Drones serving coffee and a merit-tracker competition: a dystopian book launch!

It's been almost a week since the official launch of Quiet Echoes at Night - the third novel in a dystopian fantasy series set in a futuristic world where only the productive are rewarded.

Quiet Echoes at Night - the third in the Merit-Hunters Series

Quiet Echoes at Night continues the story of Ajay and Genni, a couple in their twenties, who fight against a system that determines your worth based on how many points you have, also known as your ‘merit score.’ And I decided to get readers fully immersed in the world of Tulo!

Beginning with a 'merit-tracker' competition, readers experience what it would be like to have everything you do tracked and 'marked' by a merit scoring. It was hilarious to watch people downing 'SkipSleep shots' (worth 2 points) so they could work up a deficit so they could enjoy a brownie (minus 2 points).

To gain a whopping 10 points, attendees could pose in our dystopian photo booth and share their masterpieces on social media. We encouraged people to teach each other new things to gain a further 2 points and 3 points were earned by visiting the 'dystopian bookshelf' where they could educate themselves on the development of the dystopian genre.

My friend dressed as a drone

My favourite part though was that my friend, who served people coffee, was such a good sport and allowed me to stick a sign on him that said 'I'M A DRONE.' Not quite as advanced as the technology in Tulo, but you have to make do sometimes.

But within all that, we also had a 45-minute interview where my friend Josh asked me all sorts of questions about me, my writing journey and of course, the new book. One of the most important questions was around the dedication for my third book. It reads:

'To Mum, and for anyone who feels chained down by the past.'

I explained the loss of my mum last year and how my dad encouraged myself and my brothers to 'not be chained down by the past but empowered by it.' Not only have I learnt that lesson this year but it felt even more powerful that, as I finished off Quiet Echoes at Night, I realised that both Ajay and Genni have to learn that lesson too. In this book, we see them both stare their past dead in the eyes and they each make a decision over what they're going to do about it.

I'll leave you with that thought and further pictures from the launch. Thanks again to everyone who came!

Having a Q&A interview

Props for a dystopian photo booth

All photo credits go to the lovely Deborah Stevenson.