Featured Interview With Author Jeff R. Kelland
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Newfoundland, but I now make my home on the banks of the Miramichi River in New Brunswick, and I absolutely love it here!
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My fascination with books started soon after I learned to read, and I started writing late in elementary school. I've been writing ever since….essays, short stories, poetry, songs…a blank page and I get along famously!
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favourite authors are Robertson Davies and Leon Uris. I've read everything they have written. I like to write fiction, but I prefer to read non-fiction.
Just about anyone or anything can inspire me to write a poem, a short story, or an essay. But when it comes to inspiration for writing a book, it has to be a major issue that people need to know more about. For my first book, Grace Ungiven, it was the plight of countless children sexually abused by Catholic clerics. For my latest book, The Dying Party, I was moved by inaction and complacency regarding climate change, so I decided to write a book that shows people what human life will be like if we don't get out climate act together.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
“The Dying Party”, along with its prequel novella “Two of All People” (free and available everywhere), asks the question: ‘What happens when they tell us it's too late to stop climate change; when we are forced to face a future that will be increasingly hellish, and an horrific end that will come within our lifetimes?’ The novel answers this question with two parallel story lines that alternate from chapter to chapter and eventually merge – one about how the poor will deal with the advancing crisis, and one about how the rich and powerful will fare.
The former story line, starting a few years earlier in the prequel, focuses on two main characters. It is late in the 2040s, and Lizzie and Donnie are two of only six people left alive in a residential complex that had been built into the side of Newfoundland’s Gros Morne mountain in the 2030s, now the only piece of habitable land left above water in all of what was once eastern Canada. In the second story line we follow a group of humanity's richest and most powerful, the super-elite, as they try to establish an off-Earth colony for themselves.
“The Dying Party” explores in fascinating detail the complex brutality of what having to accept such a fate would mean for human civilization; what it would look like on a global scale, a local context, and from a variety of personal perspectives. The author’s extensive research shows that if we stay on our present course of inaction, confusion, and complacency, such a declaration will come sooner than we think. The thrust of the novel, however, is to illustrate the under-appreciated impact that passing the climate change tipping point will have on the human psyche; an impact that will further complicate and accelerate what is happening on a number of levels.
This is not fanciful speculation about the near and distant future, but rather the logical extension of the current course of humanity if we fail to up our game. The novel is a courageous, unflinchingly depiction of the worst-case scenario, with a measure of redemption, and is therefore a cautionary tale to end all cautionary tales.
Anyone interested in knowing my experience in writing "Grace Ungiven" or "The Dying Party" can visit my author website for an interview about each (https://jkellandmysites.io/)
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles
Jeff R. Kelland Twitter Account
To discover a new awesome author, check out our Featured Authors page. We have some of the best authors around. They are just waiting for you to discover them. If you enjoyed this writer’s interview feel free to share it using the buttons below. Sharing is caring!
If you are an author and you want to find new readers come submit your book to our Awesome Book Promotion service.