The Conundrum of Infinity- Book Excerpt

Welcome, friend! Today I am chatting with author Erik Godal about his book, The Conundrum of Infinity. This is a new adult fantasy that I am excited to dive into myself. Let’s chat with Erik and learn more about the book.

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Get to know the author: Erik Godal

Welcome Erik! Tell me and my readers a bit about yourself!

I never set out to be a writer per se. But, I’m a creative person, and my first outlet is, and has always been, music. I’ve been a professional musician most of my life. And my first experience of writing was a creative writing class in high school. My teacher pulled me aside after my first short story and suggested that I submit it to a magazine. I never did and forgot all about it. But I became an avid reader later in life and then attempted to write a book, only to see if I could.

My writing is fiction, and usually action, adventure, historical and thriller based but now I can throw fantasy in there as well. To date, I’ve written three novels and several film scripts and two tv series. The Conundrum of Infinity is my latest book, and it’s my first attempt at a big epic series that will include up to eight novels when completed. In film scripts, I’ve also written a historical fiction story that occurs just after the US civil war and another that is about Somali pirates and a documentary film crew. Plus I have a modern small town thriller series in development right now that I’m also writing and I’ve also already adapted the first two Conundrum of Infinity books as a first season of nine hour long tv scripts and that’s also in development. 

For a musician, I ended up writing a lot, but I also still do a lot of music. I’m currently scoring a film that my sister directed called Tolstoy. It’s about the last of the great tuskers, the largest African elephants in Kenya. It’s a beautiful story and very important. We’ve done several films centered on wildlife conservation, and my sister is Nat Geo Explorer Fellow who lives in Kenya. So I love doing this kind of work as well. 

What inspired you to write this book?

While walking in the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris, while I was on a year-long music tour in Europe, I wondered about ghosts, and then I asked myself what that would be like? That was the first inception. 

But, then as I laid out the story, I drew from some very personal things in my life. Unexplainable events, stuff that sounds crazy but is true. When I was young, I had several out-of-body experiences. Part of that found its way into the story. My dad suffered from the same. One time when I was young, while we were driving somewhere, my dad had to pull the car over and started speaking in another language. He later said that he had an out-of-body experience and suddenly found himself somewhere else. This happened to him twice in his life. 

Also, when I was in my early twenties, I was playing in a nightclub. My brother’s best friend was there. He was supposed to get a ride home with me, and leave his car, because he had been drinking, but he found his keys and he left early, before our last song ended. 

After the gig, a group of us went to a fast-food place about three miles away because it was the only thing open to get something to eat. As I was standing in line, about to order food. I had a sudden overwhelming urge to leave. My bandmates thought I had lost my mind. But I needed to find my brother’s friend. He was in trouble and I knew it. So, I bolted in mid order. 

I drove back toward the club and then up a dark frontage road that none of us ever used. I knew I needed to drive up this road. In the distance, I could see truck lights coming in the other direction. But I realized that the truck was stationary, still about a quarter of a mile away. And I knew in that moment that I had found my brother’s friend. When I got close enough, I saw a semi rig stopped on the road with my brother’s friend’s car smashed across the front of the truck. This was before cell phones, so the truck driver was pacing the roadside, waiting for someone to drive by so they could go call for help. 

My brother’s friend had turned around and then pulled out in front of the truck and was pinned inside the wreckage. I climbed in the passenger side and sit with him, taking hold of his hand. He was unconscious, and I almost didn’t recognize him as the impact had deformed his head. But he was still alive and shaking, which I knew was due to shock. 

I knew he wouldn’t make it. But I talked and stayed with him. And then I told him he need to let go. That’s why I was there. To tell him to let go. And he did. He died as I held his hand and paramedics finally arrived. 

That moment and event played in my thoughts every single day for at least ten years. And then every few days for another ten years, and eventually now, I only reflect on it several times a year. But the question was and has always been, how did I know? What guided me to him? I don’t follow organized religious doctrines but I’m spiritual and do believe that the universe is far more than we know. And, something similar happened twice to my mom. She saved two people’s lives, being guided to them in unexplainable ways. 

And these events, of something guiding my mom or me found its way into the book in the form of the Catalie, how they can whisper into the ear of the living and influence future. That was my fictional answer to real events we experienced. And all this stuff eventually had a significant influence on this story. 

How long did it take you to write this book, from the first idea to the last edit?

