UNION — Author Frantz Charles is back with “God War,” his latest addition to a series he began with “The GCP: The First Resurrection” and “New Watchers: The Dead Sea Scroll.” For Charles, his fantasy novels were something he’s been working on since he was very young.
“Although ‘The GCP: The First Resurrection’ was published in 2020, when I was 24, I started that one in 2012, when I was only 16 years old,” said Charles in a recent interview with LocalSource.
“‘New Watchers: The Dead Sea Scroll’ and ‘God War’ are actually prequels to ‘The GC.’ My agent wanted me to do lower-in-age, middle-school grade,” said Charles.
He admitted that a lot of his creativity is based on anime and ‘Avatar, the Last Airbender.’ ‘Dragon Ball Z’ and ‘Naruto’ also influenced him heavily. He said it really taught him about storytelling. Charles said a lot of what he went through in his own life influenced the themes in his stories.
“In ‘God War,’ the characters represent different aspects of my life,” he said. “My agent told me, next time, to focus on one character. Zarya is the first in her bloodline to say no. I feel like I’m the first to really go after my dreams. I’m the first man in my family to graduate college, to pursue my dreams to be an author and go international.
“When you look at Cesar, he’s a military leader. He has a twin brother, and I actually have a twin brother. We’re a family or six and we came from nothing. My brother’s hot-tempered, I’m cool. You see that with Cesar and Alexander. Cesar has the higher calling to protect his brother and tries to protect his brother. That was my relationship with my brother. I was actually influenced by Percy Jackson.”
Another very important character Charles created is Star Everbright.
“Star Everbright, not growing up to be the most popular person, not knowing her parents,” he said. “My father provided, but he wasn’t there for me. Her father was known, but he wasn’t really there for him. She didn’t see her father for a long time, but she understood him. I can’t blame my father for not being there, but he did the best he could.”
Charles is quick to admit both his books and characters are autobiographical in nature.
“When you look at these three characters, they represent different aspects of my life, my personality.”
In addition to being an author, Charles visits schools and partners up with the youth. He partnered up with the Recreational Department of Union. There’s this program called Grind that helps youth, and he partnered up with them. He said they really help the youth of Union Township. He went to the Union Public Library and talked to the children there.
“I run my own publishing company,” said Charles. “I help other authors publish their books. I partnered up with IngramSpark and I used them as a source to help make the book, make the covers. I’m along the way every step of the way with other authors. I work with six authors, two from Union.”
“God War” is all part of a series, but if you read “God War” alone, he said he tries to explain what happened in the previous book and what happened with the ‘New Watchers.’ JRR Tolkien is a big influence and, coincidentally, he and Charles were both born on Jan. 3.
“What I wanted to do with five characters is do five books,” he said. “‘New Watchers’ was the first book, ‘God War’ the second. That’s still the goal. I want the next book to be about Chantal. She’s working with Star Everbright. She’s a red-headed girl. Even in ‘New Watchers,’ she’s mentioned. Chantal comes from the Nephilim kingdom. My agent is working on that. We’re developing the next book.”
Charles said his ultimate goal is to turn his books into movies. He went to William Paterson University and said his dream is to bring my books to life. He added that he wants to write, produce and direct his own shows.
“I wanted to be like Tyler Perry, who’s headquartered in Atlanta. There was a point in time when I moved to Atlanta and did some movies in 2022 and 2023. I had to move back to New Jersey to graduate with my communication degree in media and film. I drove 13 hours in my Honda Civic and I was living with my cousin and I made it work. I really am on this journey to bring my goals, dreams and visions to life. I’m 30. I don’t have any kids or family. I want to make my dream a reality.”
Charles recognizes where he is and who he has to thank for his accomplishments, starting with the mayor of Union. He said Patricia Guerra-Frazier gave him opportunities to reach out to certain people. Sen. Joe Cryan helped him, too. He said they’re good friends, which is why he likes to give back to the Union.
“What I want people to get is that they’re not bound by tradition,” said Charles. “Don’t be stuck to the norm. I tell students this all the time. I tell them everyone was created with a purpose. It’s your job to make an impact, even if it’s just one person.”
He said the story is really about these people who are overlooked and who are called to fight these higher beings who are trying to take over the world, the gods. They have to go outside of their own issues. Each of their points of view, they have their own issues. He said we all have our own personal issues, but we have our own personal calling to impact the world. It’s what you do with your time here on earth. It’s really the same message in all three of his books. Many are called, few are chosen. The chosen ones are the ones who get back up and get over adversity.
Charles said he’s been to France and seen his book being sold there. He’s also done interviews internationally. He has gone to the APEX Awards for Publication Excellence and won a lot of awards for his two books, “The GCP” and “New Watchers.”
“Sept. 29 is the launch date for ‘God War,’ said Charles. “Right now, I’m working with my marketing team. Some magazines want to do a photo shoot with me. I’m working with Barnes & Noble. Union Public Library has ‘New Watchers’ in their catalog and they will be putting ‘God War’ into their catalog, too. All of my books are eBooks and physical books.”
“God War” is available at Barnes & Noble, Walmart and where good books are sold.
