Captain Austin Queen is one of the major viewpoint characters of From the Grave of the Gods.

Statistics

Full Name: Austin Queen
DOB: 22nd September 1982
Hometown: Van Buren, Arkansas

Occupational History:
- US Navy Captain
- NASA Astronaut

Bio

The Mission Commander of the Magnum Opus expedition to Mars, NASA astronaut, Captain Austin Queen is the very picture of an all-American hero. A stout, muscular man from Van Buren, Arkansas, he has a stereotypical military appearance: crew-cut hair, dark brown eyes, square jaw and tanned skin. It also helps that he’s incredibly outgoing and brimming with confidence. Indeed, before transferring into the space program, he served in the US Navy.

But underneath his tough exterior is a keen scientific mind, who had grown weary of military discipline and was glad to have been selected to lead the Magnum Opus mission where he could afford to be a little more laid back. A sensitive man with a big heart and zero tolerance for meaningless platitudes, the one thing he misses the most at home is his dog, Poochie.

He formed a strong friendship with Commander Fowler over the course of the mission, and cares for the well-being of his crew above all. Just like James, he’s fascinated at the prospect of investigating the mysterious extra-solar object, and being one of the first people to set foot on the Red Planet.

Creating the Character

Austin was honestly one of my favourite characters to write. I love the idea of taking the gruff, tough, burly American hero we see in military sci-fi shows, and putting a twist on the character that makes him comfortable, rather than toxic, in his masculinity. He talks in exactly the way you’d expect, but his no-nonsense approach is geared towards caring for others, especially in terms of their mental health.

Fun fact: he’s also openly aroace, though he doesn’t explicitly say those exact words. Full disclosure: I’ve never written a queer character before, and I sincerely hope I have done him justice in showing his interactions with other characters. I never understood before when other writers have said that their characters “went off and did their own thing”, but I do with Austin. I didn’t set out to write him as aroace, but while I was writing, he just came out, so I went with it.

Like I said, he’s one of my favourite characters, and I am excited for you to see him in action.

A little about the character portrait:

When I think about Austin, I think those grizzled military types who often end up the bad guy, like Stephen Lang’s character in Avatar. That’s kind of where I was going with his appearance, except a little bit younger. I’m not the greatest at drawing faces, people, or smooth shading, or lineless art… or drawing fabric… but I gave it a good go and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. I really tried to make him look in his forties, since From the Grave of the Gods starts in 2025, but in case I made him look older by accident, I heartily apologise to all forty-year-olds!

You’ll notice he’s also sporting a Magnum Opus mission patch, which you can check out in more detail on my Illustration Page. I might do one of these portraits for the rest of the Magnum Opus crew’s Meet the Characters entries (sans James, of course).