Author Giancarlo Roversi Discusses His Books, Inspiration, Challenges and Writing Process

Venezuela-born Giancarlo Roversi isn’t only a writer. He’s also a computer engineer and a
musician who shared stages with artists such as REM, Oasis, Travis, Duran Duran, and Maroon Five. When his band Fractaler broke up in 2011, he devoted the next ten years to cue the Pulstar Trilogy and three prequels in that universe.

He surrendered his personal life and wrote these manuscripts in his native language, Spanish, and then he translated them into English. He also composed a soundtrack for each book; they’re currently in production.

When he’s not living and breathing in his Pulstarverse, he loves family time, cooking, astronomy, animals, and having philosophical discussions—especially about the meaning of
life—with anyone who cares to join him.

Tell us a little about yourself?

I’m a musician and a computer engineer. Since I was a child, I loved art. I dreamed of being a singer and an actor. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but when I was ten years old, I suffered an accident on a small train—I was unable to walk for a year and almost lost a foot. During those months when I couldn’t even get up, I wolfed down dozens of books by Agatha Christie and other authors. I also wrote my first short story. It was in the horror genre, and I always pictured the main character running away from a horde of zombies with the first part of the song “Magnetic Fields I” by Jean Michel Jarré playing as a background music.

Please share what compelled you to give up a traditional life in order to write the Pulstar trilogy?

In next the questions, I will explain in more detail, but in a nutshell: it was a promise I made to someone very special in my life and who’s no longer on this planet.

Why did it change your life?

Sometimes a single event changes us forever; other times, it is a series of situations that force us to makes hard decisions; although it’s common for others to decide for us. My country, Venezuela, became more chaotic than it already was. That contributed to the dissolution of my band and forced me to emigrate.

While I attempted to start a family and lived in Europe, a tragedy in Venezuela forced me to return and stay there, isolated in an apartment all day long, writing and composing all the time. Finally, I sold the apartment and returned to Europe, but in body, my mind was anchored in Pulstar and Astralvia—the fictional country where the story of Pulstar trilogy takes place.

When and where did the idea of Pulstar come from?

It happened when I was a teenager, on my sister’s birthday, in my parents’ apartment in Caracas. However, that idea went through hundreds of surgeries and led to the books Astralvia I and Astralvia II. In 2012, when I rewrote those two books from scratch, keeping the central core, I came up with the Pulstar name.

How long did it take you to write it and did you face any challenges whilst writing and how did you overcome them?

Whoa, how long? Well, the whole concept started in the 90s. I published Astralvia I and Astralvia II in 2003. Then, in 2012, I rewrote the whole thing. Challenges? Oh, boy… This conversation would last for years, hehe.

Rewriting everything again in 2012 was so complicated. Then, I wrote the second and third books, created the world-building, and translated them into English. I thought Pulstar I and Nerve were ready, but an editor told me they were far from being ready. So I reduced the points of view and made a new draft in Spanish, and I had to translate it again. Later, I finished the drafts of Pulstar II and Pulstar III and translated them as well. In total, taking into account the two prequels and the trilogy, there are over 600,000 words translated and edited repeatedly.

What is the connection between El Nervio and Púlstar?

Thank you for this question, and in the original Spanish language. Nice!

Nerve is a prequel to Pulstar I, even though the events of both books overlap. The idea was that none of the two would give spoilers of the other, only Easter Eggs.

What was the event decades ago that triggered this story that would become your way of perceiving the cosmos, humanity, and life?

During my teenage years, at my sister’s birthdays, a party guest talked about an intrinsic and mysterious subject. That’s where the idea for Pulstar came from. I felt I had to write about it somehow, heavily influenced by Blade Runner and my favorite books. I published the novels Astralvia I and II in Spanish in early 2000. Then I stopped writing and focused fully on my band Fractaler until 2012.