Twenty years. No kidding. Normally, I’ve written my other books in about a one to two year span. But this was very different. I had the basic story, or at least the core of it all at once, in the beginning. The issue was that the story wouldn’t fit into a single book. It had a large ensemble cast of characters in a unique world that I had to define from the ground up. I knew it was going to take me a long time. It probably didn’t help that I also got side tracked with kids and music work that left little time to write. Eventually I got more time. But the story was so big, that I had to create my own way of developing it. Normally, I have the entire story in my mind before I ever type a single word. But this story was so big and the world so complex, and I was concerned with potential plot holes wrecking things two or three books down, that I had to make sure the design and rules of the world fit with the story and I wouldn’t box myself in at some point. I created over a thousand pages of notes, and something like four hundred hours of audio notes. It was unlike anything I had ever attempted to create in terms of size. It was like building entirety of Rome compared to a little cabin. And as I do with every book, I won’t start writing a single page until I know the entire story, which will end up being around eight books long when finished. 

What makes your story unique?

I think the most unique thing in the story is both design of world and characters. I used quantum physics as the back bone to define the physical world of the story. Everything that is possible in the story world, including the “why” has been built upon kernels of truth. I used history, some historical figures, various elements of quantum mechanics, like entanglement, teleportation, super position, time crystals, and even the idea of infinity itself is all part of the story world architecture and the “why.” 

Also, the characters are all flawed. Having raised three kids and having family members with various learning disabilities, I wanted my characters to reflect these things. I think characters that are flawed are so much more interesting and intimate. And then, my primary antagonist is also historical figure, although not one that most people would have ever heard of. His real past, is woven into my fiction and fantasy world of the story. It blurs the line between what’s real and what’s not. I always want to create a worlds and characters that felt they might be true somehow in some way. 

Who would enjoy reading your book? 

I think anyone who likes fantasy or adventure stories. But also, fans of historical fiction might enjoy it, there’s a good amount of that in there. And, people who are looking for something different. This isn’t your typical fantasy story. It’s not a knock off or homage to other fantasy stories. I strived to come with an original and unique story world. 

What’s something you hope readers would take away from it?

That maybe the universe and life might not be what we think. That quantum mechanics is closer to explaining who we are than anything else. But, mostly I hope readers find an engaging story to get lost in. 

Do you have a favourite quote or scene in the book that you find yourself going back to?

I have too many to list. But I find myself really enjoying the character Sammy, who is mentally challenged. His character is true to itself being easy to write, and fun to read. And I love the historical aspects of the story as well. 

What is something you have learned on your author journey so far?

Writing a story is better than reading one. I’ll write even if no one ever reads my work, because I get such satisfaction from creating and writing stories. Writing takes a lot of time, but editing takes even longer. I spend as much or more time editing once something is written. Finding your own voice takes time. I feel like it took me three books to do so, and in some ways, I’m still finding it. 

What’s the best piece of advice you have received related to writing?

Don’t be afraid of failure. Create for yourself first. Be true to yourself, write your style, tell your stories. Don’t feel like you’re a pretender. We all feel like we’re faking it somehow, and that eventually someone is going to call us out on it. Your voice is yours, and it is true. Follow it. 

If you could give a shout out to someone(s) who has helped in your writer journey, please feel free to mention them below!

My family, who put up with my endless creative pursuits. It’s with their blessing that I get to do what I love doing. 

Book Excerpt from
The Conundrum of Infinity

Outside, behind the wheel of a five-year-old Toyota, is Sophie, Nika’s ride to work. She’s the ying to Nika’s yang, a blue-eyed, round-faced, spiky blond to Nika’s brunette, dark green eyes, and elf-like face. Even though they only met a few years ago, Sophie has become a close friend.

Nika’s disorder took her out of regular school at the end of sixth grade, and she lost daily contact with her childhood friends. She’d been missing in action, appearing once in a while like a ghost, only to vanish again. Then she made it back into the school system for eighth grade and partially for ninth, but then the anxiety took her out for the rest. It was just too much. She was at war with the disorder, and battling it was about all she could manage.

And some friends kept in touch at first, but as time went by and she drifted further away, she became more isolated. Her only contacts became a few friends online and, on rare occasions, in person. But then, when adulthood hit, she made it back out into the world, thanks to her discovery of styling. Then Sophie showed up and they clicked. That was really important to Nika because she needed someone like Sophie more than she even knew. Sophie helped her climb back into the world, acting as an additional buffer when Nika’s father wasn’t around. Since then, Nika had made great strides, getting enough of a grip on herself to forge into a new lifestyle. But, the truth was, even as far as she had come, Nika knew she would never be free of the disorder. It was her cross to bear, and that would be the case until the day she died.

The Toyota speeds down the street, Sophie at the wheel with her usual enthusiasm. They both work at Della’s Salon, named after the owner, a sweet but wanna-be hipster straight out of the Midwest. It’s about what one would expect, from a place called Della’s Salon, except it’s not in a strip mall. Della managed to land a proper storefront right on the street. A small, funky joint on a busy enough street that’s also a perfect starting gig for young, fresh-out-of-beauty school stylists like both Sophie and Nika. Although, Nika forwent beauty school and was afforded a private tutor due to her disorder and partly to appease her mother’s disapproval of having her daughter enrolled in a beauty school.

