Forging New Worlds: Bryan S. Glosemeyer on Mythology, Identity, and the 'Shattered Gates' Universe
In the vast landscape of modern science fiction, few authors manage to blend pulse-pounding action with profound philosophical depth, quite like Bryan S. Glosemeyer. His Shattered Gates series has carved out a unique space in the genre, combining the raw energy of space opera with rich mythological undertones and penetrating questions about identity and power.
The series opens with Before the Shattered Gates of Heaven, introducing readers to Sabira, a woman who rises from the depths of an alien underworld to challenge the might of the Divine Masters in their deadly arenas. The sequel, Beyond the Gates Infernal, pushes deeper into this richly realized universe as Sabira confronts personal demons and systemic oppression threatening to consume the galaxy.
What sets Glosemeyer's work apart isn't just its masterful blend of action and introspection but its layered approach to worldbuilding. Drawing from ancient mythologies, shamanic traditions, and contemporary storytelling techniques, he has created a universe that feels utterly alien and deeply familiar. His stories resonate with themes of resistance and self-discovery while never losing their grip on the fundamental promise of science fiction: to thrill, transport, and make us think.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Glosemeyer offers insight into his creative process, discussing everything from his early inspirations to his meticulous approach to worldbuilding. Whether exploring the influence of tabletop RPGs on his character development or revealing the real-world inspirations behind his mystical "eon" substance, his responses illuminate the careful craftsmanship behind his acclaimed series.
Jonathan Crain: How has your background in tech communication influenced your writing style and process?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: To be honest, it’s the other way around. I was working in other positions when I wrote my first book, Before the Shattered Gates of Heaven. The process of teaching myself how to write that novel, and convey all these ideas and events in a clear, readable way, translated into learning how to do technical writing and establish that as a “day job.”
Jonathan Crain: You’re a lifelong fan of science fiction. Which authors, books, or films have most influenced your storytelling approach?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: I can still remember the excitement, awe, and fear I experienced as a little kid watching Empire Strikes Back in the theater when it came out. From that moment on, anything with a spaceship or raygun or that imagined entire worlds that didn’t exist--but maybe could one day--captured my attention and imagination. Growing up with new Star Trek films in theaters while reruns played on Sunday morning, not to mention the original Battlestar Galactica and the even cheesier Buck Rogers in constant syndication, along with the early incursion of anime into pop culture with Battle of the Planets, Robotech, and Voltron, must have planted those pulpy sci-fi tropes deep in my brain. When I was a little older, my aunt noticed my love for everything sci-fi and my love for reading. She gifted me Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy. I had read some children’s sci-fi books, like the beautifully weird A Wrinkle in Time, but Foundation was my introduction to adult science fiction literature.
As a writer, my significant touchstones are Stepheson’s Snow Crash and Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Snow Crash has such powerful momentum and propulsive wit driving you through big, crazy, out there sci-fi ideas. Martin is, of course, a master of crafting characters whose internal world is as vast and complex as their outer world.
Jonathan Crain: Your bio mentions a passion for tabletop RPGs. How have these games influenced your world-building, character creation, or narrative structure?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: As a player, RPGs are a fantastic way to build up the muscle of inhabiting a character, understanding what they want, what they will and won’t do to get it, and growing from the consequences of those decisions. As a GM or Storyteller of RPGs, you must constantly determine “what happens next” as a consequence of the player’s choices and the events of the wider story world, and how to make it interesting for your audience of players.
Jonathan Crain: How did you approach developing the unique languages and terminologies in the series? Were there any real-world inspirations or linguistic frameworks you referenced?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: I took a lot of inspiration from the world of antiquity, particularly the bronze and iron ages. The names and languages of the Holy Unity aren’t taken or adapted from a specific language, but I drew on the names and languages of ancient Mesopotamia for the sound palette and broad cultural touchstones, like ziggurats and god-kings.
For the language of the unseen Humans, I drew upon a mishmash of real world languages, and tweaked them slightly as if there had been some linguistic drift.
The language of the Constellation is much more openly a mixture of real world languages, with somewhat less linguistic drift, and an emphasis on Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin.
