Character Interview: Aakti of 'Unawqi, Hunter of the Sun'

We’re thrilled to be talking to Aakti from Kali Kucera’s Unawqi, Hunter of the Sun.  It is a pleasure to have him with us today at Pimp That Character!

Thank you for your interview, Aakti.  How old are you and what do you do for a living?

Lets’ see, I’m getting on about 4 and a half billion years last time I checked.  I’ve been around quite a while, before any of you were here for sure.  My job is not one I necessarily enjoy, which is keeping you warm and alive.

Can you tell us about one of your most distinguishable features?

I’m recognizably yellow; sometimes orange or purple if you throw up enough smog or dust in front of your eyes.

What would I love the most about you?

Love? A lot of people worship me, I know that much.  They have either a ceremonial way of loving me, or they just love me after it’s rained too much.

What would I hate the most about you?

That the love is not mutual.  Or maybe you just hate me after you’ve fallen asleep at the beach too long.

Where do you go when you are angry?

Oh, that’s a good one.  My mother says I’m always angry about something, but I’m also moving all the time, so it depends on where you’re standing.

What is your most treasured possession?

My seeds. They are the only reason I’m here. They’ve been stolen from me and I have to get them back, no matter what the cost, no matter how long it takes.

What is the trait you most not like about yourself?

Are you a loner or do you prefer to surround yourself with friends?

I don’t have friends. I have audiences and admirers, and I surround them, not the other way around.

Do you have children?

No, that’s a vicious rumor that’s floating around, and I challenge you and anyone else to prove it!

About the Author:

Kali Kucera is an American lorist and short story writer living in Quito, Ecuador, where he also rides and writes about bus and train travel. Since he was 9 years old he has been composing plays, operas, short stories, and multi-disciplinary experiences. He has been both a teacher and performer as well as an arts mobilizer, and founded the Tacoma Poet Laureate competition in 2008.

His latest book is the mythical realism novel, Unawqi, Hunter of the Sun.

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About the Book:

Title: Unawqi, Hunter of the Sun
Author: Kali Kucera
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 218
Genre: Mythical Realism

In a time when supernatural and industrial worlds are staged to collide, an Andean boy finds himself in the center of an epic struggle between the cosmos and the earth. Unawqi is born with both insurmountable power and a fate of certain death, both of which are challenged by his hunt of the emperor, Aakti, the Sun: the very force that desires to abandon the earth unless Unawqi can overcome him.

Premise: How easily we take the Sun for granted. We are conditioned to its rising and setting on time, and assume it enjoys doing so, or more likely is indifferent. Unawqi, Hunter of the Sun reveals a more perilous tale: the Sun, Aakti, is a being who is a reluctant player in providing light and warmth to our world, and even more has always desired to leave us to die if he didn’t have certain personal complications standing in his way. Aakti will stop at nothing to get what he wants, even if that involves murder of his own kin or annihilation of an entire living planet. Ironically, what holds him back is the very life he is creating; the family from which he tries to but cannot wrest control, and among them a young intrepid boy emerges, a hunter who sets out on a journey, not to stop the Sun, but to overcome him with a force we also take for granted: our humanity.

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