D L Richardson – Casey's Corner

Today we have author D L Richardson visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?

* D L Richardson writes speculative fiction, which encompasses science fiction, supernatural fiction, and fantasy. She lives in Australia with her husband and dob, and when she’s not writing, she can be found wandering in her yard waging war on weeds, watching back-to-back episodes on Netflix, playing her piano or guitar, curled up on the couch reading a book, or walking the dog.
* She is the author of the ‘Welcome to the Apocalypse’ series and ‘The Shivers Novellas’. She also conducts writing workshop and appears at Australian pop culture conventions as few times a year.

A look into…

~ About the Book ~

* It’s release day for Earth Quarantined, a new alien occupation fiction novel by the author of Welcome to the Apocalypse.
* If you like alien occupation fiction, then this book is for you. It’s like ‘The Expanse’ but played out on Earth. Aliens brought peace to Earth and promised us the technology for interstellar travel. 300 years later and they still haven’t given us this technology. They’re lying to us. What they don’t know is that we’re lying to them…
* The author is giving away to one lucky winner one $15 giftcard. Easy to enter. No purchase necessary. And you can choose between amazon, Kobo or Barnes & Noble giftcard. Read on to find out how you can enter. And, there’s a SPECIAL LAUNCH PRICE! Get the ebook for only $2.99. ENDS NOV 30. The book is also available in print.

~ Inspiration for the Book ~

* What I love about sci-fi is the way it looks at current policies and practices from around the world and asks “what would happen if a particular current policy or practice continues unchanged?” This thought process heavily influences my science fiction novels. Science fiction can be scary – it should be scary – because it often holds a mirror up to humanity. That, to me, makes great science fiction.
* In this case, there are two topics that are featured in Earth Quarantined.
* The first theme is population control.
* One of my favourite science fiction movies is Logan’s Run, which is a movie that looks at how a utopian society is possible because it terminated adults once they reached the age of 29. So population control isn’t new to sci-fi, but it’s making a comeback, I think, due to climate change and the plastic waste and other factors that are highlighting the impact humans have on this planet.
* The dwindling resources of this planet formed the foundation for the setting of Earth Quarantined book. The world is in ruins due to a Great War and aliens arrive to put in place measures to get humanity operational using what resources we have left. In order for that to happen, population has to be controlled so humanity can survive on what little resources we have. In this case, the world leaders adopted the ‘one child per couple policy’ that was in place in what is known in the book as Old China.
* What inspired me about this policy is that I have a twin brother and sister, and whenever I hear this phrase I always think “what happens to the twin?” I wanted to write a story that explored what happens if you took one twin and hid them away.
* The other theme in this book is refugees.
* With the current refugee crisis around the world, the inspiration for some of this book, particularly the ending, came from wondering what would happen if a hidden city decided that they wanted to join the rest of civilization. What impacts would a sudden growth in populace have on the cities in this book? Is it so easy to tell the indwellers as they’re called m to go back to where they came from? In this case the leaders now have to decide what to do with this influx of people, coupled with limited resources, but these people didn’t ask to be hidden away and cut off from their families.
* I see the news and there’s a sense of loss and disconnect with our fellow humans that I cannot understand. I only touch upon this issue in this book. I’m not even pretending that I have the answers, but compassion is certainly something that needs to be increased. So I made sure my characters have compassion.
* And of course, I love the entertainment value that sci-fi offers. Writing this book gave me a chance to make up a future world that readers can escape to. I hope readers can see these hints of world policy in Earth Quarantined, and I hope they enjoy the thrilling read.

~ Blurb ~

* World peace came with rules. We’ve just broken them.
* In the year 2055, millions of humans were wiped out by a deadly virus known as EMB-II, a bioweapon strain of Ebola that could not be stopped. The need to get off the planet and into space was never stronger. Before the ships could be launched, First Contact was made. A dozen spaceships arrived, carrying twelve Criterion Advocates – peacekeepers of the universe – and thousands of Criterion soldiers, aides, workers, and engineers. To stop the virus getting into space, Earth was placed under quarantine and work begun to save the planet and humanity. Through tough control measures, world peace was achieved.
* The year is now 2355. The virus is gone. Humanity is eager to get into space. Yet the Earth is still under quarantine. The Criterion are lying to us. What they don’t know is that we’re lying to them.
* Kethryn Miller is an award-winning actress, but nothing will prepare her for the role she’ll take on when a strange woman who shouldn’t be alive turns up in the city, threatening to expose the lies that have kept peace on Earth for 200 years.

~ Excerpt ~

For an excerpt, visit one of the buy links below.

Other book links here…
Books2Read | Goodreads | Website | Bookbub

Thank you for joining us here today, D L Richardson! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your story.

ANNOUNCEMENT! D L Richardson is giving away to one lucky winner one $15 giftcard. Easy to enter. No purchase necessary. And you can choose between an Amazon, Kobo or Barnes & Noble gift card! So be sure to use this RAFFLECOPTER LINK to enter the drawing.

Welcome to the Apocalypse

Book 1- Pandora

by D L Richardson

Genre: Apocalyptic Sci-Fi

The Apocalypse Games is a state of the art virtual game designed to entertain doomsday preppers, gamers, and cosplayers. But not everyone who enters is there to play the game the way the creators intended. Some players don’t belong at all and some enter the game to escape reality.

Whatever the reason, over 100 people hook up to the mainframe computer with one goal: survive twenty-four hours of an apocalypse. Instead of game over at the end, they’re plugged straight into a new game. Then another. It’s clear to the players the computer has malfunctioned. What isn’t clear is why.

Goodreads * Amazon

Welcome to the Apocalypse

Book 2- CyberNexis

Getting out of the game used to be all that mattered. Now all that matters is getting back in.

THEN…

The Apocalypse Games is a state of the art virtual game designed to entertain doomsday preppers, gamers, and cosplayers. But not everyone who entered was there to play the game the way the creators intended. Some players didn’t belong at all and some entered the game to escape reality. Whatever the reason, over 100 people were hooked up to the mainframe computer with one goal: survive twenty-four hours of an apocalypse. Instead of game over at the end, they were plugged straight into a new game. Then another. It was clear to the players the computer has malfunctioned. What wasn’t clear was why.

NOW…

the players find themselves in an offsite facility far from their original location, unsure why or how CyberNexis moved them. Getting out of the game used to be all that mattered. But not anymore. The world has changed and CyberNexis is keeping a secret that needs to be exposed.

Goodreads * Amazon

D L Richardson likes many things. Reality isn’t one of them. D L Richardson is the creator of ‘Welcome to the Apocalypse’ series as well as the author of YA fantasy and horror novellas which can be likened to ‘Goosebumps for adults’.

The author’s world is her dog, her husband, coffee, and her writing. Not always in that order. You won’t find the usual tropes in D L Richardson’s books. You will find unique stories, engaging characters, and thought-provoking situations.

Website * Blog * Facebook * Twitter * Google+ * Amazon * Goodreads