Jonathan Crain: The "eon" substance is a fascinating element of the series. What inspired its creation, and how does it tie into the broader themes of the story?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: It has a couple of different inspirations. Primarily the ayahuasca brew used by indigenous shamans in South America. It’s an incredibly powerful psychedelic mixture. Many people that have taken it in shamanic ceremonies claim that it changed their life, often healing both mental trauma and other physical disorders. The other source of inspiration is the mysterious kykeon used in the Eleusinian Mysteries. The kykeon and the Mysteries were a foundational cornerstone of Western/Mediterranean civilization for literally thousands of years, and it’s been completely wiped out of our cultural history.
I knew from the beginning that the heart of the story I wanted to tell was that of someone who had a paradigm shattering mystical experience in a shamanic ceremony, which forces of oppression of control would violently put to an end. I constructed pretty much the whole story around that central point of realization and oppression.
Jonathan Crain: How do you balance in-depth world-building and keeping the plot engaging and fast-paced?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: Lots of revision! As a general rule of thumb for worldbuilding, I develop details and histories about 2 layers deeper than what shows up on the page, but limit what’s actually on the page to what’s needed to tell the story. If it’s not needed, it’s cut.
Also, as a kid I read Glen Cook’s Black Company when it was still just a trilogy. In the author’s forward he gave some writing advice he'd received, and it always stuck with me: “Leave out the boring parts.”
Jonathan Crain: How long did it take to write Before the Shattered Gates of Heaven, and what lessons did you carry into the sequel?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: Before the Shattered Gates of Heaven took me about 3 years from starting the first draft to ending the final draft. I literally taught myself how to write a book by writing a book. Learned how to outline, how to construct a story and character arc, how to construct a scene, how to parse out information, and how to develop a writing routine. That said, the sequel, Beyond the Gates Infernal, also took me 3 years.
Jonathan Crain: Your bio mentions a love of mythology. How does this interest manifest in your stories, particularly in Shattered Gates?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: The Holy Unity society is a strict, hierarchical society. You can’t have a religion with a story behind it. (If it’s someone else’s religion other than your own, you call that story a myth.) Therefore it was essential to construct a religious, cultural, and historical mythology that explained and justified the Holy Unity’s power structure and their aims. I drew some broad inspiration from mythological structures of our world, and tweaked them as needed to fit the greater worldbuilding of the Shattered Gates universe.
Additionally, one of the underlying themes I wanted to explore was how our stories shape our identities. And part of that is how historically marginalized and enslaved peoples had their identities stolen and co-opted from them. Those in power erased and rewrote the stories of the people they subjugated to suit the needs of power.
Jonathan Crain: Action sequences in your books are gripping yet emotionally charged. How do you approach balancing high-octane moments with character-driven depth?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: Wow, thank you. That’s certainly what I’m trying to get across. I make sure that every action scene, and most scenes in general, have both an external conflict and an internal conflict that intertwine thematically. Every big action scene that happens in the story has an emotional and psychological impact on Sabira, whether she’s consciously aware of it or not, and shapes how she approaches future conflicts and her own progression as a person coming into their own agency.
Jonathan Crain: How do you ensure each character’s voice is distinct, especially when they come from diverse cultural or societal backgrounds?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: In earlier drafts, my verbal and inner dialog tends to be functional and a bit on the nose. As I get more and more into characters, their unique voices emerge as the uniqueness of their personas emerge. As I revise I try to find more and more of their unique voices in the dialog. Specifically, I take into account their education, family background, environmental background, emotional and psychological strengths and drawbacks, and their general temperament.
Jonathan Crain: Sabira’s relationship with Daggeira is a standout aspect of the series. Could you delve into the dynamics of their bond and its evolution?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: As much as I’ve talked about outlining and planning, Daggeira just kind of happened. I soon realized I needed a foil for Sabira to interact with and bounce off of, and Daggeira showed up on the page. Even though I knew the basic shape of Sabira’s story, I really didn’t know what Daggeira was going to say or do, or how she would impact Sabira, until she did it.
If you’re a fan of Sabira and Daggeira’s dynamic, that’s one of the central storylines in book two, Beyond the Gates Infernal.
Jonathan Crain: How do you balance character growth with the progression of the overarching narrative?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: I try to make the character growth and the overarching narrative one and the same thing. I roughly figure out what kind of themes and conflicts I want to explore, then build up major story beats from there that move the character’s development as a natural consequence of the plot development--and vice versa.
