A longtime interest in storytelling and science fiction recently led Owensboro resident Jake Linn to publish his first novel, Novalunosis.
Linn said the book grew out of a creative passion he has carried for years, fueled by a love of science fiction and his experience leading tabletop role-playing games with friends.
“It’s always been something I’ve wanted to do,” Linn said. “I’ve always had these stories that I wanted to tell.”
Novalunosis follows a group of five individuals who escape from a prison and find themselves on the run across the galaxy. Along the way, the characters crash-land on a snow-covered planet dominated by an artificial intelligence-controlled dome, where Linn said the story explores themes of survival and found family.
“They’re always trying to run from something in pursuit of individual goals, but toward the end of the book, they work as a team and do things for the betterment of the galaxy as a whole,” Linn said.
Linn said his background as a dungeon master, or DM, in tabletop role-playing games helped shape both his storytelling style and the novel’s characters.
“RPG is a tabletop role-playing game where players create characters and go on adventures together using imagination, storytelling, and dice to determine outcomes,” Linn said. “The DM is the game’s storyteller and ‘referee.’ I describe the world, control non-player characters and monsters, present challenges, and interpret the rules — guiding the story while reacting to the players’ choices.”
Linn said years of running science fiction-based campaigns with friends provided creative inspiration for the novel.
“Through the past seven or eight years, I’ve been telling these stories with my players,” Linn said. “How they react to things and some of their characters actually helped inspire some of my writing.”
While the book draws heavily from Linn’s imagination, he said his role as a father also influenced certain details in the story.
“I took a lot of inspiration for some of the characters from being a parent,” Linn said, noting that some design elements and creatures in the novel were inspired by drawings made by his children.
Novalunosis is available on Amazon in both e-book and print formats. Linn said an audiobook version is expected to be released in March.
Linn said he selected a local voice actor, Aaron Hagan, to narrate the audiobook after reviewing multiple auditions.
“I actually vetted a lot of people to do the audiobook,” Linn said. “There are a lot of different characters and different voices. He sent me his audition, and it was really good.”
Despite the book’s early success, Linn said publishing the novel was driven more by personal fulfillment than professional ambition.
“This isn’t about a career move for me,” Linn said. “It’s not about making additional money. I really just wanted something out there that one day my kids could go back and read.”
Linn said he hopes the novel serves as an example to his children about pursuing goals without fear of failure.
“You don’t want them to fear failure. You only want them to fear regret,” Linn said. “I didn’t want to regret not getting this story out there.”
While Linn said he has ideas for potential sequels, he acknowledged that future projects will depend on finding time to write.
“The stories are there,” Linn said. “I would love to keep telling them.”
Novalunosis can be purchased on Amazon here.
