Inspired by his favourite superhero Superman, Huntsville native Tyler Homer wrote The Anevaerian Guardian.
Homer, who is autistic, says he identified with Superman. “He’s kind of a nerd, and I’m a nerd,” he says. “He’s a writer and I’m a writer. I could also identify with his loneliness and how he still does the right thing even though he’s alone.”
He adds when he was younger he watched the Christopher Reeve Superman movies with his grandfather and when he was 10 his mom bought him the comic Superman: Red Son.
According to DC Comics, the company that created the character, Superman was born on Krypton but his parents sent him to Earth just prior to the planet being destroyed. He was later adopted and took on the name of Clark Kent. As his alter-ego, he fights crime using his superhuman powers. But as Clark, he works as a journalist for the newspaper the Daily Planet.
“I always felt kind of alone and kind of in my own head,” says Homer. “I had trouble socializing and making friends. I always felt like I was an alien myself.”
“The story is about a time-travelling warrior called Antaeyas Vie Core, who is sent back through time from his futuristic world of Anevaeria, and era of 2252, to create his planet and his advanced superhuman people by transforming the Earth so they can one day save the universe from the evil Megacentarians,” explains Homer. “But when his enemy, Lord Astronemac of Megacentaras, is sent back to 2066 Earth to thwart Antaeyas Vie Core’s rise to greatness, a great interstellar war begins that reaches through time and space.”
Homer is 31 now but says he started writing the book when he was 17.
Since then, he explains the book has gone through six revisions and more drafts than he can count. “I was always determined to get this book out,” he says, joking that with every subsequent revision, he thought “it was the one.”
However, one day when he was sitting on his couch at home, he said the first chapter of the book came to him. He explains the first chapter involves a spaceship coming through a vortex into the Earth’s atmosphere. Once it lands, the governments of the World meet the alien and off begins the story. “I thought it was pretty cool so I started writing on my laptop and the first three chapters came out,” laughs Homer.
Homer’s mom, Denise, says she’s seen a drastic change in him from the time he started the book to now. “At first he would sit and pour out words,” she explains. “In the beginning, he would get very angry with any criticism.”
However, over time, she says he’s learned to take the criticism and has gotten more confident.
“He’s not just autistic,” she says. “He’s an author.”
“Every morning I wake and I say ‘oh my gosh I wrote a book,'” says Homer. He adds most of his family has brought the book and even some of their friends have as well. “They were amazed that I was able to do this,” he adds.
The book can be purchased through Homer’s website.