Characters
Keiji
The Traveler
Keiji will be thrown back in time from the 21st century to the Second Age of man to find the Kantara Scrolls. To aid in his travels, his mind has been altered so he can understand other languages and empathize with those around him. His skull has also been outfitted with a device that allows him to maintain contact with people of the future.
Hazi
The Huntress
The first of Keiji’s friends, Hazi is a huntress of giants in the Land of Darmant. Armed with a spear, bow and ax, she will protect Keiji in his travels. Hazi will face the demons of her past as she learns about the truth of her people, and the horrific fate of those she hunted for all her life.
Andros
The Reptilian
A commander within the ranks of an invading reptilian force on Earth, Andros will be captured by Keiji’s fellowship. With artificially accelerated evolution, Andros will have to prove whether he is friend or foe.
Enkidu
The Dragon
With a dragon by your side, you will never need a lighter to stay warm. But Enkidu will prove more valuable than simply his ability to spout fire. Amidst great loss and suffering, Enkidu’s persistence and strength will bring Keiji and his companions to places beyond imagination.
Sargin
The Pilot
The son of King Sar, Sargin will use his position to lead a team to help Keiji find the first Kantara Scroll. Though he is a poor marksman, he does have a knack for piloting.
Selegra
The Fighter
The daughter of reptilian leadership, Selegra helps the crew of the Endurance find the second Kantara scroll. Having spent time on Earth, Selegra has a pessimistic view of her own species.
Blake
The Captain
The mysterious figure at the heart of the Kantara conspiracy, Captain Elton Blake leads the intrepid adventurers to the heart of the reptilian star system with mission to find the second Kantara Scroll.
Mahlah
Dragon Rider
The captain of King Sar’s guard, Mahlah will be tasked to protect Sargin during the search for the Kantara Scrolls. One of the last dragon riders on the planet, Malah will wield the key to ensure Keiji accomplishes the most vital part of his mission: communicate with a dragon.
Zana
The Woman
A woman in Keiji’s past who still is vivid in Keiji’s mind, may turn out to be more real than imagined.
Abydemus
The Engineer
This perceptive companion is a dwarf who joined Keiji during the Second Age at Untermeth. A lover of nature but with the skills of an engineer, Abydemus helps Keiji see what others miss.
Livia
The Midlatican
The sister to Emperor Magnus, Livia will lead a rebellion against her brother during the Second Age at the Battle of Midlatica.
Riley
The Magistrate
A Proconan that serves as a member of the Council of Nine’s Magistrate, this military leader will deliver one of the first major defeats to the Fourth Reich.
Uanna
The Assassin
Livia’s daughter and the neice to Emperor Magnus. She makes a deal with Vrillak that will turn her into an assassin.
Vrillak
The Koldasharan
The one who betrayed Kantara and is behind the rise of the Fourth Reich. He aims to bring the universe to its knees.
The original drawing by Alexandra Weller of Hazi.
The Novels
Book 1
Kantara | The Traveler
Launched January 24, 2023
Keiji, a modern young man is unexpectedly hurled into a distant past. Known as The Traveler, he learns he now has a superhuman ability.
Keiji discovers an Earth that is far different than anything he ever imagined. The planet is the focus of intergalactic attention where an imminent attack leads to an impending apocalypse. The only hope for the future lie with the Kantara Scrolls which hold the secrets to overcoming a growing malevolent force.
The Traveler embarks on a crusade to find the Kantara Scrolls. His heroic adventure will lead him to unimaginable marvels where he will be joined by dynamic characters as they head toward a climactic confrontation with an unforeseen enemy.
Book 2
Kantara | The Captain
Launched February 28, 2024
After traveling to the Second
Age and finding the first Kantara scroll, Keiji takes a trip to the nineteenth-century Wild West where he meets up with the fabled Captain Elton Blake. But Keiji is surprised to find he didn’t come alone; both friends and foes from
the Second Age have arrived,
including the sinister Berossus.
Following an unexpected
meeting with Admiral Radau,
a man who should be dead,
Keiji learns he must seek out the second Kantara scroll.
To find it, he must travel to the home world of those responsible for the apocalypse of the Second Age—the reptilians. Meanwhile,
Keiji struggles to adapt to
his growing mental powers
as Captain Blake discovers a
connection to the Kantara scrolls.
As a reptilian fascist empire
rises, Berossus is closing in on the scrolls, and he will kill anybody who stands in his way. Can Keiji and the captain stop him?
Book 3
Kantara | The Prince
Launched February 18, 2025
With the second scroll in hand, the search for the third Kantara scroll has begun, except this time, the enemy is one step ahead. The journey takes Keiji and his companions to the home world of Zuren, an oceanic planet where Sargin, the Prince, must come to terms with his rights as heir.
When the scroll is within grasp, enemy forces show their hand and steal it, sparking off a chase that leads back to 1945 Earth where the unexpected becomes the expected. Time is precious when Keiji discovers a plot to end his life as maleficent forces try to change history by destroying Keiji’s ancestral home of Kokura, Japan.
With a showdown that will take reptilians, Nazis and our heroes to the moon, Keiji will at last come face to face with the one responsible for bringing the universe to its knees.
Book 4
Kantara | The Abducted
Now Editing
Having acquired the third scroll, the clues to the fourth and final scroll reside within the missing parchments. To find them, Keiji will return to his home on Earth in the twenty-first century, where he must find Andros’s brother, Ivo.
Disaster strikes as Keiji’s mother is kidnapped, triggering the attention of the Galactic Council of Nine. The only way to save his mother is to start an intergalactic war with the reptilian Fourth Reich.
