Free on 29th Aug 16 - 1st Sep 16
or borrow free on Kindle Unlimited.
Also Available as:
Print Edition
The Sweepers are coming. They hunt the young. The only place left to hide is underground.
The earth’s core overheats. The sovereign leader vanishes. A young girl is the survivors’ only hope. What little land is habitable is patrolled by cutthroat gangs of escaped subversives, but that’s not the greatest threat facing sixteen-year-old Derry Connelly, her brother Owen, and a ragged band of Preppers holed up in a bunker in the Sawtooth Mountains. Mysterious hoverships operated by clones are targeting adolescents to extract their genes. Owen, is one of the first to disappear. To save him, Derry must strike a deal with the murderous subversives, and risk a daring raid to infiltrate the heart of the extraction operation.
But will the rookie leader falter when forced to choose between her brother and a clone who ignites something inside her she didn’t know was possible?
Interview with the Author
Where did the idea for The Undergrounders Series come from?
I’ve always been fascinated by regimes and resistance movements, and the heroes who emerge from atrocities. I grew up reading every concentration camp escape story I could get my hands on. As an author, I find it intriguing to place characters in post-apocalyptic 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. It’s prepper survival fiction meets science fiction dystopian!
Have you always enjoyed writing?
I grew up among rich storytelling traditions in my native Ireland and it was a natural transition for me to try my hand at writing. Irish legends are full of action, adventure, impossible missions, and unlikely heroes, and to this day nothing captivates me more than an epic story. Anything along the lines of The Hunger Games or The Divergent Series is a must read for me, only because I’m endlessly fascinated by the capacity of heroic individuals to rise above tyranny and change the course of history. Strong heroine leads in a young adult action adventure are a plus!
How did you choose the title?
There are three books in the series and the titles track the internal growth of the main protagonist Derry Connolly.
Immurement, Book One, is the state of being entombed or confined in an enclosed space. At the outset Derry is trapped in self-doubt and insecurity. The bunker symbolizes the prison she needs to break out of in order to find her place and calling in a world with no rules.
Embattlement, Book Two, is the state of being engaged in battle or conflict. As well as describing the obvious physical struggle against the Sweepers, the title symbolizes the “civil war” of sorts that wages inside as Derry rises up against everything that has been holding her back.
Judgement, Book Three, is the final act of imposing judgement. Derry discovers a lot of harsh truths about leadership during her journey, not the least of which is that every great leader must discern when to seek reconciliation and when to pursue retribution. Internally, Derry evaluates her own moral imperfections and the darkness lurking in her own heart.
Best piece of advice for writers trying to break in?
If 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.
