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About the Author
Peter King lives in Wellington, New Zealand. Peter has two adult sons (Lars and Torsten) and two younger sons, Joshua and Oliver.
Peter is a full-time journalist, research manager, policy analyst and researcher. Over a 25 year career has authored over 500 articles in the Index New Zealand archive.
Peter is not to be confused with his numerous namesakes including two Wellington researchers (social and geological), the author of the 'Gourmet Detective 'novels, the porn fiction author or the idiot senator of New York.
The Changels series was initially titled 'the refugees'. The concept was to explore the issues surrounding exodus and conflict by empowering young superheroes to try and assist others.
This changed somewhat during development and became a story about inheritance, discrimination and choice.
As the father of four boys it is also intended to help boys deal with coming of age issues.
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Changels Genesis was mostly written on an HTC slider cellphone on buses and trains or after Oliver went off to sleep.
I work full time and have a very hands on role with small children. Time scavanging was essential to writing,
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Why a butterfly?
The Morpho (meaning 'changed') butterfly is a South American butterfly common to the
Amazon basin. The Amazon is often referred to as the 'lungs' of planet Earth and is under threat from encroaching farming. This will be followed up in the next Changels book, "Nemesis".
The butterfly symbolises the changed nature of the Changels and their relative frailty. But it also symbolises the "butterfly effect" which is the chaos theory proposition that a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state. In other words small things can make big differences.
Maori
There is a strong Maori component in Changels Genesis. Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. Like many indigenous peoples they are strongly intermarried with the European colonialists. There are 668,724 people of Maori descent among New Zealand's population of 4.5 million. I too am one with Maori mitachondrial DNA through my maternal line (ngaiterengi iwi). But 'Maori' is also a statement of cultural affinity similar to being French. Anyone is welcome to learn the language and culture. Some who have no more Maori nucleal DNA than my mother put great store in their Maori tikanga (cultural correctness) while others who are obviously Maori by race know very little language or culture.
I do not pretend to be Maori, I don't look Maori and I wasn't raised with the culture, but given I was writing a story about inheritance and racial discrimination in an international context I could hardly ignore it in my own country. Maori culture is alarmingly spiritually powerful and very confronting. Anyone who experiences it, recognises at once, it's depth and strength. That said, it is full of contradictions, from brutal violence to overwhelming love. I have done my best to capture it's flavour and showcase just a little of its considerable literary merit. I do not claim to be any sort of expert in Maoritangae or tikanga Maori, however I am a careful researcher and I have done my best to represent this remarkable culture as well as I am able.
I apologise in advance for any failings.
RELIGION IN CHANGELS
Changels has no religious affiliation whatsoever (including atheistic). Religions included in Changels include Christianity, Judaism, Islam (Alevi), Soviet communism, Baha'i, Wicca, and Buddhism. That said the plot required an explanation for psychic phenomena. To this end the narrative adopts a spiritualist world view common to numerous religious. This is also filtered by the Maori religious tradition of the narrator and interwoven with recent developments in multidimensional physics.
The author has no religious affiliation.
INSPIRATIONS
Changels Genesis was naturally shaped by stories that came before it. From Tintin I borrowed Herge's devotion to real world authenticity. From Alan Duff's "Once Were Warriors" I took the dark side of New Zealand gang life.
The X-files lent it's conspiratorial side, while the brooding gothic romance of dracula is also apparent in places.
Some parts of the story were inspired purely by images such as this:
QAnon
Some elements of the 2013 fictional Changels story appear to have been appropriated by the 2017 right wing conspiracy cult QAnon. Please note that Changels as a concept is diametrically opposed to absolutely everything QAnon stands for.