Blogival Festival: Jeannie van Rompaey and The Oasis Series with Giveaway

I'm honored to be a part of this super festival, one which helps to get the name of great authors around. And today, I'm excited to present The Oasis Series from Jeannie van Rompaey!

Don't forget the change to win a book below!

ASCENSION

(Book One of the Oasis Series)

by Jeannie van Rompaey

YA Science Fiction

Meet the MUTANT HUMANOIDS. They may look a little different from us, but inside they're much the same as you and me. Left on a diseased Earth, they live in windowless compounds, safe from the contaminated wilderness outside. Safe, yes, but their lives are restricted. 
When the mutant humanoids discover that some complete human beings, COMPLETES, have also survived and are living greatly improved lives on satellites, they determine to rectify this imbalance and claim their share of Earth's heritage. Three-headed RA rules the humanoids with ruthless precision, but others are involved in a power struggle to depose him. Who will succeed in being the next CEO of Planet Earth? 
Sixteen -year-old MERCURY plans to start a new life on Oasis. Will it prove the Utopia he expects it to be? 

EVOLUTION

(Book Two of the Oasis Series)

by Jeannie van Rompaey

YA Science Fiction

After two hundred years of contamination, Earth is fertile again and so it seems are the MUTANT HUMANOIDS. They can give birth, leave their windowless compounds, cultivate the land and build independent dwellings. Their leader, ATHENE, does her best to help with this transition, but power-hungry HERACLES and the war-like DURGA have their own agendas. Athene plans a big event to display the talents and creativity of her subjects. But could this be the opportunity for her challengers to stage a takeover? MICHAEL COURT, once a mutant humanoid known as MERCURY, now lives as a COMPLETE on the manmade satellite, OASIS. Determined to work towards good relations between mutants and completes, Michael is thwarted by the devious political ORLANDO WOLFE. When Michael learns that his childhood friend, ISIS, is pregnant, he makes it his business to ensure that the baby is safe. But Wolfe has other ideas. Set in the not too distant future, EVOLUTION, the second novel in Jeannie van Romper's Oasis Series, continues the story of the mutant humanoids and completes on Earth and Oasis. In a humorous reflection of our own society, we watch them vie with each other for power, fight prejudice and look to culture and creativity to enrich their lives.

All about Book One and Two of the Oasis Series: Ascension and Evolution

by Jeannie van Rompaey

On the wall above my desk hangs a portrait of a three-headed man I painted some time ago. He becomes the inspiration for the ruthless leader, three-headed Ra in Ascension. I could people my world with human beings born with mutations after some disaster or other. They could have extra limbs or heads or only one eye. I imagine these mutant humanoids living incarcerated in windowless compounds on a contaminated Earth. But who put them there?  Human beings with no mutations is the answer, completes, who have escaped to Oasis, a manmade satellite in the sky. There they live privileged lives in what they hope will be a better world, a utopia of their own making.

How these two groups - mutant humanoids and completes - respond to each other will form the main thrust of my plot. I realise that the book, set in the future will be classified as Science Fiction, in particular dystopian fiction.

Inspired by the way modern literary authors have branched out into dystopian fiction, in particular Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale and her trilogy, Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam) and Kazuo Ishiguru’s Never let Me Go and driven by my own interest in the social and political state of the contemporary world, I decide to try my hand at writing in this genre. I do not consider myself a science fiction writer, but then neither, I suspect, do the authors mentioned above. The dystopias they create make gripping, chilling stories that make us think about the world we live in and how human beings deal with its problems - surely the point of all fiction. The idea of creating a new world was irresistible to me.

 I concentrate firstly on a group of mutant humanoids living in one particular compound on Earth, Compound 55, and invent a plethora of quirky characters. I decide to call them by names from mythology or legend: Odysseus, Isis, Kali, Sati, Mercury and Heracles. I start with their physical appearances and move on to their personalities. The elderly historian Odysseus with his triangular face and one large central eye prides himself on being clear-sighted, but he’s more intellectual than street-wise; Isis, his assistant, brought up as his daughter, has an extra little arm and a moon face. She’s more interested in beauty products than history. Three-legged, square-faced Heracles, is arrogant and ambitious, the villain of the piece, although he too has his soft side. Kali, the chief administrator, has blue-black skin and dreadlocks and four arms. Poisonous snakes grow out of her neck and wrists. Her ersatz son, Little Mercury, with his big ears and clipped wings, is a computer whiz kid. Mercury becomes the protagonist of the novel when he’s offered the opportunity to go to Oasis. He is the reader’s link between the two invented worlds. He really wrote himself into the role. I didn’t plan to have a sixteen-year-boy as the main character! But I grow to love him to bits.

Various characters, mainly mutant humanoids, share the narrative, giving their individual take on their lives. The device of using multiple viewpoints gives insights into their minds and demonstrates that whatever happens to them, they remain determined, not just to survive, but achieve their ambitions. Through dystopian fiction I am presenting not just a warning as to what our world could become in the future if we don’t take care of our planet, but also an optimistic portrayal of the resilience of the human spirit.

As I finish the first book, Ascension, I know I haven’t finished the story and decide to write a trilogy. After discussion with Gareth Howard from Authoright and making the decision to publish both Book 1, Ascension, and Book Two, Evolution, with Clink Street Publishing, I decide to call these books a series rather than a trilogy - just in case the books became so popular that I have to write more. Dreams of a successful television series such as Game of Thrones come to mind. Have I mentioned I am an optimist? 

Stop Press. I am now writing Book Three in the Oasis Series, Renaissance. I’m thoroughly enjoying continuing with the creation of this alternative, future world. The most imaginative project I’ve undertaken. I hope my readers will enjoy it too.

Both Ascension and Evolution are available now either as paperbacks or downloads. 

GIVEAWAY!!!

Want a chance to win a paperback copy of ASCENSION? Then leave a comment of support below! 

The winner will be randomly drawn from all comments and notified, so please leave an email address ( name (at) whatever (dot) whatever). The winner must respond within 48 hours of receiving the email with mailing address. Only open to residents of the UK/Northern Ireland and USA.

Name will be drawn and commented below on Monday, June 20th.