EXODUS 2022, by Kenneth G. Bennett, will be released May 20, 2014. Get to know Kenneth and his book with the following interview and book excerpt. Click on the book title to pre-order the book.
About the book:
Joe Stanton is in agony. Out of his mind over the death of his young daughter.Unable to contain his grief, Joe loses control in public, screaming his daughter’s name and causing a huge scene at a hotel on San Juan Island in Washington State. Thing is, Joe Stanton doesn’t have a daughter. Never did. And when the authorities arrive they blame the 28-year-old’s outburst on drugs.
What they don’t yet know is that others up and down the Pacific coast-—from the Bering Sea to the Puget Sound—-are suffering identical, always fatal mental breakdowns.
With the help of his girlfriend Joe struggles to unravel the meaning of the hallucination destroying his mind. As the couple begins to perceive its significance—-and Joe’s role in a looming global calamity—-they must also outwit a billionaire weapons contractor bent on exploiting Joe’s newfound understanding of the cosmos, and outlast the time bomb ticking in Joe’s brain.
Other books by Kenneth G. Bennett:
The Gaia WarsThe Battle for Cascadia
Interview with Kenneth G. Bennett
Kenneth, EXODUS 2022 is your third published book. How long have you been writing, and how did you start?I started writing stories at age 6 and have been a professional advertising copywriter most of my adult life.
What’s the story behind the title of your book?
The book is about a vast relocation that occurs in the year 2022. A migration from Planet Earth that humans are utterly unaware of—-until it’s too late. The title EXODUS 2022 seemed to fit.
How did you create the plot for EXODUS 2022?
I like to start with an idea and let the story unfold organically by jumping in and moving forward on blind faith—on the strength of the initial idea. It’s a scary process, but much more exhilarating and satisfying to me than trying to map everything out ahead of time.
How do you get to know your characters?
I like to let them develop slowly, along with the book itself. My characters start out flat and one-dimensional and grow and develop as the story develops. I’m not big on fully designing characters (or plot) up front.
Are you like any of your characters?
Like the lead character, Joe Stanton, I love nature and the wilderness and try to get into the backcountry as often as I can.
Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?
I have a sunny breakfast nook in my house with coffee close at hand. That’s my favorite place to write.
Where’s home for you?
Bainbridge Island, Washington. An island in the Puget Sound.
Lucky you! It's beautiful up there. If you could only keep one book, what would it be?
The Hobbit.
Let's pretend you’re leaving your country for a year. What’s the last meal (or food) you would want to have before leaving?
Anything made by my wife. She’s the most amazing chef.
Would you rather work in a library or a bookstore?
A small, local bookstore that also serves great coffee. The big difference being the great coffee.
Where is your favorite library, and what do you love about it?
The Bainbridge Island Public Library is fantastic, with a very friendly, helpful staff.
You’re given the day off, and you can do anything but write. What would you do?
Disappear into the wilderness with a great traveling companion or two.
What’s one of your favorite quotes?
“The written word is new. People have listened to stories for millennia. Your voice is the voice of the storyteller around the campfire. Our writing is an imitation of an audible experience.” --Lee Child
Excerpt from Exodus 2022
Ella awoke after a time and lay there, thinking about the first time she and Joe had really talked: in the meadow in the wilderness, under the stars.She’d found him charming and handsome. Gentle and rugged and sexy. He was a great listener, and, as she’d discovered on her first visit to St. Anthony’s—a great speaker. She’d found his homily that morning brilliant, relevant, and deeply touching.
They dated. Their romance flourished, and within a few weeks she was madly, passionately in love.
Aside from the instant and powerful physical attraction they shared, she found it incredibly easy to talk with him. About anything.
She knew that he was intuitive. Sometimes it seemed that he could read her mind. Even before she told him, he’d been aware, somehow, of a secret she carried and divulged to almost no one. It hurt still to think about it, and most of the time she left it alone, acknowledging the awful event without really examining it. Without reliving it.
Now, though, lying there next to Joe, the memory of the thing unfurled in her mind, unbidden, and she let it flow.
To read another excerpt from the book, click here.
About the author:
The Gaia Wars series was optioned for film by Identity Films, LA in 2012, and both Gaia and Battle have been featured as Top 100 Bestsellers in Teen Literature and Fiction on Amazon. Kirkus Reviews called The Gaia Wars “A solid first entry of a promising, imaginative new young-adult fantasy series featuring a well-crafted character.”
About the author:
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Buy the book:
Amazon