Inside, the salon’s cozy with a small layout and five stations. Nika and Sophie each have their own station. Della’s often present but tends to leave early and doesn’t always tend to clients. Overall, Nika finds the intimacy of the salon comfortable.

As Nika is already working on her second client of the morning, her focus is solely on her work. She holds a comb in one hand and scissors in the other, cutting damp hair with precision. She’s in a zen-like state, her mind locked on creating the perfect cut. She’s a perfectionist because details are everything.

The woman in the chair chatters on, but Nika tunes her out. The scissors’ sound and the cut’s rhythm bring her a sense of satisfaction and calm. It’s why she’s drawn to cutting in the first place. It just works for her.

“How did you two meet?” the woman in Nika’s chair suddenly interrupts, snapping Nika out of her focused state.

“Sorry?” Nika responds, confused.

“You and Sophie, how did you meet?” the woman clarifies.

“Oh, we met here at Della’s. We both started working here around the same time,” Nika explains.

“Sophie’s quite outgoing and entertaining,” the woman comments.

“Yes, she is,” Nika agrees with a smile. The woman didn’t even know half of it.

As Nika finishes her client’s hair, she finds out her next appointment has been canceled.

Coincidentally, Sophie’s client also reschedules, freeing them both up simultaneously. They decide to grab lunch together, as their schedules rarely align while working.

As they leave Della’s, they consider their options for lunch. “How about Trey’s?” Sophie suggests.

“Sure. How long do you have?” Nika asks.

“I don’t have anyone until 1:30,” Sophie replies.

“I’m doing walk-ins for the rest of the day,” Nika adds. “So, we have time for Trey’s.”

Trey’s is a sports bar trying hard to rebrand itself as a trendy hangout and restaurant. The establishment has removed most of its sports-themed decor, including a collection of large screens and team banners, and has revamped its menu to offer more than just hot wings and burgers. The neighborhood’s gentrifying, attracting more trendy clientele, and Trey’s is determined not to be left behind.

Nika and Sophie take a booth near the bar—the restaurant’s quiet, with only a handful of customers scattered throughout. Nika faces Sophie and the bar, with a clear view of the single remaining big screen over Sophie’s shoulder. The TV is muted, but music’s playing throughout the restaurant.

They order and wait, their conversation flowing easily as they catch up on their lives. But today, the kitchen’s serving up hot and fast, and before they know it, the waitress is back with their food, and they’re digging in.

“What happened with that guy?” Sophie asks between bites.

“Which guy?” Nika replies.

“The one on snap?”

“Oh him?” Nika recalls. “Nothing. Well…he left a cringe comment. Then asked if I would ever dye my hair blonde. So I said, what’s wrong with blue?”

They both laugh. Sophie’s easy to be with. It was one of the reasons Nika’s drawn to her. They shared the same sense of humor.

But as they eat, a news-breaking event flashes on the TV screen, catching Nika’s eye. The screen sweep ushers in a helicopter camera view of a commercial building, surrounded on the ground by squad cars and swat team vans.

Sophie, who can’t see the screen behind her, is looking at the menu again.

“I think I might go for a desert today. You want to split?” Sophie asks.

“Yeah, sure,” Nika responds, but her voice sounds distant as she’s distracted by a banner reading Hostage Situation, which scrolls across the bottom of the screen.

“Oh, snap, they got Mud Pie today,” Sophie points out.

But Nika watches, transfixed, as the news helicopter camera zooms in on a row of second-floor windows, where a fleeting image of a person dressed in black can be seen briefly moving inside the building. It appears as if they’re running down a passage along the windows.

As this happens, the sound inside the restaurant fades to a distant hush in Nika’s ears. Now all of her attention is locked on the TV screen. Suddenly, she feels it coming, a world-class panic attack as her heart rate increases, her chest constricts, and her vision starts to tunnel in, with grey filling on the sides, leading to what will undoubtedly be a blackout.

And just when she’s about to go down, everything changes. It’s as if she’s not even in the restaurant anymore. Yet, she’s sitting perfectly still in the booth.

Then she has a flash in her mind’s eye of someone running, the sound of their footfalls and breathing, both distinctly heavy, and in hand is a gun. It all comes and goes in a blink. It’s vivid and surreal.

Meanwhile, the news helicopter continues to circle the building on the screen while Sophie remains engrossed in the menu. However, Nika’s face is flushed, and her pupils are dilated as panic still courses through her body. But instead of collapsing as she usually would, somehow, she manages to hold herself together.

