Peadar Ó Guilín is the author of The Bone World Trilogy, a dark science fiction saga set in a world where cannibalism is a way of life. The first book in the series, The Inferior was published last October to great acclaim, and the second volume, The Deserter, was released earlier this month. I recently asked Ó Guilín to share a little bit about The Bone World with our readers. He was kind enough to take a break from working on the final volume, The Betrayal, to write the following introduction.
The Bone World Trilogy: An Introduction
By Peadar Ó Guilín
THE INFERIOR
In the ruins of a shattered, ancient city, a primitive tribe of humans spends every breath fighting extinction. The plants and insects of their world will poison anybody who ingests them, but luckily, a handy food supply exists in the form of a large variety of equally primitive alien tribes. Every creature hunts every other or trades weaker members of their species for fresh meat.
This is bad news for the protagonist, an untried hunter with a bad stutter. His people think he’s mentally deficient and not worth keeping around.
And then, a woman falls out of the sky, a civilized woman, and everything changes. But not for the better.
This then, is more or less where my first novel, The Inferior (2007, 2008), begins. It’s a strange, unnatural menagerie of creatures in a situation that should not exist and that should not be sustainable. From the outside, it was the most horrific world I could come up with. But from the inside — and this tale is only ever told from the inside — there are compensations: courage; pride in survival; joy; and even fun.
The Inferior has received a lot of love right across the web, but it is definitely not going to be to everybody’s taste. My advice is to download the free sample chapters first and see how you get on. They’re pretty representative of the whole experience.
Kindle chapters
EPub chapters
PDF chapters
THE DESERTER
Well, so much for the first book. The sequel, called The Deserter, has just come out in North America. I’m not sure I want to say too much about it since anything I reveal would act as a spoiler for anybody who hasn’t read the opening installment.
What I can say, however, is that The Deserter shows off far more of the story’s science fictional heart. Also, it answers most of the questions that were raised in The Inferior. There is conflict; love; war; falling, failing civilizations and, as always, a little cannibalism.
THE BETRAYAL
And what of the third book, the trilogy’s conclusion?
I’m working on it right now. Let me get back to you!
Eat or be Eaten.
