This past week we gave the spotlight to Transference, B.T. Keaton’s Dystopian Sci-Fi novel! Our Roadies brought a wide selection of content to this show with reviews, interviews and other posts. Now it’s time to bring the show to an end and it’s my pleasure to present you with the encore, including some extra content. Come and learn a bit more about the world of Transference through B.T.’s playlist and fan cast! And don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
Shall we?
Brandon Keaton is a citizen of Aotearoa, and has called its beautiful capital city of Wellington home for over ten years. Some of his career highlights include slaving joyfully in big-box retail, making coffee for advertising execs, and duty-managing a craft beer brewery. He is also passionate about animals and has an undying affinity for gummy bears. Brandon is a member of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Association of New Zealand and The Libertarian Futurist Society. He is currently penning the sequel to TRANSFERENCE, his debut indie novel.
Rebellion. Revenge. Revelation.
Barrabas Madzimure is banished to the desert planet Eridania for his many crimes. Slaves to the Church and to the will of its prophet Jovian, a charismatic figurehead who rules everything on Earth, Madzimure and his cohorts toil underground digging endlessly for the substance eridanium—the source of Jovian’s alien power.
But Madzimure can no longer hide from his past. Facing execution, he claims to have once been Thaniel Kilraven, transferred decades earlier into the body of Madzimure against his will. Under interrogation the stories of both men are brought to light, and the terrible fate of the lost Kilraven bloodline is revealed.
Madzimure escapes, knowing the only way to salvage what’s left of the Kilraven name and confront his destiny—and Jovian—is by facing them head on. But the horrific truths he finds on Earth might be the undoing of all mankind. What if everything humanity believed about civilization was a lie? Will anything or anyone be left from the fallout?
Click on the blog name to read their full review or other content!
JULY 28TH – THE KICKOFF
Whispers & Wonder – interview + IG spotlight @whispersandwonder
JULY 29TH
@_bookish.me_ – IG spotlight
@all.you.read.is.love – review + IG spotlight
“TRANSFERENCE is the definition of riveting — fast-paced, action-packed, and mind-boggling. I’ve never read a book like this before, and I don’t say that lightly!”
JULY 30TH
Fantasy Book Critic – interview
@books_with_ella – review + IG spotlight
“This book is full of action, fast paced with a little bit of everything else rolled in.”
JULY 31ST
@apocketfuloftomes – review + IG spotlight
“Overall, Transference is a refreshing and original read. It asks us questions on what it means to be human and what choices are we going to make when face with death.”
@readerofthenight_ – IG spotlight
AUGUST 1ST
I Smell Sheep – excerpt
@danthewandererboy – IG spotlight
@chapter.mjthomas – review + IG spotlight
“I absolutely loved this sci-fi thriller. The concepts are extraordinary. Definitely one of the best sci-fi I read this year.”
AUGUST 2ND
Book and Nature Professor – review + IG spotlight @bookandnatureprof
“Transference is an excellent debut novel by B. T. Keaton. The transfer of souls to another body, the main plot of the book, was a unique and compelling science fiction. The pacing and prose were excellent. The reader was able to delve into the thoughts of several characters as it was all told in the first-person perspective.”
Bookwyrm’s Guide to the Galaxy – excerpt
Viggo Mortensen as Madzimure (Kilraven)
I had a trying time attempting to cast the perfect actor for Madzimure. In my mind, I pictured a sort of bearded-Liam-Neeson-type as I was writing the book. I think Viggo has proved he has the strong chops needed for a role like this, all without overshadowing the movie as a whole with his presence.
Benedict Cumberbatch as Corvus
Val Kilmer circa 1993 would’ve been perfect, so I had to leap forward to today to try and fill his shoes. Benedict has this great “riding the fence” quality in his performances. You’re not quite sure if he’s going to go follow through and kill everyone one minute, or do an about-face the next.
Zendaya as Trash Heap (Terra)
Trash was/is hard to place. This is someone who has to be young, and yet can believably go toe to toe with Barrabas. Their relationship is somewhat akin to Carrie Kelly (Robin) and Bruce Wayne (Batman) from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns… and Zendaya has the ability to pull off that street-smart-firecracker quality, while balancing it all with a certain level of humour and thoughtfulness.
Michael Stuhlbarg as Octavian aka the Surgeon
Octavian was easier for me to cast after I saw Stuhlbarg in Call Me By Your Name. Michael possesses the ability to express deep regret behind his eyes and yet his face can emote a warm, fatherly presence. The Surgeon is one of my favourite characters in the book, and when I read his dialogue, it’s Stuhlbarg’s voice that I hear. It doesn’t get much better, really.
Zoe Saldana as Elisabeth
Elisabeth is very special to me, even though we only get to spend one chapter with her in the entire book. As Madzimure’s long-lost-wife, she is vital to the story in every sense of the word. As a character she is broken, both physically and emotionally, and has to dig deep to find some reservoir of strength to fight her one last battle. I think Zoe has the traits needed to pull that off beautifully.
Idris Elba as Lord Alpha
He is absolutely one of my favourite actors today, and I think he elevates every film he’s in. His deep voice and stature make him perfect for the role of Alpha—a cold, distant, and dangerous man who serves Jovian the prophet without question.
??? as Jovian
Last but not least of course is the antagonist of the entire story. I simply couldn’t place him. He can’t be the Emperor from Star Wars, but he also can’t be Timothée Chalamet either. And yet, I imagine him as both of those things! (laughs) Talk about a quandary. I leave it up the reader to decide who best should play the insidious One Prophet.
At risk of sounding dramatic, I think music has real unique healing power. Music can make you jump to your feet and shout, or fall to your feet and weep. Its influence is that great because it’s the language of the soul. I often listen to music when I’m writing, and because I think in a visual sense anyway, music can really heighten that process for me. There’s some unusual selections here, a bit out of my normal day-to-day listening fare, but I was trying to go more for a soundtrack-like approach.
If you’d like to explore the entire playlist you can find it here:
In the meantime, here’s a few selections from that list:
“There’s a Storm Coming” by Dance With The Dead
This felt like an appropriate track, as I imagine Barrabas beating a man to death is a lot to take in during what would be the opening credits. Pretty grim, but made pretty cool by the bleak sounds of DWTD.
“Moonchild” by M83
There’s a really deep (& hopefully surprising) revelation that takes place around the mid-way point of the book. This song by M83 rises to the occasion of that moment, I think, and I feel provides an urgent sense of rushing to someone’s aid.
“Elisabeth” by C.V. Jorgensen
The song, sung by a Danish artist, is literally the namesake of one of the more important secondary characters in the novel. There’s love and sadness behind the guitar chords, and the vocals, and I think that’s what drew me to it. Also, because it’s not in English, the foreign nature of the song felt fitting for a man who’s not seen his beloved in thirty years.
“Mercy” by Panic Division
The lyrics of this song are pulled directly from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. I couldn’t think of anything more appropriate since revenge and mercy are central themes of the story, mercy being the greater of the two. “It is an attribute to God himself,” Portia says. And I think it befits the moment we are introduced to Jovian—the antagonist of the novel—who thinks himself a god, but lacks the central traits of one.
“Neon Sun” by At 1980
This one in particular really gets going around the 2-minute mark, and I feel it fits beautifully with several characters having to make hard choices all at once… parting company with one another, making sacrifices, that sort of thing.
If you are interested in Transference and would like to get in contact with B.T. Keaton, you can find him on social media:
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Grab a copy of Transference on Amazon!
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