Titusville science-fiction writer completes trilogy

Justin Romano also works part-time in the produce section of the Pennington Market, a job he’s had since high school days

By John Tredrea
   To make it work, you have to keep at it every day without fail. That’s a key part of the credo of Justin Romano, who’s just published "The Dragonfire Destiny," the third novel in his science-fiction opus, "The Shadow Gate Trilogy."
   Mr. Romano, 31, a Titusville resident and graduate of Hopewell Valley Central High School, said one thing a novelist should do is "write every day. Make it part of your routine. Not necessarily a specific time, or even a set amount of time, but make sure you return to the story every single day. That keeps the plot and the characters fresh and vivid in your mind, even if you only pen a few sentences in a 15-minute session. I really believe you have to have that commitment if you want the story to be true."
   "The Dragonfire Destiny" continues the story of Argentia Dasani as she leads her exhausted band on a desperate hunt for the Wheels of Avis-fe — the elf-forged talismans that hold the key to the salvation or destruction of the crowndom of Teranor.
   "Dragonfire exhausted me," said Mr. Romano, who has a master’s degree in English literature from Seton Hall University. "The plot and characters have been building toward this point throughout the trilogy. This is climax, catharsis, the culmination of three books — heavy, emotionally charged material that wrings a lot out of you, but I hope in a satisfying way, because the end of the trilogy is really only the beginning of Argentia’s tales. So while in one sense the story’s been told, it’s opened doors to other stories. For me, that organic quality is one of the most amazing things about writing."
   Before taking his current full-time job as managing editor for the Neuroscience Division of Jobson Medical Publishing in Bloomfield, Mr. Romano taught English literature at Seton Hall. In addition to Stephen King and J.R.R. Tolkien, Shakespeare and Milton are among his favorite writers. The Star Wars films also inspired him to take up sci-fi, he said.
   Mr. Romano says it’s unlikely he’ll ever work in a genre other than science fiction.
   "I love it," he said of sci-fi. "I’ve been a fan of the genre probably since I read the Chronicles of Narnia as a kid, and then Tolkien a little later, and it just stuck. I think it’s fantastic to be able to work in a genre that allows me to set ‘reality’ aside and free my imagination to run whatever way it chooses with no boundaries; to develop not only characters, but whole worlds for those characters to inhabit. I have no real desire to work in any other genre.
   "I won’t definitively say that I might not branch out someday, but I would very much doubt it; this is where my heart is, and as long as I feel I can make honorable contributions to the genre, I’ll continue on," he said. .
   A busy man and then some, Mr. Romano also works part-time in the produce section of the Pennington Market, a job he’s had since high school days. "Weekends, I’m still stocking apples," he said. The market sells his books in prominently placed displays near the checkout cash registers.
   Mr. Romano’s novels are long and intricately plotted, with many characters. Asked how he manages that, he said: "I usually start with a character or a specific scene and work toward that. For example, much of the "The Dragonfire Destiny" was driven by this image I had in my head of an army arrayed on the crest of a hill at sunset, waiting for the battle to begin. I do work with outlines and plot in advance, but it’s strictly a skeletal type of organization, and the stories often deviate (sometimes wildly) from what I’d initially projected as the course of the tale. The characters take over, and I really become more of a scribe than the author of their actions. To me, that organic, liquid quality is the most beautiful and mysterious thing about writing. It has always amazed me, and I’m sure will continue to amaze me for as long as I’m lucky enough to be writing."
   "The Dragonfire Destiny" is published by iUniverse (a self-publishing firm) at whose Web site (www.iuniverse.com) it is available for purchase. The book is also available on the Web sites of Borders (www.bordersstores.com/) and Barnes and Noble (www.barnesandnoble.com/).
   His next book will continue the Argentia Dasani story. Sketching the framework of the next installment, Mr. Romano said: "Some time has passed, but she’s still burdened by everything that happened in the Shadow Gate stories, so she’s trying to cope with that, and find her way forward in her life. Unfortunately, some enemies from her past would rather that she had a very short life, and in trying to escape from them, she winds up caught in a whole new quest that takes her clear across the world to some very strange and dangerous places, with all sorts of new monsters and magic and enemies."