Jonathan Crain: What advice would you offer aspiring science fiction writers, particularly those interested in creating expansive worlds and complex characters?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: As I see it, a story is like a “three-sided coin.” World, character, and themes are all interdependent. Each emerges out of and supports the other. A complex world without interesting characters or themes is an atlas, not a story. A character finds their complexity by how they fit into or contrast with their world. Themes emerge from all the interplays and tensions of how the character’s story unfolds in their world.
Jonathan Crain: What role does revision play in your writing process, and how do you approach editing your manuscripts?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: Revision plays a huge part in my process and generally takes about twice as long as the first draft. I do 4-5 drafts, starting with a “broad strokes” outline that gets more and more detailed as I work through the first draft. As I write the first draft, I keep a list of notes of all the major and minor things I want to add, remove, change, rearrange, etc. Those I put into the second draft. The third draft is to make sure all these changes work and to make any additional changes I thought of while working on the previous draft. Then I make several passes to make sure the prose and flow of every sentence is how I want it. I also make sure all the dialog is up to snuff and really brings out each character’s unique voice . . . at least I try to, anyway!
Jonathan Crain: Are there any resources or tools—like books, workshops, or software—that you’d recommend for writers focusing on world-building?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: There are so many books and resources out there. Since every writer comes at the craft in their own unique way and with their own unique needs, you really have to find the teachings and guidance that works best for you. That said, I highly recommend looking into the seven point plot structure. There’s all kinds of articles and videos describing it. I find it especially helpful because it shows you how to structure plot arcs and character arcs as the same thing.
For software, I recommend Scrivener. Some people say it’s difficult, but that’s really only if you are trying to use it to format your book. There’s better formatting specific software to use, like Vellum. Scrivener is fantastic for worldbuilding, outlining, brainstorming, and drafting, though, because you can quickly and easily switch back and forth between all those in one simple interface.
Jonathan Crain: Have you received any unexpected or surprising reactions from readers? If so, how have those shaped your perspective on your work?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: Obviously not every reader is going to match with every book. That said, the majority of responses and reviews have been overwhelmingly positive and glowing. When out of nowhere someone says this is their new favorite book, or confesses their love for it, I’m blown away every time. Writing a book is a very isolated activity. When the book finally gets into people’s hands and you see it make a deep connection--that’s incredible.
Jonathan Crain: In what ways, if any, has reader feedback influenced the direction of your storytelling?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: As part of my writing process, after the third draft I send my work out to a handful of beta readers for their impressions and feedback. I try to make sure to get input from both men and women readers. It’s invaluable to see how different people respond to the same thing. And often, I’ll get some feedback that matches with something that’s been gnawing at the back of my head.
Jonathan Crain: How do you approach promoting your books and reaching new readers?
Bryan S. Glosemeyer: Honestly, it’s been a bit of a struggle. Getting noticed above all the noise is extremely hard. I realized the most important thing for me is establishing a connection with the audience that’s going to really vibe with my books. I'm focused mainly on trying to build a slow but steady word of mouth. Since I’m a pretty slow writer anyway, hopefully by the time the next book comes out, there’s a growing and devoted audience waiting for it.
I do have plans for more books and stories in the Shattered Gates series and beyond, but I'm not ready to share anything more concrete yet.
The conversation with Glosemeyer reveals an author deeply committed to his craft. He understands compelling science fiction requires more than imaginative worldbuilding or exciting action sequences. His methodology combines rigorous planning with organic character development, resulting in stories that feel carefully constructed and authentically alive.
Perhaps most striking is Glosemeyer's understanding of how stories shape identity within his fictional universe and our own world. His exploration of how power structures use mythology to maintain control and how marginalized peoples can have their identities erased through the destruction of their stories adds substantial weight to his space opera framework.
For readers seeking science fiction that combines thoughtful social commentary with genuine entertainment value, Glosemeyer's Shattered Gates series offers a masterclass in balancing complex themes with compelling narrative. His work demonstrates that space opera can be both intellectually engaging and viscerally exciting, proving that the best science fiction doesn't just imagine new worlds – it helps us better understand our own.
To learn more about Bryan S. Glosemeyer's work and upcoming projects, visit bryansglosemeyer.com and sign up for his Deep Void Transmissions newsletter.
Before the Shattered Gates of Heaven can be purchased here, and Beyond the Gates Infernal here.