Until something strange occurs, Nika experiences an out-of-body vision in which everything else is pushed aside—the restaurant, the screen, Sophie, and even the panic attack. All she can see is the inside of a building, with a long hallway featuring black-framed windows along one side, a mottled blue office carpet, a drop ceiling with fluorescent lights, and a fire extinguisher mounted on one wall. Curiously, she focuses on a notification sign just past the extinguisher, with the words SECURED SECTION catching her eye. The place has a utilitarian industrial feel.

From her perspective, she’s running down the hallway, but it’s not the same hallway as the building in the news. This one’s completely different, and she’s sure of that. Additionally, it’s nighttime. There’s a heavy door at the end of the hallway, and as she reaches it, everything slows down. Suddenly, she hears a popping sound coming from behind her, and she turns her head to see a uniformed security officer in pursuit, his gun drawn and aimed at her. He fires again, and a flash leaps out of the barrel, but it’s slow enough that she can see the flames licking out like a tongue of fire.

Nika swings her head back around as she’s about to crash into the door, her hand sweeping up to reach for the door push-bar. She stumbles through the door as it opens, her legs and arms windmilling as she pitches forward, almost falling headlong to the floor. Just as she barely regains her balance, an explosive fireball engulfs her and everything else around her.

At that moment, the news helicopter’s camera feed on the TV screen captures the windows around the building blowing out in a massive explosion. But Nika, lost in her vision, doesn’t see this. The helicopter pilot reacts with a sudden lurch, and the TV screen fills with only a blue sky for a moment.

Nika snaps out of her vision, feeling the panic attack still surging, but now the dam has finally burst. Her eyes frantically search for an escape, and in a split-second decision, she runs for the restroom. Sophie’s startled by Nika’s sudden movement and watches her flee. Suddenly realizing something is wrong, she takes up the pursuit.

Nika rushes into the restroom, heading to the last stall, and locks herself in. Leaning against the wall, she slides to the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest. She’s shaking uncontrollably while struggling to control the whimpers escaping her throat.

Then there’s the sound of someone entering the bathroom.

“Nika? Are you ok? Nika?” Sophie calls out.

Sophie glances down the row of stalls and spots Nika on the floor through the opening at the bottom of the door. She goes to Nika’s stall and asks, “You ok? You need help?”

“No…need a moment,” Nika whispers weakly from behind the door.

Sophie has been through this with Nika, although nothing as severe as this. Sophie sits outside the stall, her back also against the wall, and offers her hand through the space under the bottom of the door.

“Take my hand,” she urges. Nika blindly finds Sophie’s hand and clutches it tightly.

They sit in silence, and then the restroom door opens. A woman enters and stops abruptly, confused by the sight of Sophie. Sophie puts her finger to her lips, signaling the woman to be quiet.

Twenty minutes later, Sophie walks with Nika, who’s leaning on her heavily. The panic attack drained Nika, leaving her exhausted and wiped out. Sophie offers to fetch her car, but Nika doesn’t want to be left alone in the restaurant, not in her current state, not after that strange vision. So, she struggles to walk the one block back to Della’s.

“I’ll drive you home,” Sophie offers.

“No, you have clients,” Nika replies.

“I’ll call a ride share or your parents,” Sophie suggests.

“No. I’ll fall asleep on the way. I need to lie down right now. I’ll sleep in Della’s office. It’s safe there. I’ll be fine,” Nika assures her.

Panic attacks originate from the fight or flight response ingrained in the most primitive parts of the brain. They result from an overreaction or misfiring of the brain to certain stimuli. Typically, the body reacts to danger by releasing adrenaline to escape the bear about to kill us, except there’s no bear in this situation. It’s a false alarm. And when the body releases a large amount of adrenaline in a single moment, the result is a complete collapse soon after. Nika’s well-versed in the effects of panic attacks. After spending half her life dealing with them, she’s become an expert. And she knows that she’ll need sleep after such a severe one.

Sophie glances in on Nika, who is sound asleep on the couch that Della keeps in her backroom office. Usually, it’s half-filled with boxes of supplies, but those were moved to the floor to make room for Nika.

With her fabulously colored red hair and heavy eyeliner, Della stands on her tippy toes to glance over Sophie’s shoulder at the sleeping Nika.

“Poor thing. Shouldn’t we call her parents or someone?” Della asks.

“No, she didn’t want me to. Don’t worry; she’ll be fine. She needs to rest,” Sophie reassures her.

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Interested?

Find The Conundrum of Infinity on Goodreads and Amazon.

Thank you for hanging out with us today. Connect with Erik on Facebook, Instagram and his website.

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