What is Akralon? Part I

When people ask what the Akralon books are about, I find it difficult to give a short answer and do the books justice.  Akralon is about two things, primarily.  First, it's about self-discovery and finding purpose in life.  Second, it's about the power of imagination and creativity.

The reason the characters span the globe is to show many different lifestyles and circumstances, but also to show how most people define themselves by their job or their family or their culture.  We all do it, to some respect.  But who are you without those things?  With no job, no family and no culture, what is left? 

We have all these societal norms that regulate our behavior that we never really stop to think about.  I like to use the old elevator example.  There are unspoken rules about etiquette inside an elevator.  You step in, you turn around, you stare at the doors or watch the changing floor light.  Nobody wrote these rules down, we just sort of adapted into this group behavior.  But imagine how people would react if you stepped inside the elevator and did NOT turn around, and instead stared forward.  What if you just walked to the back of the elevator and stood silently facing the corner?  Technically, you wouldn't be doing anything wrong, but something as simple as which direction you're facing is enough to make people freak out and think you're crazy!

All that, just in an elevator.  A household, town, city and country have a million more of these unspoken rules of how we ought to behave. But what if you took people out of their society, out of their country - out of their world?  What if you put them in a different world where none of those rules applied.  How would they react?  What would they think?  Without culture, family and friends - how would they now define themselves?

Now imagine, after some time, they return home, to all the familiar things.  Would they be any different - changed in any way?  Would they simply revert back to their old habits and ways of thinking?  No doubt, depending on the shortness of the time away, most people would settle back into their old ways.  It's what they've been doing the longest.

But what if they could, periodically, go back and forth?  How would they deal with two separate realities?  The human brain doesn't like not having everything on the same page, so it would try and adjust, somehow bring the realities together.  This means the person would have to develop a stronger, more defined way of viewing the world/s and his or herself. 

Throw in the extra spice of having abilities not available in the real world and you have a formula for making heroes and villains.  Some people will find strength to overcome their circumstances, to learn and grow and be better people.  Others will fall victim to their darker natures and downward spiral into infamy. 

So, in a sense, the world of Akralon is a test for the soul.