Sci-fi fantasy author Jason Michael Primrose on his debut series, “The Lost Children of Andromeda”

Then, reaching for a copy of his latest book “205Z: Time and Salvation,” he explains how the handcrafted comic from his childhood became the foundation for his genre-breaking sci-fi fantasy series. 

Primrose said that “Zosma,” the first book in his series, is the culmination of nearly three decades of writing, conceptualizing and revising.

“The idea first came to me when I was nine,” he said. “Since then, I’ve basically spent the last 28 years writing and rewriting it until I [could] publish it.”

The ongoing series is truly a testament to Primrose’s hard work and dedication to the craft. While it is no secret amongst the writing community that the profession can be very hit-or-miss, it takes a lot of courage to follow through with a novel idea. In Primrose’s case, the initial concept became the foundation for his journey to authorship.

“The Lost Children of Andromeda” takes place in 2052 A.D. at the onset of the apocalypse. The story follows Allister Adams, a young superhuman tasked with saving humanity from total destruction by pursuing an otherworldly energy source from the Andromeda Galaxy.

Throughout the series, Primrose provides readers with captivating action, suspense and the futuristic aspects of the genre we have come to know as science fiction. But there’s a twist. In a unique take on the reader’s experience, Primrose crafts an immersive, multimedia world for his readers to partake in.

“When I was a kid, there used to be pictures in books, and I was like, ‘we gotta bring this back,’” Primrose said. “I knew I wanted people to have a complete and unique experience with the book — to be able to see the characters and listen to the music.”

As part of this multimedia experience, “The Lost Children of Andromeda” includes over 60 pages of artwork and has a soundtrack composed by Tobi Weiss. With all these additional elements intersecting in the plot of “Zosma” and “205Z: Time and Salvation,” Primrose shares that his inspiration for each creative piece comes from his love for other artists’ work in the sci-fi and fantasy genres. There’s also a desire to express his experience as an LGBTQ+ person of color through the series’ diverse set of characters and perspectives.

“Some of my biggest inspirations were ‘The Lunar Chronicles,’ ‘A Wrinkle in Time’… ‘Marvel,’ ‘X-Men,’ ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Interstellar,’ ‘Inception.’ Blending all of these into some kind of dystopian, sci-fi, cyberpunk fantasy drama was sort of what I was building off of,” Primrose said. “[And] Allister Adams — the main character — is very much me, and a lot of the writing in there is talking about my journey as a child and me learning about my own superpower of writing.”

One of the prominent messages conveyed throughout the series is also a piece of advice Primrose imparts to young writers: you have to start somewhere. Even if the direction is unclear, starting somewhere is essential to saving the world and becoming an author. For writers, he stresses the importance of giving ideas a channel to flow through, whether that be through daily reflections or keeping a journal in the Notes App of your phone. 

“It’s really a statement about all of us using our potential to our fullest,” Primrose said.

Primrose’s original comic, “Dragon Wars,” inspired “The Lost Children of Andromeda” series. (Photo by Sydney Gaw)