Eastbourne author offers futuristic thriller
Geoff, aged 79, said: “The storyline is based on the prospect of what life could well be like 45 years from now in a world where terrorist strikes have reduced the supply of fossil fuels to a trickle and caused economic activity to stagnate for a hundred years. (https://www.geoff-cook.com)
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Hide Ad“I’ve never tackled a dystopian novel before, and I recognised from the outset, some five years ago, that the most important aspect of plot development was to present the reader with a credible scenario. If I allowed the narrative to drift into fantasy, the impact of the Octogen project on the reader’s sensibilities would be lost.
“Octogen was a challenge to write. I found it difficult to develop the storyline of a family dealing with personal crises during a period of social upheaval under an oppressive regime whilst, in the real world, we faced the restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic. To lighten my mood, I stopped halfway through and wrote Irreconcilable Differences, a tongue-in-cheek tale of feuding fathers following the break-up of their children’s marriage.
“I picked up Octogen again in 2023 and completed the work earlier this year. Cover development and editing have occupied the intervening months.
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Hide Ad“Every fiction author must believe he or she has produced a page-turner which the reader cannot put down. Telling a good story that flows and enthralls is the priority. I believe Octogen meets these aims.
“The scenario I have painted in the novel will react with those who care about the future direction in which our society is travelling. Whether you agree or disagree with the book’s premise, nobody will dispute that the world we live in is volatile, divisive and the future totally unpredictable.
“I’m an old man and I’m not going to be around in forty-five years. But my grandchildren and their children will be and it is the world that they will inherit which prompted me to elaborate the idea for the novel. We, of the baby boomer generation, have had it pretty good; broadly speaking, seventy years of hedonistic existence, with little thought for the consequences of our collective actions, a degree of affluence unknown to our parents and a laissez-faire approach to political extremes and minority influences. It’s a sweeping generalisation, I accept, but it applies to many of us.
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Hide Ad“Within the pages of Octogen, I acknowledge these shortcomings and point a finger at how poverty and social discontent can rekindle the spirit of fascism and authoritarian control. I know I have made the storyline sound dark and foreboding, but it does tell the story of a family and there is hope and expectation for the future and positivity to succeed.
“The novel starts in 2025 with a tragic accident...”