It’s a new year, and we are excited to continue our weekly new author spotlight. Kicking off the first week of 2021 is author Colleen Eccles Penor. She talks about her debut novel Daeios: 140 Feet Down. Colleen takes you on a journey to get to know a little about herself and why she became a writer. Please sit back and enjoy our author spotlight Q&A with Colleen Eccles Penor.
Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Colleen Eccles Penor and I’m the debut author of DAEIOS: 140 FEET DOWN. I’m also a Certified Public Accountant who works tax season each year. I write for the rest of the year. I was writing short stories, essays (one of which was a top finalist in the Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition one year), a short play, and some really bad poetry while working at my full-time accounting job. Now I’ve realized my lifelong dream of being a published author.
What was it that made you decide to write a book?
I started reading when I was two and started writing as soon as my little fingers would hold a crayon. I love both. I’d always dreamed of writing a book but didn’t feel like I could juggle that with my full-time job and other commitments. I met my husband eight years ago, and when he proposed to me, he included in his proposal that I should write that book I’d always wanted to write and that he would support me in doing so. So, I quit my job and moved to my new home and sat down to write what would be my first novel.
What inspired your book title Daeios: 140 Feet Down?
Daeios is a fictitious name that I derived from other languages. One of the settings in my book is an underground shelter run by a cult, so I figured they would name it something uplifting or religious. Daeios means “God,” and is derived from other languages in which God is Deios, Deus, Dios, and Dyos. The shelter is 140 feet underground, so I used that as the subtitle. The complete title of my book is DAEIOS: 140 FEET DOWN. It’s fiction, a dystopian thriller.
Without giving too much away, tell us what your story is about?
DAEIOS: 140 FEET DOWN is a dystopian thriller with overtones of The Handmaid’s Tale, action, and revenge. It’s dark, disturbing, and hard-hitting. It will appeal to readers of the two genres as well as to those interested in family and survival. In short, it’s about a young survivalist woman and her family who flee apocalyptic weather to an underground shelter called Daeios. Shortly after lockdown, the Elders who run Daeios announce that they’ll breed with all fertile females age 16 and above to repopulate the earth. Shea knows that she’ll have to breed with a sadistic elderly man and bear his child, or fight, risking her life and the lives of those she loves most.
Like most writes, is there a message you like readers to walk away with after reading your novel?
I do want them to realize how important their families are. That’s something a lot of us take for granted. Also, this isn’t really a message, but I’ve included in my book some hot topics that we hear on the news frequently such as mental illness, drug addiction, abortion, climate change, assaults against women, and racial tensions, and I’d like for readers to ask themselves questions about these subjects and see what they think about them. Not what the news tells them to think, but to explore what their own beliefs are about these topics.
Tell us, what makes your book stand out from all the other books in your genre?
First of all, DAEIOS: 140 FEET DOWN has some similarities to The Handmaid’s Tale, but while Handmaid crosses over to literary fiction, DAEIOS is strictly genre fiction. There are other dystopian novels with similarities to The Handmaid’s Tale that have been published more recently than Handmaid, but they have all been young adult fiction and therefore are PG-13 because of their readership. DAEIOS is an 18+ book due to some mature situations and language. DAEIOS is also a thriller, which is different than the other books. DAEIOS takes the danger factor much farther than it goes in Handmaid. An interesting fact is that I hadn’t read The Handmaid’s Tale at the time I wrote my book.
What is next for you as an author and will there be more books?
I hope there will be many books! The book I’m working on now is a mystery/crime thriller with similarities to The Killing TV series. The Killing had multiple suspects and lots of twists and turns, and I’m hoping to emulate that in my novel. I’m currently in the ideas phase and am doing some research but plan to sit down and start writing, or at least outlining, as soon as September 1st. I hope my main character will be interesting enough to lead into a series.
Who are some of your favorite authors?
I love Tanya French’s writing style; her prose is often beautiful and poetic. I really enjoy Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series, in which he uses lots of sentence fragments and I like that style too. Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island is one of the best thrillers I’ve read, it raises the hair on the back of my neck, and I’ve read many thrillers because that’s my favorite genre to both read and write in.
Learn more about Colleen Eccles Penor by visiting her website and connecting with her on social media. You can also listen to her Podcast interview to learn more about her novel and things she likes to do for fun. Pick up a copy of her book where books are sold.
Website: https://colleenecclespenor.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ecclesp
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Colleen-Eccles-Penor-Author-110690670304554
Podcast Interview https://www.spreaker.com/user/sistahsplace/colleen-eccles-penor-interview