Q. What
inspired you to write DAEIOS: 140 FEET DOWN?
A. Mostly
current world issues. We see it in the news every day: climate change, racial
tensions, abortion rights, drug addiction, men assaulting women and the MeToo
movement. Although this isn’t a political book, I took these issues and
imagined what they might look like in 2034.
Q. You hit
some pretty heavy subjects. What did you enjoy most about writing DAEIOS?
A. I like a
challenge, so I most enjoyed writing myself out of corners and filling plot
holes.
Q. How did
you come up with the title?
A. I was
looking for something that didn’t already bring up a lot of hits during Google
and Amazon searches, and since the shelter is run by a religious group, I
wanted it to include a word such as “God”, “faith”, or “life”. I looked into
several language translations and several English title ideas and found they
were all overdone, so I decided to take some of the foreign language
translations of “God” and put them together in Daeios. The shelter is 140 feet
underground.
Q. Do you
think this novel would make a good movie? Who would you want to play the
protagonist, Shea Donovan?
A. I think
it’s very cinematic. There's one section, during The Ordeal, when the
Daeiosians are in pitch darkness and a hymn is repetitively blaring. That would
be the most challenging scene to film. As to an actress to play Shea, I would
like to cast someone who’s a virtual unknown like Jennifer Lawrence was when
she played Katniss Everdeen in “The Hunger Games”.
Q. What did
you edit out of your book?
A. I had
several additional characters in the book that were used to emphasize the
racial issues prevalent in 2034. The addition of The Tribe added many
additional plot threads that served to take Shea’s story on a tangent. The book
strayed away from the dark atmosphere of the rest of the book, so I killed
those darlings. I especially miss a giant Daniff puppy named Norman, who
provided some comic relief, but he just didn’t fit.
They believed Daeios would be a safe haven.
They were wrong.
Fleeing apocalyptic weather, a young survivalist woman and her family seek safety deep underground. But a new danger awaits them.
When the leaders of the shelter announce their plans to repopulate the earth using all fertile females, Shea knows she will be forced to become a breeder. Horrified at her impending fate, Shea must make the gut-wrenching decision whether to breed with an elderly, sadistic man and bear his child, or to fight the breeding, knowing that defiance will endanger her life and that of those she loves most.
A dystopian thriller with overtones of The Handmaid’s Tale, Shea’s chilling story will appeal to readers with an interest in family and survival.
Contains mature situations and language.
Colleen Eccles Penor wrote and illustrated her first children’s book, The Rubber Ducky, when she was seven, and sold it for 25 cents, keeping 100% of her royalties. She's a United States Army veteran who served as a military police officer, where she learned survival skills and the use of multiple weapons, skills needed by the characters in DAEIOS: 140 FEET DOWN. This is her debut novel.
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