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Her whole life Amy has been taught the people of New Lithisle deserve to die, but when she falls for Daniel, she determines to save him.
Sixteen-year-old Amy doesn't like anything to die, she won't even eat the goats or chickens her mama has butchered every fall, but she can't let herself pity the inhabitants of New Lithisle. In a few short months the dome they built to isolate themselves from the deadly pandemic is predicted to collapse, but her whole life Amy has been taught it's God's will they die. They traded their souls for immunity to the swine flu virus, brought God's curse upon themselves by adding pig genes to their own.
Then, while on a scavenging trip with her father, Amy is accidentally trapped in New Lithisle. At first her only goal is to escape, but when she meets Daniel, a New Lithisle boy, she begins to question how less-than-human the people of New Lithisle are.
Amy's feelings grow even more conflicted when she learns she didn't end up in New Lithisle by mistake. Her father is secretly a sympathizer, and was trying to prevent the coming destruction.
Now time is running short and Amy has to decide if she will bring the computer program her father wrote to his contact or save herself. Installing the program could prevent the dome's collapse, but if Amy doesn't find her father's contact in time, she'll die, along with everyone else.
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Rondi Bauer Olson is a reader and writer from Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where she lives on a hobby farm with her husband, Kurt. She has four grown children, works as a nurse, and also owns a gift shop within view of beautiful Lake Superior.
Find out more about Rondi at http://rondibauerolson.
Interview with Rondi Olson
Author of All Things Now Living
Tell us a bit about the story behind your latest novel. Where did you find inspiration?
Years ago, as a new nurse, I was assigned a patient who was refusing a life-saving medical treatment due to religious beliefs. On one hand, I admired his devotion, and I felt I could take good care of my patient while respecting his decision. On the other hand, watching him die was awful. This experience has haunted me, and over the years I have wondered about the depths of my religious belief, and how far I would go to save myself, or my children. I quickly realized things I would not do to save myself I would readily do to save one of my children. This lead me to the idea of genetic engineering, specifically, inserting animal genes into people, and I imagined a post-apocalyptic world where entire societies were living with the consequences of having made such a decision, one way or the other. Would people be compassionate toward those who made a different choice, or would they choose to hate, and how would that manifest itself?
What was the hardest part about writing your novel: Getting started? Keeping it going? Finding the perfect ending?
I have the worst time getting started, or rather, I start over and over again and am never happy with it. I guess you could say starting right is a skill I am still working on.
What trait do you love most about your main character?
Her compassion.
When readers get to the last page, what do you hope they take away from the story?
I hope readers will examine more closely what love is, and what love does, not just in terms of the main characters and their romance, but also Amy’s transformation from someone who fought her empathy because she’d been taught she had to, to someone who realized her compassion was not bad but a gift from God, and something to be embraced.
What are you working on next?
The sequel to All Things Now Living, The Stars in Their Courses, as well as a medieval superhero series.
While on a scavenging trip with her father, Amy is accidentally trapped in New Lithisle in Rondi Bauer Olson's All Things Now Living. At first her only goal is to escape, but when she meets Daniel, a New Lithisle boy, she begins to question how less-than-human the people of New Lithisle are. Amy's feelings grow even more conflicted when she learns she didn't end up in New Lithisle by mistake. Her father is secretly a sympathizer. Time is running short and Amy has to decide if she will bring the computer program her father wrote to his contact or save herself. Installing the program could prevent the dome's collapse, but if Amy doesn't find her father's contact in time, she'll die, along with everyone else.
Stay up all night reading this thrilling new book from Rondi and enter to win a Kindle Fire!
One grand prize winner will receive:
- A copy of All Things Now Living
- A Kindle Fire
*Thanks to LitFuse for a complimentary copy of this book. I was not paid nor required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are my own.*
