SHELBY COUNTY, Alabama -- It's a good thing that BethanyParker, as an Oak Mountain High School sophomore three years ago, had no desire to write a research paper on howHarry Potter and the polio vaccine affected the world.
"It was boring me, so I made up a story," said Parker,who turned 19 in December. "I got sidetracked and I came up with the twocharacters, the two protagonists in this. I started writing a completelyunrelated story."
The Indian Springs Village area resident has turned herstory into a novel that is coming out Feb. 25 through Oklahoma-based Tate Publishing."Mark of the Corripian," her first book in a planned four-novel series, takesplace on another planet populated by humans and an alien race called theKairian and revolves around the adventures of two young human adults.
"There's Zenia and she is 18 years old at the start ofthe story," Parker said, describing her as a "softer, gentler heroine" who is"very innocent."
"She witnesses a murder in the story, so it follows howthat affects her. The other character is Xavier. He's 21 years old. He has losttwo years of his memory and he's trying to get those back because he thinks hewas at this agency where they're essentially assassins. He wants to find out ifthat's true," Parker said.
The storyline brings the two characters together. "He'ssent to protect her because she's put in the witness protection program becauseof the murder," Parker said. "He has an ulterior motive because by going onthis mission, he's figuring out his past -- and her life is in danger even withhim."
While the story sounds like one that could easily takeplace on Earth, Parker wants readers to fasten their seat belts. "It'sfuturistic. It's set on a different planet. This is a planet called Macathia,"she said.
"There are humans, they came from Earth, but there'sanother race on the planet and that's a big part of the story. The other raceis called the Kairian. With that there's a prophecy telling of a war betweenthe two races. That's the bigger plot of the story," she said.
The adventure takes many other juicy turns: "Another sidenote is everyone on the planet has super powers. They're all different. Thehumans are separated into two countries: one has all physical powers and theother has all mental powers," Parker said.
Coming up with the story and writing the novel have beenchallenging tasks for Parker, who attended Oak Mountain for two years butgraduated from Hope Christian, a home-school organization. "That was March 2011when I started it. In November (of that year) I actually scrapped the wholething, but kept the characters and general story line. From there I finished itthe next July (in 2012). It was about eight months total," she said.
The achievement for the young author can be surprising tosome considering she never intended to become a writer. "I had dabbled in theart, short stories, but I never thought to write a book," she said. A friend read a chapter and "she told me tocontinue to do it, and I thought maybe I should try to finish it."
"Mark of the Corripian," the first book in a planned four-novel series by Shelby County author Bethany Parker, takes place on another planet populated by humans and an alien race called the Kairian and revolves around the adventures of two young human adults.Parker wrote the book while attending Oak Mountain HighSchool, when she "had a lot of free time," she said. "I was also involved in myyouth group, so that's what I was doing aside from that, but it was pretty muchwriting from that point on."
Using her laptop to record her words, Parker's writingplaces of choice became her home and the North Shelby Library. Often she wouldhave her ear buds in, listening to Christian music, instrumental songs or some randomstuff.
"I've been trying to think back to what it was thatsprung the idea. I think I saw some commercial about some show about witnessprotection and I wanted to write a story about that," Parker said. "I didn'twant to do any research, so I made up my own planet with my own rules."
Her characters resemble different sides of Parker. "A lotof people say I'm like Xavier -- my bad side, I guess, and a lot of what hegoes through, because he's very cynical and judgmental in a lot of ways,and I used to be like that. Through him I've learned to change. Zenia is thesofter and gentler side that lots of times I need to be," she said.
Thanks to the support of her family that includes parentsBryan and Pat and older brother Bryan, she pursued a publishing deal with thecompany suggested by a peer at Oak Mountain. "I didn't want to actually"publish it, she said. "It was for me and my friends, but my dad thought it was reallygreat and he wanted to get me to publish it at that point."
The publishing effort started in August 2012 and hastaken more than a year to reach the release date of Feb. 25. "It's a littlescary actually that people are actually reading it -- and surreal -- because Inever thought about getting it published, but it's really exciting," she said.
She recommends the book to fans of the "Hunger Games"series and other similar young-adult novels. "It has a little bit of everythingin it," she said. "It's not just one set thing, because a lot of books justhave this one thing, and I put a little bit of everything in it. There are alot of dystopian novels out and this is a little dystopian, but it has fantasyand super powers, a little bit for everyone."
After taking a semester off to get her book finalized,Parker is getting ready to attend Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn."I'm going to major in criminal justice and psychology. I either want to gointo corrections or something in the psychology kind of thing working withprison inmates. That kind of thing interests me," she said.
She's also working on the second book in the series. "Thatwill be interesting while I'm in college to see how that fares. I am about25,000 words in. I was originally halfway done and I scrapped it all. Thishappens," she said, letting out a laugh. "I'm actually going a lot faster thanI was before, so that's good."
Parker can't take all the credit for her work. "It's beenawesome writing this and all the glory to God for giving me this ability towrite a book," she said.
For more information about Parker's book, visit herwebsite at .Or find her on . Also, through Tate Publishing.
Parker will be signing pre-release copies of her novel atthe North Shelby Library from 2 to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 12. For more information,.
Bethany Parker, 19, of the Oak Mountain area in Shelby County talks about her new novel, "Mark of the Corripian," that comes on Feb. 25 from Tate Publishing.