Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I grew up in County Donegal in Ireland, land of legends and storytelling. Ireland has a long and rich literary history stretching back to the Celts, and to this day you don’t have to go far to find someone who can entertain you with a good “yarn” over a pint of Guinness.
The Undergrounders Series (Immurement, Embattlement and Judgement) is a sci-fi dystopian thriller trilogy set in a world in ruins after the earth’s core overheats and a ring of volcanos around the globe erupts. The main protagonist is Derry Connelly, a sixteen-year-old girl who survives, along with her brother Owen and a band of Preppers, in an underground bunker system. The scorched earth is patrolled by cutthroat gangs of escaped subversives, but that’s not the only problem. Mysterious hoverships operated by clones extract adolescents for their DNA in a bid to replenish the population. When Owen disappears, Derry strikes a deal with the murderous subversives and leads a dangerous mission to get him back. If you like a fast-paced apocalyptic tale, with a gritty complex heroine, and twists you won’t see coming, then The Undergrounders Series is for you!
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Judgement, the riveting final installment of The Undergrounders Series!
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really, although I have a makeshift standing desk and I stand to write.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
1984 by George Orwell shook my world when I first read it and I have never forgotten that Big Brother is watching. That book spawned my interest in the dystopian genre. I also read every concentration camp escape story I could get my hands on, Escape from Auschwitz to name but one. I’ve always been fascinated by regimes and resistance movements, and the heroes who emerge from atrocities. As an author, I find it intriguing to place characters in dystopian, post-apocalyptic or sci-fi settings and watch what unfurls inside them as they go head to head with staggering odds. After spending several summers in Idaho, and learning more about Preppers and survivalists, the idea to plant Derry Connolly in a bunker community of homesteaders and mountain men took seed and The Undergrounders Series was born.
What are you working on now?
I’ve just begun a new young adult space trilogy but I haven’t finalized a name for it. The Expulsion Project is the working title!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Slowly building up a real reader base of fans. Supplementing those subscribers by running giveaways and using promo sites such as Awesomegang.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you are certain writing is where your passion and strengths intersect, don’t take your eyes off the goal. Put your shoulder to the wheel and throw your whole heart into mastering the craft, and taking incremental steps toward publication. Dogged persistence will get you there in the end, and the talent you have honed along the way will be your staying power.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t edit a first draft!
What are you reading now?
Unwind by Neal Shusterman.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Finishing my next trilogy! And the next …
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible
1984 by George Orwell
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Anything by Bill Bryson!
Author Websites and Profiles
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