Debut author Lisa Thomas talks to the Authors’ Lounge about her covid-fiction novel “Unprecedented Times” the first in a trilogy. A fact-meets-fiction novel fundraising for a COVID-19 charity.
About Unprecedented Times
The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world to its core, every person, in every country has been affected by it. This devastating pandemic is history in the making.
Unprecedented Times by Lisa Thomas looks at the events of the pandemic, but it takes the story in a very different direction to reality. In reality we can control the virus, work together to limit our losses and overcome it, but is there a situation where this might not be the case?
“Follow MY version of the pandemic across two timelines and through the eyes of four characters. As the virus takes a different turn to reality and threatens mankind itself, the world leaders and our characters have decisions to make and we see just how far we are willing to go when we are in unprecedented times.”
The eBook is available for download directly from Lisa’s website.
Paperback and eBook are also available for purchase on Amazon.
Unprecedented Times Promo Video:
The inspiration behind the book
“The idea for this book came to me in January when I first heard about the virus breaking out in China. I had an instinct that this was going to be historical and the story idea formed in my head almost immediately. After researching and planning I began writing the story in March 2020 with the intention of not sharing it due to a lack of confidence. I saw an opportunity, however, to build on my confidence (for my children) and to make a difference, so I self-published my finished story in October 2020 and started donating 50% of the proceeds to charity.”
This is sci-fi novel contains elements of comedy and romance and has been hailed as a historical novel that everyone should read, given we have all lived through the pandemic.
Aims and themes of the book
“As the pandemic started to play out in real life, it followed a similar pattern to my story and I began to see my book as a way to document the pandemic for future generations. I included real facts and statistics and referenced these through the book, to show how severely the pandemic has affected people around the world, in very different ways.”
“I also wanted to show future generations how this pandemic has bought the global community together and to remind them of the wonderful things we can achieve together when we don’t let things like race, religion, social class etc. get in the way. When we see each other as equals. One of the themes in my book is love, in the many forms it comes in, from romantic love to family love, to community love. I wanted to remind people that material possessions and “things”, just aren’t important. What is important is who we share those things with, the memories we make with each other. This book is designed to shock and make my readers question life. Not only what life would have been like if the virus was worse than it is now, but everything else too. But at the same time, it’s designed to make people laugh, to feel the full range of love and to always remember that there is hope. That actually, hope is all we need.”
Giving back to the community through the book
Lisa Thomas is also using her book to give back to the community. She has included a dedications section at the end of her book, through which she is dedicating her novel to loved ones we have lost to the pandemic. Through her honours section she has also honoured frontline workers and community members that went above and beyond to help during the pandemic. She collected these dedications and honours from the general public and is now accepting dedications and honours for her second book in the trilogy.
Through book sales, Unprecedented Times is also fundraising for a COVID-19 charity.
“50% of ALL book sales go to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO. This means £2 from every book is donated to the charity.”
Plans for the future
Unprecedented Times is the first in a trilogy. The second book is in the process of being written and Lisa Thomas hopes to release this by Summer 2022. A final book will be released within 2 years of the second book becoming available, this will complete the trilogy.
About Lisa Thomas
Lisa Thomas is a 37-year-old self employed content writer. She lives in Birmingham in the UK, with her three children and two cats. She is an avid reader and writer, but alongside this she has other hobbies, including music. As a child she had years of singing, piano and drum lessons and she had two childhood dreams, to write a book she was proud to put her name on and to write a song that made people happy. Due to a lack of confidence and a fear of performing, she stopped playing music at the age of 18, but she always missed it. More recently, as she started to try to build on her confidence, she has started playing again. She bought herself a keyboard and drum kit and even started to teach herself to play guitar. She’s started writing lyrics and hopes to one day turn these into a song she can be proud of, thus achieving both her goals. Follow her music on YouTube.
In addition to music, reading and writing, Lisa also loves baking (and eating what she bakes). Over the last few years she has been perfecting her cookie recipe and her children love her home-made pizza bases. She has also created her very own GIF range which in less than 3 months has had 5.2 million views, see her channel on GIPHY.
Follow Lisa Thomas and her fundraising through social media:
- https://lisathomasauthor.com/
- https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLisaThomas/
- https://twitter.com/LisaThomasBooks
- https://www.instagram.com/lisatomauthor/
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