Pages

Monday, November 05, 2007

Coming of Age Novel by Darrell Bain


SAVAGE SURVIVAL is not just another testosterone driven science fiction novel. At the basic level, it explores the personalities and attitudes of men, women and children when stripped of the comforting insulation of organized society. Invulnerable aliens have captured millions of humans and are subjecting them to the most brutal and horrible environments ever encountered, in essence a survival test of a magnitude heretofore undreamed of.

Lyda Brightner is an eleven-year-old girl when she is suddenly and without warning separated from her parents and thrown into the midst of undisciplined humans in a harsh desert environment. Food and water and clothing are fought over. Those who control it can do as they wish—and their wishes are terrible.

Lyda is weaponless and alone, like almost everyone. Raped at eleven. Forced to kill. Grieving for her parents. All that stands between Lyda and death is her own innate bravery, her quick mind, her unwavering integrity and ultimately, her belief that someday she will find someone to love.

Lyda's strength of character and fighting spirit make her a leader, even at a very young age. Over the next six years she must constantly fight the ever changing and ever more dangerous environments the aliens subject them to. But she must fight other humans as well, those who have survived by brute strength and ruthless plundering of the weak.

But even if she lives through all this, Lyda must still face the final question: What do the aliens have in mind for the few hundred remaining humans, those few left of all the millions who died?

SAVAGE SURVIVAL is a coming of age novel like no other and Lyda Brightner is a character you'll never forget.

8 comments:

Maureen Fisher said...

Lyda sounds like an amazing character. Good luck with your book.

Anonymous said...

Hi folks--
I'm Darrell Bain, the author of Savage Survival. I'll be stopping in periodically through the day to answer questions and comments about Savage Survival or any of my other books you can see at
www.darrellbain.com
And BTW, of all the books I've written, Lyda is my favorite character and Savage Survival is my favorite book!
Darrell

Diana Holquist said...

Hi Darrell.

Great post. Can't wait to read the book.

--Diana

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Diana.
Darrell

Jean said...

You know...I love the fact your MC is female. There are so many male MC's out there..especially in SF.

In fact, we were just discussing how in YA the market seems to want more male MCs than female ones.

Do you find this to be true???

Anonymous said...

Hi Jean--
I don't know if the market wants more male Young Adult characters, but I agree--that seems to be what gets published. Perhpas more males write young adult fiction and are more comfortable with male characters? That's about the best answer I can think of, although I had no problems with a young female character. John Barnes had a neat on in his novel The Sky So Big And Black. I wrote a short article in my newsletter a few months ago ( www.darrellbain.com )on how much females owe to science fiction writers for being the first to have strong female characters in leadership roles in military, political and other situations, with no evidence of being patronizing. I personally think it helped with the movement toward sexual equality in the workplace. My wife agrees with me, too.
Thanks for writing.
Darrell

thewriterslife said...

Is this an excellent sounding book or what? I love these types of stories. It's one of those stories that would be great on the big screen, don't you think? Darrell, you really ought to write this up as a screenplay. Did you ever think about doing that?

Anonymous said...

Hi Dorothy--
Thanks for the kind words. I guess it probably would make an interesting movie, but I haven't a clue about screen writing. Maybe a producer will read the novel. That happened with one of my books. Unfortunately, the option expired without a studio opting for it.
Thanks for writing.
Darrell