In 2011 I sat in the offices of Fledgling Press and signed the contract for my debut novel The Incomers. The then owner, Zander Wedderburn and soon to be new Fledgling CEO, Clare Cain, were as excited about the book as I was. Since then, Clare and Fledgling have gone on to publish the three books in my Sun Song Trilogy and have been a constant support to my writing career.

Fledgling Press have now closed their door, and Clare is embarking on a well-deserved retirement.  They have been a great publisher to work with right to the very last when all the files and copyrights were passed back to me.

In 2022 I reissued The Incomers through my own imprint, Trilleachan (add link), so I only had the trilogy to consider when Fledgling closed. Fledgling had already issued an eBook of all three books in a box set and I wondered what that would look like as a paperback too. Would anyone be interested in a book that was first published over ten years ago? More importantly, was it still relevant? I had after all started writing the trilogy in 2012.

The second question was the easiest to answer.

The Sun Song Trilogy is set in 2089 so before I began writing I embarked on some world building. Unfortunately, the world I built is more recognisable now that it was in 2012. And I need to get this blog out soon because it is becoming more real with each passing day.

The idea for the story came to me in a dream. This imagined world is divided between the Privileged few and the Native (Celtic) slaves. The way to establish a Privilege from a Native is through their DNA passport. If you don’t hold the right DNA then you are either harnessed into servitude or returned to your country of origin, whether it still exists or not.

This is a slide I created in 2015 to show school children what my imagined world looked like in 2089

The world is also divided into three superpowers The United States of the West, The Eastern Zone and sandwiched between them on the map is Esperaneo. This new superpower, formerly Europe, had to join forces to fight the threats from both West and East. The capital of Esperaneo is what was once Paris and the former UK is now Lesser Esperaneo (remember this was written before Brexit!) a tiny island that is slowly sinking in rising sea water. This severe flooding means that populations survive further north. Climate change has also created Desert States and an Earthquake Zone.

Another slide from the same 2015 presentation

The internet has been taken down because of fake news and heavy energy usage; it is replaced by a State-owned information service called FUB.

Many things are banned in this world, mostly due to climate change but not all.

Banned: Meat, books, immigrants, non-military transport, paper, exports & imports, fossil fuel, alcohol, free trade. In fact, just about everything.

Anyone who is deemed useless to the Privileged are erased. Some of this happened during a pandemic (I know!) and the elderly and disabled live in hidden communities, sometimes recycling hazardous waste to make a living. The only way society can function is through the help of an army of black marketeers called The Noiri, who are essentially a band of White Van Men (and Women).

The good news is that although The Sun Song Trilogy is future fiction becoming fact, it is a fast-moving action-packed read. The characters are real to me and relatable. It is a great read, and I feel The Sun Song Trilogy deserves a wide audience in its new format.

Synopsis

The year is 2089 and everything is changed. The revolutions of the early 21st century have created a world divided – between the Privileged few and the Native (Celtic) underclass.

Sorlie’s Privileged teenage life is smashed by the cruel death of his parents and he is spirited away to live with his ice-cold grandfather at a mysterious island penal colony. There he uncovers terrible secrets about the society he thought he knew.

Ishbel, Celtic slave and warrior, joins Sorlie in his quest for truth. Together they battle extreme weather and unknown enemies to unearth the Star of Hope, the ultimate tool to repairing their broken world.

The Sun Song trilogy explores life in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic world where society’s norms have broken down and life must be lived differently.

You can view the trailer for Star of Hope, the last book in the trilogy, here.

The Sun Song Trilogy is available in eBook and Paperback from Amazon.