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Shaeffer based Calhoun on himself with them both being teachers. While Shaeffer teaches film literature, creative writing, and English literature, Calhoun is a biology teacher.<\/p>\n
Calhoun\u2019s entire family is abducted by the aliens and he becomes desperate to find them. Then one day, he comes across a group of survivors.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the survivors can see the aliens because of a really bad car accident and so their plan is to have experimental surgery to replicate the wound inside this guy\u2019s brain so they can see the creatures,\u201d Shaeffer said. \u201cThen they can find where their loved ones are being taken and can fight the creatures and hopefully get their loved ones back.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Local author and high school teacher Craig Shaeffer poses with the cover for his upcoming sci-fi novel “VEIL.”<\/p>\n
Paige Solon | Staff Reporter<\/p>\n
Shaeffer was hit with inspiration for his story when walking into Aldi one day and imagined a guy walking in the parking lot being \u201cpulled into the sky and disappearing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know why I thought of it but I just did and then everything else kind of grew out from there,\u201d explained Shaeffer.<\/p>\n
The process of writing \u201cVEIL\u201d began in late 2022 for Shaeffer and finished in 2023. The book was then purchased in 2024 by Blackstone Publishing and will be published on September 16th.<\/p>\n
\u201cPublishing takes forever so it is just now coming out,\u201d said Shaeffer.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery morning during the summer I will wake up and start writing by 8 o\u2019clock. I\u2019ll just drink coffee and write for about four and a half hours each day and write 3000-4000 words per day and that eventually turns into a novel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Shaeffer also had to do vigorous research to make his story come alive and feel real.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked to a lot of people who were much smarter in science than I am and one of those people was Andy Smith, a science teacher at Westside,\u201d explained Shaeffer, \u201cShe helped me with so many facets like how something could be invisible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith also helped Shaeffer figure out the physiology of the alien creatures featured in \u201cVEIL\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe logically talked about the characteristics that most living creatures need to have and so we got to construct a really fearsome creature that is also kind of believable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaeffer compares the aliens to an existing butterfly that has achieved almost complete invisibility.<\/p>\n
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