The Origin of Geonik: From Star Trek Dreams to the Hallowed Eye

May 22, 2025

About 25 years ago, I thought I was going to write a Star Trek novel.

It was going to follow a young girl named Geonik—“Geo” for Earth and “Nik” after her father. He was a fighter pilot on modern-day Earth who accidentally flew through a black hole and crash-landed on a distant planet called Rizor. There, he fell in love with a local woman, and together, they had Geonik.

That was as far as I got.

The Star Trek novel never happened, but I never forgot Geonik. She stayed with me—this half-formed idea of a girl born of two worlds.

Fast forward fifteen years.

My daughter was a baby then, and in those quiet, rocking-chair nights—before phones and distraction—I had only time to think. And I kept thinking about Geonik. Who was she, really? What kind of world did she live in? What if Rizor wasn’t a distant planet, but a broken one in the far future, sealed under a dome that protected what remained?

What if this wasn’t science fiction anymore—but fantasy?

At one point, I even played with the idea of vampires and werewolves (with a twist), but the more I thought, the more something bigger began to form. Prophecy. Power. Gods.

Geonik’s world wasn’t just imaginative—it was haunting me. And so, I started writing.

The Story That Changed

Treybor was the first major character to surprise me.

He began as cruel, controlling, and powerful—but as I wrote, I found myself understanding him. Why he did what he did. The pain behind the power. I realized he wasn’t evil. Not truly. He was just broken in a way no one had tried to heal. I had to rewrite him—a villian with a different arc.

Then came Ulan. I had written over half of The Hallowed Eye before he existed. He showed up mid-draft... and never left. He’s now one of the most important characters in the trilogy.

And there was a moment—almost at the end of Book 1—where I realized that the divine essence Geonik carried had to come from a different source than what I had originally imagined. That realization forced a massive rewrite. It took me three months. It was worth every word.

The Characters Are Real

These people—Geonik, Ulan, Treybor, Lyria—they’re more than characters to me. I know their fears, their faults, their moments of hope. They’re like a second family.

I didn’t mean to fall in love with Treybor, but I did. So I created Lyria for him—a love that was too late, too fractured, too full of regret. She was originally a small side character... until she wasn’t.

Now, she’s unforgettable.

Why I’m Sharing This

I’m currently querying Geonik and the Hallowed Eye, the first book in what became a full-blown trilogy. I don’t know what will happen yet—but I do know this world, and these characters, have changed me.

And I can't wait to share them with you.