Iain Kelly

My A-Z theme this year is a guide to my trilogy of novels called ‘The State Trilogy’. Set in an unnamed island country known only as ‘The State’, in the imagined near future, the books follow the intertwining stories of a number of characters, principally a State police detective named Danny Samson and an assassin, Gabriella Marino, over a period of six years. It begins with the assassination of an elected official and spirals into revolution and civil war. Part political thriller, action story, war story and dystopian science fiction, the trilogy took three years to complete and the books are available to read now – you can find links to purchase them HERE

In The State Trilogy, ‘F’ stands for:

Franklin Samson: Also ‘Father’. Franklin is Danny Samson’s father and appears in the first book of the trilogy. I wanted to explore the subject of old age and mortality in the near future. If science and medicine can cure all disease, we will all live longer, but the human body is not designed to go beyond a certain age. Things wear out physically. That was one side effect. But they also wear out mentally. After more than a hundred years, and trapped in aging bodies, does there come a point when we have had enough life? When we’ve done and seen everything we can and achieved all that we wanted and loved and lost. A time when we can slip away, contented with a life well lived?

First Strike War: A global conflict that has spanned almost half a decade, sparked by a nuclear attack on the Civil American States. Although not directly dealt with in the books, the war happens abroad and provides a backdrop and motivation to some of the actions and actors in the stories. Some characters like Gabriella and Phillips have served overseas in the military, fighting in the war. The government of the State use the war as a reason for many of the policies they instigate at home – some correctly, some malevolently. The truth about the cause of the war and the ensuing actions of world powers contributes to the civil unrest that unfolds in the State cities.

The Fort: A military outpost in the wilderness in the northern part of the State, designed to protect the north-west coast of the country from sea and air attack from enemies in the First Strike War and from terrorists. In ‘State of Denial’, Danny and Lucas must reach The Fort and from there try to reach Central City, without being detected.

Future: Or, futurism. I am not an expert on the future, and had no intention at first of setting my trilogy in the future. In the end, with the political turmoil in America, Britain and Scotland, it became easier to set my story of political scandal in a future world that resembled these places, rather than the trying to fit it in to the rapidly-changing real world. I didn’t do specific research into what a future world might look like, and I didn’t want the focus of the books to dwell in these things. Rather I wanted to create a consistent and believable world for my characters and their stories to live in. Much can be made by simply keeping on top of the news: climate change, energy crisis, electric self-driving cars, immigration and global populations – all will impact our way of life. If there is the political will then a universal basic income and guaranteed housing for all could well happen. A global conflict and nuclear attack in the future? Maybe. I don’t claim that anything in the novels is how things will be, or an accurate guess, but I think I succeeded in creating a believable backdrop for the story to unfold against.

Next up – G is for: Gabriella Marino, Glasgow, Great Britain, Giesler and Genetics

All the entries in the A-Z of ‘The State Trilogy’ can be found HERE

The books are available from a wide selection of online retailers, including AMAZON

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