New Europa Blog

I am very excited for the progress of the book two, Colony’s Fall, cover artwork. It captures a hint of the changed lives of Gift and her friends. While following a similar aesthetic to book one’s cover to be a harmonious part the trilogy, the style is unique to this volume. I cannot wait for people to see it… Colony's Fall is coming soon.

It was a pleasure to engage in a written interview with the folks at The Bookshelf Cafe News. To talk about my writing and my first completed novel, the characters in it, was a thrill. It gave me the chance to consider things about myself, my stories, and the people I created to fill them in new and deeper ways.  Read the interview here .

I joined the Goodreads community as an author and have begun discussing my book as well as the writing and publishing process with readers and authors alike. It is a great community not just for getting my book out there, but for finding new content to add to my personal “want to read” list and reading book reviews from other passionate readers. If you are a reader, I highly recommend the  Goodreads  site. Colony’s Dawn on Goodreads  

Imagining characters and giving them personality is one of the joys of writing. Action sequences are fun to explore, let the mind visualize, conceptualize, and then find the words to describe it in a way that gives the reader a clear picture of events. Hopefully an enjoyable one. To me, character development is vital to a good story, whether reading or watching one on screen. As a writer it is a crucial aspect of storytelling as a good story must be based on likable and believable characters. As the vision of New Europa filled my mind, and scenes of everyday life emerged, the main character formed into Gift Ojo. Living in Milan I am surrounded by Italian culture. Mixed with that are a surprising blend of African cultures among other nationalities of expats and migrants. I personally have many friends who are Italian-Nigerian. Gift Ojo, the young woman with the Nigerian name and the blend of two rich cultures sprang from such influence. The pace of the first few chapters of book one ...

Book two of the trilogy is written and full of action and adventures not previously imaginable for our friends of New Europa. The story takes Gift and her companions into challenges and situations that will test their resolve and threaten the future of their colony and all of humanity.   The long editing process is well underway, with the final rewrites of key scenes completed. The tedious proofreading and error checking is being done presently and the latest volume should be available by end of November or early December.   I am super excited to release this soon.

In the prologue we meet Raffaella Di Gaetano, friend and mentor to Gift. The tone for the challenges our characters will face are laid out for us in the opening sequence. We see events from Raff's perspective as she discovers the first traces of malcontent and conspiracy theories in the colony. A true Italian descended from Milan, Raff loves Italian food and music. Of course, her favorite drink is red wine. Not the most abundant in the small colony, they do keep the heritage alive with small crops of grapes and classic wine-making techniques.  While not the true believer Gift is, Raff is optimistic and levelheaded in her outlook on life. Her curiosity leads her down the path of secret chat groups and back-alley meetings to discover that the life everyone thinks they are living may be based on lies.

 Book one is published 😎 What a journey to write, edit, rewrite, refine, and finally publish book one of the New Europa Trilogy. An idea born from current events and forecasts for the future survival of the human race. Where will we be two hundred fifty years from now? What is the life Gift and her friends live and enjoy, is it what they believe it to be? What challenges and decisions will they face and what will become of the New Europa colony?  Colony's Dawn takes us on a journey of friendship, meaning, and purpose with Gift and her companions. I hope you enjoy the journey. ~ N. Joseph Glass