopping around.  However, a little encouragement from Jordan, I instead set out to write my very own Twilight Histories episode.  It would be set in a dieselpunk Aztec Empire.  I'd always had this image in my mind of an Aztec city, with dieselpunk style technology, at war against an equally dieselpunk Japan armed with robot samurai.  I'd also had little bits and pieces of ideas set in this Aztec inspired world. 

My task now was to string these mental movie clips into a cohesive narrative.  I removed any elements that were explicitly fantastical or supernatural, which wasn't too hard.  Hey, I still got to keep the robots and mechanical marvels.  Anyway, I got the first draft finished and...well, in hindsight, it was pretty terrible.  I laugh at it now, but when I read the feedback Jordan gave, I was half-afraid he was going to seriously reconsider our deal.  Still, I pressed on and went to work on the second draft.  I effectively had to start from scratch, but I think we can all agree that the end result was worth it. 

There were some delays in the production, but I never complained, and I was never ungrateful for all that Jordan was doing for me.  Then it finally happened.  Part 1 of "True Aztec" premiered and I finally got to here something I'd written given life in audio.  As a big fan of podcasts and audiobooks, it has been my goal to hear my fiction read and produced in audio form.  Preferably on my favorite fiction podcasts.  There was a bit of a wait, but then Part 2 arrived, and it wasn't long before Part 3 and Part 4 arrived.

 I managed tosell a story to The Centropic Oracle while Part 1 was in production.  As my story, called "Spelling Test", moved into production, Centropic Oracle would ask if I had any other publications I ought to list.  This meant I'd occasionally have to ask Jordan how production was going, and I always felt really bad about doing so.  He was already doing so much, I didn't want to sound ungrateful or unappreciative. 

"True Aztec" has, by all accounts, been warmly received by the listeners.  It always received lots of likes on the Twilight Histories' Facebook page, and lots of retweets and likes on Twitter.  I heard from listeners who couldn't wait for the next installments, and I had an especially lovely conversation from an adoring fan over on DeviantArt.  More than just that, my fellow Twilight Histories writers Josh Hutchins and Kevin Valbonesi gave "True Aztec" high marks, with Kevin even mentioning that he could wait for Part 4 after hearing Part 3.  That, perhaps more than anything, was a sign that I'd done a great job crafting the episode.  Of course, Jordan did help tidy it up a bit, and make it a bit more polished. 

Of course, the episode wouldn't exist without the excellent team of voice actors behind it.  "True Aztec" is the first Twilight Histories episode to feature a different narrator in each episode, and the first to feature female narrators.  "True Aztec" set all sorts of milestones for The Twilight Histories.  The narrators are, in order of appearance: Jason Wallace, Charlie Albers, Grainne Noel, and Daniel Cryer.  I also got snazzy episode art.  I don't know if it was Kevin or Jordan who made it, but either way, I love it.    

Originally, I wrote the story in third-person due to a miscommunication with Jordan.  He asked me to write like Josh Hutchin's episode "Dead Emperor" which is in first-person, but the email said third-person.  I figured he meant first-person, but wasn't sure if it was the other way round in Commonwealth English.  So, I named the protagonist Apollo Rhodes, with his Aztec name being Toltecatl.  There wasn't any real reason why I picked Apollo; I thought of the poet Apollonius of Rhodes, and thus we get a name.  As for Totecatl...well, seemed as good a name as any.  The episode was edited into a standard second-person narration, which is what I always wanted from the start, so I'm very pleased with it.  That said, you will occasionally see certain little hints and slips of the original script poke through in the finished episodes. 

Now that we've got the technical stuff out the way, let's talk a bit more about how I came up with the story for "True Aztec."  I've always loved the history of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and of the Native Americans in general.  It has always irked me that the Aztecs tend to get reduced to bloodthirsty stock villains.  True, they practiced human sacrifice and other thing modern society finds objectionable, but they were much more than that.  They were one of the only societies with mandatory education for both men and women.  Those sacrificed got to live like kings in the year leading up to the sacrifice.  Let's also not forget how those sacrificed were believed to receive the best possible afterlife.  Heck, the Mesoamericans believed their sacrifices were necessary to keep the universe running.  Not saying there were never politically or military reasons behind it; but I am saying that it's more nuanced that most people give them credit for.

The point is, the Aztecs way too often get an undeserved bad reputation.  I wanted to make a story where the Aztecs got to be the heroes for a change.  The Aztec Empire was founded as an alliance between three tribes.  That's why it is often known as the Triple Alliance.  I basically took that idea of one nation made of many people, and expanded it into something akin to the melting pot thing we have in America and Canada.  Jingjing, Balam, Tupac, and the citizens of Shin Nihon might not be ethnically Mexica, but they are Aztecs in all the ways that count.  That's what Necalli never understood.  The Aztec Empire, in the world of "True Aztec", is not an ethnicity, it is an ideal.  So yes, all of the characters in "True Aztec" are Aztec regardless of their ethnicity or heritage.

