On The Third Day - my second book
10 June 2010
In just under a month my second novel is out. On The Third Day is an Old Testament style disaster story that has no basis in science, set in the modern world. Nowadays all disaster stories feature an asteroid or a tsunami or some other natural hazard that can be explained by the turning of the Earth or the wheeling of the galaxies. Even vampires and zombies are explained by new viruses or toxic spills. But in the olden times the modus operandi of an apocalypse was much more interesting – rivers of blood, the sky falling down, a flood that covers the whole world; impossible things sent by a vengeful God. I wanted to bring something like this back, kind of a “God’s back, and this time he’s angry!” scenario.
On a story-telling level I tried to write something with a large scope because stories of this kind usually focus on either the disaster itself, or a dystopian future following such a disaster. I’d never read a book that looked at the space in between these two things so I’ve tried to bridge the gap. I thought that a story showing the disaster, the fall of civilisation, and the re-ordering would be something new. So this book starts on day one and goes through a time period of just under a year. I’ve always had a macabre fascination with the frailty of civilisation, of how easily it could collapse, the logistics of such a thing, and how power becomes inherently violent when there is no such thing as law. I’ve always been obsessed with the end of the world as well, and this has elements of all this stuff.
Of course, there were a thousand things I wanted to cram into the book, the most important of which is the nature of hope. The “disease” (it’s not a disease), some of the characters think, is the flame of hope being extinguished in its victims. With this in mind I asked many, many people what they thought would happen to them if their hope suddenly died (completely died, I mean) and many of the answers found their way into the narrative. It’s really interesting how people see hope – would its loss make you sad? Paralysed? Satisfied, even? Maybe it was because I was thinking about it for too long, but it seems to me that hope is the most important thing that we humans have. I guess its main contender is love or maybe even morality but actually, I now think, both love and morality grow from hope first. Hope seems to be the bedrock on top of which everything else sits. And this is explored in the book. Not sure if I pulled it off, but I did my best!
Ultimately though, I just wanted to write a big, sprawling, exciting story that people can get lost in. There are things to think about, but I was determined not to let them overshadow the story. Story is everything. “Plot and character are your meat and potatoes,” as David Mitchell says. It gets dark at times but that just means that when lighter parts arrive they come out brighter – you have to go there to come back, as they say.
It’s been a really long slog but the journey is at its end. Lots of people have helped to bring this book about and now that it’s here I really can’t wait for people to read it. For better or worse I think this book is what I set out to write and I am happy with it, which is a rare thing for me. I hope now that others will read it and enjoy it. So if you do have a gap in the bookshelf, or are looking for something to take on your summer holiday, maybe you could give it a go.
You can read the official blurb, or order it, here:
http://www.rbooks.co.uk/product.aspx?id=038561473X
1 comment
Written by jane lawson on 06 July 2010 at 14:33:00
this novel really had me turning the pages. Yes, i have to declare that i am Rhys's editor, but i wouldn't be blogging here if i didn't really care very much about this book - it has a big heart. But it also delves into ideas of good and evil, and of original sin, and plays with them with great dramatic invention. It's smartly plotted, too, and the final denouement has a biblical lyrical quality that might make you think you have fallen asleep and woken up in the middle of THE ROAD. I love ambitious authors and this is one helluva'n ambitious story- you want drama and a cast of millions? Read ON THE THIRD DAY!