Pitt student-author makes fantasy a reality

Cameo Rowe’s recently self-published novel has been through a lot. First written in short… Cameo Rowe’s recently self-published novel has been through a lot. First written in short story form as a gift, the book has since been accidentally deleted from a floppy disk, critiqued by numerous Pitt professors and repeatedly rewritten and revised.

Rowe, who graduated from Pitt last spring, recalls working on the book, titled “Defenders of the Realm I: The World Mystic Arts Tournament,” for six years before recently sealing its destiny as the first published segment of his “Defenders of the Realm” trilogy.

“I wrote a short story as a gift for a retiring English teacher during my senior year of high school,” said Rowe. “From there, I just kept working on it, and it got longer and longer.”

The version Rowe remembers from his early years of college is very different from what readers will find in the final draft, though. He references the accidental deletion of his first draft, emotional maturation and a change in writing style to be prominent factors in the book’s transformation over the years.

Hoping to use the literary half of his double major in engineering and English writing at Pitt to boost the novel’s growth, Rowe looked to his teachers for direction.

“I showed it to a number of professors, but the feedback wasn’t great, so I had to just write different things in class and revise ‘Realm’ on the side as my style evolved,” he said. “The book is now cleaner, more cohesive, and it deals with more emotional issues.”

During the 2005-06 school year, Rowe worked as a co-editor in chief for BlackLine literary magazine, the official publication of Pitt’s Black Action Society.

Rowe sent out pieces of his book to friends and classmates for feedback. Robert Boswell, Rowe’s classmate, worked on BlackLine with Rowe. Boswell has read “Realm” and drafts for the upcoming sequel. A self-described anti-fantasy reader, Boswell was pessimistic about what Rowe’s book would have to offer.

“I figured it wouldn’t be that great, but I was surprised,” he said. “I ended up really getting into the characters.”

It wasn’t as much the plot that attracted Boswell to the story, but instead Rowe’s choice to create racial diversity in a literary genre that is rarely associated with non-white characters.

“In particular with this book, you don’t think of African American people, but this book had an almost all-black cast,” said Boswell. Rowe doesn’t seem to be worried about breaking political or social ground, though. His current barrier is getting his book out into the public eye.

Since “Realm” is first and foremost a fantasy novel, Rowe originally made the decision not to delve too deeply into complicated subjects. But he found that his many rewrites and his own maturing lifestyle gave rise to a more complex storyline, bringing emotional factors to the forefront along with action and imagery.

“There is a love story in it, and you have several characters dealing with the loss of a loved one,” said Rowe. “You have people becoming victim to an increase in technology and a growing society.”

“Defenders of the Realm I,” though branded by a long title, follows a fairly basic plotline that is reminiscent of other well-known science fiction and fantasy novels. “When I was young, I read ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Harry Potter’ and watched ‘Star Wars,’ so I had a good basis of how things should go,” said Rowe.

He believes these science fiction forefathers are only influences, not sources of replication. The characters, situations and emotions of “Realm” are original and imaginative, not “Lord of the Rings” rehashes.

“Realm” introduces readers to the story of young mystics coming of age in the world of Gaea. The main character is Aleron, a boy who was separated from his family at an early age and raised in the wilderness. These students could be comparable to seniors in high school, but instead of graduating, their powers are put to test in a “world mystic-arts tournament.” The training of these mystics symbolizes the beginning of a battle between good and evil, between opposing forces known as the “Kindred” and the “Occult.”

“I had the basic outline of the trilogy in my head,” said Rowe. “The most important thing is having the characters get to the tournament at the end of the first book, and then as the other books unfold, it’s how has the world changed and what kind of challenges will the characters have to face.”

Rowe said that his personal work ethic played a large role in drilling out pages during the long writing process.

“I’m the kind of person that gets really into things,” he said. “I have the kind of mentality where I keep working and working if something needs done.”

Along with self-motivation, Rowe said he relied on certain kinds of music to set the mood for his creativity and keep him focused. Depending on the scene he was working on, Rowe would choose from classical music and other low-key tunes, always trying to stray from anything that would tempt him to sing along.

While the novel has been done for more than a year now – Rowe finished the most updated version at the end of last summer – he is pushing for a release in online book vendors on Nov. 15. As for real, live bookstores, a release date is still up in the air. But the most difficult barricade for Rowe to overcome in selling his book is finding his niche among sci-fi readers.

“I just want to get out there and find people who love fantasy. I can’t pretend everyone is going to want to read this book,” said Rowe. “I’m gonna have to hit the streets.”