In his journey, Keiji’s powers grow, giving him the opportunity to not only travel through time, but to alter history itself. In so doing, Keiji finally learns the secret of the moon, and begins to understand its threat to Kantara, and the universe.
The enemy, Vrillak, gets bolder, and is now ready to confront Keiji, demonstrating that not only can he hurt the traveler, but that he now possesses the power to hill him.
Inspirations
Aliens and Predator (1980s)
The inspiration by the movies Aliens and Predator is two-fold. First, the bad guys were strictly that – they were bad guys. There was no reasoning with them. They were deadly and merciless. To fight them, elite military units are brought in.
Battlestar Galactica
This television series has treated the imaginations of generations with the idea that human origins are other than Earth. It also explores the dangers of machines rebelling against their creators.
My
Grandfather
He told me many stories about his career, and they always stopped at a climax, just short of revealing something classified. When it was brought to his attention that a flying saucer once trailed him on the highway, his reaction was surprising.
The Time Machine
H.G. Wells had quite the imagination. In fact, the first time I read his book, The Time Machine, I was dumbfounded. The distance travelled into the future in his book was mind-boggling for me. To think that this book was written more than a century ago!
The
Ancient Alien
Theory
Have aliens always been among us? That could answer many questions. To some, it may answer every question! Question: Who did it? Answer: Aliens. Question: Who taught us? Answer: Aliens. All kidding aside, our planet is filled with life and much beauty. If extraterrestrial intelligence exists, then our world may very well be on their radar.
The Science
of
Ufology
Since 1947, ufology has inspired the curiosity of many people. There have been several ufologists who have explored the subject scientifically and using research. Stanton Friedman is among the ones I gravitated to the most, mainly because, in my opinion, he strived to maintain a healthy agnostic perspective of many stories but was also clearly a believer that some flying saucers were of ‘other than human’ origins.
Return
of the
Jedi
Grotesque monsters in Jabba’s palace. Cute Ewoks on Endor. The sterile coldness of the Empire ruled by evil itself…Palpatine. The climactic confrontation between the light and dark sides. There is a lot packed into this movie, and quite frankly, I found this to be one of the most entertaining films that touched many of my heartstrings.
A Journey to the Center of the Earth
Another great writer, Jules Verne, tells the incredible story of an expedition beneath our feet. The book is among my favorites, but so are the movies. The 1950’s version with Pat Boone, James Mason, and Arlene Dahl is one of my most-liked movies of all time. I enjoyed the chemistry between the cast as they explored vast worlds within our world.
Lake
Placid
My wife and I have watched this movie more times than we can count. The humor intertwined with this monster film is one that we felt is very well executed to our liking. We miss you, Betty White!
Star Trek
II
Watching this film in the theatre is probably my favorite moving-going experience. Ricardo Montalban’s portrayal as Khan grabs me at every one of his scenes. His vengeance is cold and calculating. As powerful as he is, it will be the vastly more experienced Kirk, the self-sacrificing efforts of Spock, and the determined crew of the Enterprise that will bring our beloved ship home.
Yor - The Hunter from the Future
This was a movie that I could pop into the VCR and play repeatedly when I was a kid. The mixture of cave people, dinosaurs, and Sci-Fi into one film is a fun ride for a B-film that only gets better with a glass of whiskey (neat of course). It begins with two cave people hunt a baby dinosaur only to be attacked by the baby’s mother. Yor jumps to the rescue and hacks mommy dinosaur to death. I’m sure there is an ethical dilemma there somewhere, but I will just let that one go.
Galaxy
Quest
What if Sci-Fi / Fantasy fans could be part of the adventure with the characters that have thrilled them for ages? I attended my first Sci-Fi convention in 1989, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with other people with similar interests. The movie Galaxy Quest has always felt like a film meant for the fans and does not take itself very seriously at all. Stay alive Guy!
Book Trailers
What Our Readers are Saying
The Midwest Book Review
Young adults interested in time travel sci-fi which embraces aliens, apocalypse, and a college student’s unusual role as (perhaps) the savior of Earth will find the heroic adventure Kantara: The Traveler a particularly full-faceted story that stands out in the world of young adult time travel fiction.
A time-hopping prologue and introduction move first into the past, where Zurens and humans face clashes and paradoxes; then into far future’s darkness, where Moti faces an environment where intention is the only thing that matters. In this case, Moti requests that the timeline be opened backwards. This action leads the story to college student Keiji, who learns he has superhuman abilities that may be the only key to thwarting an evil force set to destroy everything.
Keiji is not the only proactive, courageous character in the story, but his actions drive a quest for the Kantara Scrolls which promise solutions to impossible problems. His interactions with others through various possibilities that link past, present, and future are winningly revealed.
Stephen and Mary Weller craft a fast-paced adventure that introduces using the third person, then moves to the first person as Keiji interacts with his world, new ideas, and new skill sets he is barely able to comprehend, much less handle.
As emperors face time loops and impossible traps and attacks leave behind a trail of carnage and new possibilities, young adults will find Keiji’s world replete with confrontation and shifting alliances. These types of challenges force Keiji to redefine not only his perception of reality, but the role he plays in bigger pictures than his own future alone.
Libraries and young adult readers seeking vivid clashes, thought-provoking time travel dilemmas, and proactive characters who struggle with impossible choices and their consequences will find Kantara: The Travelera riveting adventure that concludes nicely, but leaves the door well ajar for follow-up stories.
– D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review