![\"Into](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.everywritersresource.com\/selfpublished\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/into-shadow600x8001-225x300.png?resize=225%2C300\" "\\"Into")
Author<\/h2>\nT.D. Shields<\/p>\n
People who know me have asked how on earth I find time to write. After all I have a full-time job, weekend contract work, a husband and four kids to take care of, so where does time to write fit in? Luckily, I\u2019m a bit of an insomniac and my most productive hours are between midnight and five a.m. \u2013 It\u2019s the perfect time to write! If I tried to go to sleep I\u2019d just be laying there writing a story in my head to entertain myself; so why not just write it down instead?<\/p>\n
I have been writing stories in my head for as long as I can remember. I\u2019m an avid reader, but if I find myself without a book handy I can pass the time by just writing a new story (or continuing an old one). Even though I\u2019ve had the stories in my head for all these years, I never quite took the plunge into writing them down to share with others. The idea of letting other people into that private world in my imagination was just too scary. What if they\u2019re bored? What if they laugh? Worse, what if I\u2019m trying to be funny and they DON\u2019T laugh?<\/p>\n
My sister finally convinced me to give it a try and I first wrote this book just for her. It was months before I expanded that audience to include some more beta readers. But having run the book through a few test audiences now, I finally feel like it\u2019s ready to share with rest of the world. Even though I wrote the book, I\u2019ll tell you honestly that I still love to read it; it\u2019s just a really fun read. I hope you\u2019ll read it and enjoy it, too!<\/p>\n
\u201cInto Shadow\u201d takes a look at what the world could be like in another 200 years or so. There are high points (incredible advances in technology)\u2026 and low points (cities in ruins after years of world wars and climate change). In the middle of that we drop Poppy Walker and watch as she deals with both the highs and the lows.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 2259 and the entire planet has been changed by the melting of the polar ice sheets. As the land was overrun by water, some countries were running out of room for their populace. The need for more land eventually led to the 3rd World War \u2013 a global conflict that lasted for thirty years and drastically changed the political landscape along with the physical environment. Many countries banded together for protection and power, including the former countries of Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America, which are now collectively known as the North American Alliance.<\/p>\n
The North American Alliance is led by President Walker: a war hero, a widower, and a father. With no wife to act as First Lady, his twelve-year-old daughter Poppy takes on the job and helps her father restore order to the chaotic new world they live in.<\/p>\n
As we join the story, Poppy is now nineteen. Without warning, she finds herself caught in the middle of a government takeover and dodging assassins. She is forced to go on the run without her father and is completely on her own for the first time. To survive, she must call on all the skills she had learned from her safety-conscious, military-minded father.<\/p>\n
Running from robotic soldiers (mechs) who are trying to capture her in the streets, Poppy finds an ally who helps her make her way to the war-torn ruins of Denver. Due to several military installations in the area, the city was bombed extensively during the war and largely reduced to rubble. The destruction was so complete that the area, like many cities attacked during the war, was deemed uninhabitable and the evacuated citizens never returned. But what few people know is that the neglected cities are not empty after all. Poppy will have to learn to survive the terrifying beasts, deadly plant life, and fierce rebels who now live in the shadows of the abandoned city.
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As a full-grown adult, I love reading young adult fiction. So it only made sense that when I finally decided to start writing down the stories that are always running through my head I would start by writing with the YA genre in mind. Don\u2019t feel like you have to ignore the book if you\u2019re a little older than the typical YA age range, though. It was released just yesterday, so few Amazon reviews are posted yet, but I\u2019ve heard from readers ranging in age from 14 \u2013 60+ that they are already hooked on the book and can\u2019t wait to see what happens next. There\u2019s action, excitement, politics, drama\u2026 and just a touch of (clean) romance. Enjoy!<\/p>\n
It sounded as if the conversation behind me was wrapping up. I was about to bring the music to a close and announce dinner when I heard a strange sound. It was a low, continuous rumble, like thunder, but not quite. My fingers faltered on the keys when I glanced out the window to see a blue, cloudless sky.<\/p>\n
What WAS that sound? It was growing louder.<\/p>\n
And then I could hear that the continual rumble was actually made up of many, many individual bursts of sound. There were sounds of breaking glass. And people began to shout and scream, while that rumbling noise just grew louder and louder.<\/p>\n
I stopped playing and looked at my father. He met my eyes calmly and only said: \u201cCode Red. Now.\u201d<\/p>\n
He turned to the governors and told them, \u201cCome this way quickly, gentlemen. We\u2019ll move to a secure area until we know what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Years of drills helped me to react immediately to my father\u2019s command, and I sprinted for the far wall of the library as my father and the governors moved in the opposite direction. The governors were distracted by the sudden relocation, so my father was the only one who saw me press one very particular section of the elaborate carvings on the library shelves.<\/p>\n
A small section of the shelving swung smoothly outward, leaving just enough room for a single person to slide into the gap and pull the hidden door closed again. I was completely concealed from view, but tiny peepholes allowed me to see a little of what was happening in the room.<\/p>\n
Each hidden safe-room was tiny \u2013 holding nothing more than a backpack with a small stash of food and water and a first-aid kit. There was room for only one person. My father had sent me here rather than taking the hiding spot for himself so that he could be sure I was safe while he led the governors to a larger safe area. There were so many hidden passages in this building that they would be able to simply disappear and come back for me when the coast was clear.<\/p>\n
But there was no time. The library door burst open and people in black and grey fatigues poured into the room. Each person carried a long, box-like thing with a narrow tube protruding from the far end. It took me a moment, but I finally recognized them as machine guns like the ones I\u2019d seen in my Uncle Cruz\u2019s banned weapons collection. I realized that these guns must have been the source of the incredible noise in the halls outside the library.<\/p>\n
All this went through my mind in seconds as the gunmen continued to force their way into the library. And then they began to fire. The sound was like a hammer blow, forcing me to my knees. I cried out, but no one could hear me over the incredible volume of the gunshots. I crawled closer to the wall and found a peephole. It allowed me to see only glimpses of the events, but it was enough to let me see my father and the three governors fall to the ground under the hail of bullets.<\/p>\n