Since I was a child, I wondered about the meaning of life, God, and so on… Years later, astronomy made me agnostic, and when I studied it in depth, it smacked me in the face about what the human species represents for the cosmos. I became more sensitive to the destructive capacity of Homo Sapiens, just because it’s at the top of the food chain of a small, gorgeous, and yet insignificant planet among trillions or quadrillions… whatever figure it is.

Then came the tragedy I mentioned earlier. Besides, I was tired of how pathologically convoluted the Status Quo of Homo Sapiens is, all to maintain a supposed order riddled with injustices and banalities.

Please share what the concept of a book with music is like, as you’ve composed the music for your book and some of its prequels.

Thanks for asking this. Soundtrack is my favorite genre of music. For that reason, I always had in mind to compose passages, songs, textures inspired by key scenes and characters of the books, as if they were a movie or a series. During these years of isolation, I composed the demos for the Pulstar trilogy and two of its prequels.

Can you tell readers about the other books you’ve written?

Sure, sure. Thanks again. Pulstar I is the core of the story, and the second and third parts are already in the editing stage—in English and Spanish. I always conceived this story as a trilogy, or as an enormous book split into three parts, although each is self-concluding. The ending of Pulstar III has been one of my biggest driving forces to continue with this project. Nerve (also published) is a prequel to Pulstar I that you can read as a stand-alone novel. Then, there’s Marlenh, an erotic thriller taking place 30 years before the events of Pulstar I and Nerve.

What is a typical writing day like for you?

Eh, normal? Hehe. Well, when I was living in Astralvia, I worked almost ten hours a day on this project. I would start at night until almost dawn. Of course, I always had music, the playlist is extremely important.

Which writers have influenced or inspired you?

My favorite authors are George Orwell, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Dan Simmons, Anne Rice, Gillian Flynn, Cormac McCarthy, Oriana Fallaci. Phew, this list could continue for centuries.

What words of advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Wow, this is a tough one!

They have to love writing, otherwise, there’s no point. It’s hours of solitude and requires an extreme sacrifice on a social, economic, and emotional level that perhaps only other writers or people connected to the literary scene would fully understand. However, if the uneasiness and the inner burning are there and never go away, we have no choice but toss it out, hoping our message connects with other people.

Do you have any upcoming projects or work in the pipeline?

At the moment, I need to finish editing Pulstar II and Pulsar III. Also, the prequel Marlenh is in the editing process. Another project I have to complete is the music for all these books; it’s quite advanced, though. I have other ideas floating around in my head, of course; only one is science fiction, and all of them would take place in Astralvia. One of these stories is about a drummer young girl who wants to make it; I’m a wanna-be drummer. What can I say?

Finally, what would be your dream cast for a series or movie based on your books?

Yes, yes!!! Thank you!!!

We writers love these kind of questions.

Well, I could ramble on for hours… No, seriously, I’ve been working on this project for so many years that the dream cast has changed so many times. I always envisioned the villain as a mix of Jeremy Irons and Ed Harris. Now, if Viggo Mortensen would play this role, it would be a dream come true for me. Jeral Murh… Wow… At some point, I imagined Milla Jovovich playing her. In fact, in the first drafts of the Astralvia books—the seeds of Pulstar I and Nerve—I imagined Jeral as Jovovich in The Fifth Element. Then it was Samara Weaving, especially because of her prominent incisor teeth.

However, there’s an actress I didn’t know, and when I spotted her in a horror movie—I’m a horror movie fan—I said: this could be Jeral. Then I saw her in the first season of The White Lotus, and I was convinced … That’s Jeral! Maybe shorter and not so stunning. Her name is Alexandra Daddario. And I could go on … It’s too tempting!

Connect With The Author

Website: giancarloroversi.com
YouTube: @Astralvianguy

Books & Music

Nerve: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXMYVYDW
Pulstar I: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNF2KTQ
Nerve (Soundtrack): giancarloroversi.com/music
Pulstar I (Soundtrack): giancarloroversi.com/music

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