I want to begin this by again thanking all the people who have gotten behind this book, and are sharing it and inviting friends to enjoy it too. I’ve had lots of messages from readers so I thought it would be fun to include the answers to the questions in a side note or two.
The concept of Empire Road, and it’s overarching story, start to finish, has been something I’ve been working on since about 2005. I became aware of the work of John Wyndham who wrote The Lord of the Flies, the Day of the Triffids and The Village of the Damned. I’m also a student of history and very interested in World War history. So the basic concept for a post apocalyptic setting with a war as it’s main narrative was simply the coming together of two of my interest groups.
The character of Jeremiah is an amalgamation of a number of boys his age who have been in my life including myself, my brothers and my sons. His good ethics and intellect are modeled after my grandfather, but his sense of wonder for all things outside of his own world is based more closely on my myself. He is primarily designed to be a way to tell the story that isn’t so potent that the story becomes about him. He is able to be a window into the story this way.
As the story progresses and the true nature’s of characters becomes more evident, I will be posting more side notes to discuss any other questions that may come up.
Thanks again for sharing these posts and for all the support and encouragement.
