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, ‘U’ stands for:

United States of America: In the trilogy, present day America has become the Civil American States. They are not mentioned in the first book by name, but with the follow up, I broadened the scope of the future world and included more details about the First Strike War between the Civil American States and her allies and the Zhonghua Republic (China) and the Axis Powers. I was writing the trilogy initially at the start of President Trump’s term in office, and finished it as the pandemic struck and in the run up to the election of 2020. Two things shaped my vision of the future America. One was the idea, that came closer and closer to reality as Trump’s term continued and then Biden defeated him, that some States would attempt to secede from the present day United States. It seemed far-fetched to begin with, and hopefully is now once again, but for a short time it did seem a possibility. These seceded States would then form a new group and eventually, perhaps after another civil war, America would come back together in a looser bonding as the Civil American States. The second idea was that America would become involved in a nuclear war, and be the victim of a nuclear attack. With Trump in power and his dealings with Iran and North Korea, amongst others, this again became a frighteningly prescient idea, and again, one that we are hopefully backing away from.

Union of Socialist Soviet States: Like the idea of variations of Britain, America and China included in the novels, I decided that Russia (and Putin) had, in the future, realised its dream of reforming the old Soviet bloc, the USSR, including those countries that had managed to separate away from the Union at the end of the twentieth century. Unlike then though, the USSR is no longer a dominant super power in the world and, while still a major player, is a junior partner in the Axis Powers alliance to the Zhonghua Republic.

Next up – V is for: The Village, Verona and Video

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