So why is it that things diverge with the Tang Dynasty?  Well, from what I've researched, I determined that the An Lushan Rebellion was the point where China really began to decline in power.  I knew I wanted China to be allies with the Aztecs, and so I needed to keep them strong and outward looking.  It always wanted have East Asia and the Native Americans be the dominate economic, technological and cultural powers.  As such, I had to ensure that those pesky Europeans didn't screw-up my plans.  Originally, I intended Europe to get hit with an even worse Black Death, but the final script just has the, being a backwater because East Asia and the Aztec outclass the, technologically and economically.  I concede that having the Aztec and Inca being such powerhouses was rather unrealistic, but it was what I wanted for the story.  Plus, dieselpunk is inherently unrealistic.  I even acknowledge as much within the story.

I've always wondered what it would have been like had the Aztecs, Maya, and Inca hadn't been conquered by the Europeans.  What works of art and philosophy would they have created?  How would their societies have developed? 

So what about Japan?  Like I said, that was always a part of the original idea. I've noticed that, in a lot of the ideas for stories I have, I tend to use Imperial Japan, of some equivalent there of, as villains.  I'm not sure why this is.  I've always thought that the general public doesn't know enough about the war crimes of Imperial Japan.  Most of the stuff I had Minako say about here life in Hokkaido was based on things the Japanese did to the Ainu during World War II.  So, how did Japan become a major power in-story?  Well, originally they were allies and trading partners with the Chinese and Aztec.  So that's a how they got the tech that the Chinese and Aztec had.  They had done a bit of empires building, but the Chinese always tried to keep them in check.  However, things soured after the Caliphate War.  The Japanese felt they got snubbed and screwed over in the post-war negotiations, and turned against their former allies.  Out of universe, they became a major power because that's what I wanted for the story.

Also, I'm fully aware that the Aztec Empire was founded in the 15th Century, not the 10th.  That was the result of a miscommunication.  I never specified what year the Chinese made contact with the Aztecs, or what year the story was set in.  Thought I intended it to probably be a bit later than the 14th Century.  As such, Jordan had to figure the date based on the clues I left in the backstory, and I don't hold it against him.  Like I said, lack of communication and specification on my part.  Admittedly, it was kind of cool to think that the stories was happening in what was the Middle Ages in our world.  Well, this is alternate history, we can just say the Aztecs got founded earlier than in our world due to the butterfly effect and call it a day. 

A lot of the things I put into "True Aztec" are very much inspired by events from our world.  For example, the Pruners were inspired by the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fist, better known as the Boxers of China's Boxer Rebellion.  The Pruners want to revive human sacrifice and flower wars, but they are a fringe group, and don't represent the majority of the Aztecs.  I'd also like to emphasize that I've wanted to tell the story that became "True Aztec" for many years.  Those attempting to find commentary on modern politics will be shot.  Well, the scene where Nacalli tries to convince the crowd that Tupac poisoned the kids with vaccines was meant to be a swipe at those idiots who claim that vaccines lead to autism.  That's the only instance, however.  If you find anything else like that in "True Aztec" you're just seeing what you want to see. 

If there is a moral to "True Aztec" it can probably be summaries by what Emperor Montezuma says at the end.  Be good to you fellow humans, and appreciate the many strange and wonderful cultures and peoples that make up our world.  Obviously, this comes with the caveat that if a culture encourages oppression and suffering, such as Necalli and his goons, it's best left to the ash heap of history. 

"True Aztec" is a complete story, but I left little seeds that could possibly be expanded upon.  In hindsight, that was perhaps a tad cocky on my part.  I figured it would be a little something in case I ever got to write for Twilight Histories again; perhaps as a bonus episode.  The episode would follow Tupac's life in Cusco during the war between the Inca and the Japanese.  Well, as would be revealed, the Japanese didn't directly invade, they got one their allies to do that.  However, they did send troops on the pretense that they were protecting Japanese citizens within the Inca Empire.  Obviously, it would end with Tupac's wife and daughter getting killed, and him moving to Tenochtitlan.  We'd also get to see what Kaisa was like before she lost her leg.  All of this would be told within a frame story of the unnamed protagonist and his friends adjusting to life in post-invasion Tenochtitlan several months after the events of "True Aztec."  Obviously, there would be humorous moments where he explained how things went in our world, and them reacting with skepticism.

Perhaps someday I will write another Twilight Histories episode, but not any time too soon.  I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, or be ungrateful, or give Jordan Harbour a brain aneurysm.  Still, I do have a couple ideas kicking around should that day ever come. 

And what become of those more fantastical elements I had to remove from the story?  Oh, I saved them, and I'm in the process of adapting them into a comic book series that will be called The Calliope Brigade. Nice already got an artist, and we're in the very, very early stages of production.  I hope I will so be able to share the first issue with all of you.  I'm sure that, somewhere along the line, I'll be able to work in winks, nods, and references to The Twilight Histories. 

Things have really been looking up for The Twilight Histories lately.  It's been listed as one of Apple's Must Listen podcasts of 2019, is it one of the top 100 podcasts in Canada, and I got to be part of it.  The episodes continue both to live up to my expectations and to keep exceeding them.    

Well, I think that should be everything.  Go forth and enjoy my Twilight Histories episode "True Aztec" if you haven't done so already.  "True Aztec" Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.  It has been a long time coming, and I'm glad to finally have the chance to share it with all of you guys at last.