Kira, Jed
and their friends have fled New Corporation and joined the Resistance, but
their relief is short-lived as they discover how decimated the human race has
become and learn of an environmental crisis that threatens to destroy their
existence. Kira and Jed must travel up the mountain to the New Corporation
stronghold, City 50, to bargain for sanctuary while Martha and Dina risk
everything to return to City 42 and save those who are left. With the last of
her reserves Gaia, the fading spirit of the Earth uses her remaining influence
to guide Kira and her friends but ultimately, it’s up to humanity to make the
right choice.
More about The Gaia
Collection series
The
Gaia Collection
is Claire’s hopeful dystopian trilogy set 200 years in the future after much of
the planet and the human race have been decimated during The Event, when the
world went to war with high-energy radiation weapons. In The Gaia Effect,
Kira and Jed Jenkins – a young couple who were recently allocated a child –
together with their closest friends, discover Corporation have been
deliberately lying to them and forcing them to remain sterile. With help from
Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, the group of friends begin to fight back against
Corporation eventually winning and taking over the governance of City 42.
In
The Gaia Project, Corporation fight back under a new, more terrifying
organization called New Corp and Kira, Jed and their friends end up fleeing for
their lives trying to find a safe place to live. They travel to City 36 and
City 9 in vain and must go further afield.
In
the final book, The Gaia Solution, the main characters have ended up
with the Resistance and not only do they have to deal with surviving against
New Corp but an extinction environmental event is looming on the horizon and
they’re running out of time to save what’s left of the human race.
Praise for The Gaia Effect, winner of the 2017 Raven Award for best sci-fi/fantasy book
‘A
story filled with emotion, angst & hope’
‘Brilliant
post-apocalyptic science fantasy’
‘Wonderfully
written, with a warm friendship at its heart’
‘A
fantastic debut novel’
Praise
for The Gaia Project
‘A
fantastic read from start to end’
‘Great
book, thought-provoking read’
‘Mums
are the heroes of the story and it’s the relationships that make it all work’
About the Author
Claire
Buss is a multi-genre author and poet based in the UK. She wanted to be Lois
Lane when she grew up but work experience at her local paper was eye-opening.
Instead, Claire went on to work in a variety of admin roles for over a decade
but never felt quite at home. An avid reader, baker and Pinterest addict Claire
won second place in the Barking and Dagenham Pen to Print writing competition
in 2015 with her debut novel, The Gaia Effect, setting her writing career in
motion. She continues to write passionately and is hopelessly addicted to cake.
Claire
Buss loves cake, Victorian Sponge to be precise. She says it’s a classic cake
but when made well it’s truly scrumptious. She has a wonderful sense of humor
that comes through in her writing and her website.
When she’s
not eating cake, Claire pens award-winning books and poetry, bakes, and dotes
on her two young children. She lives in London with her family.
Now that I’ve introduced you to Claire let’s get to know her a little better.
Hello, Claire, and welcome. Thank you for agreeing to do this interview.
Thank you
for having me.
What
inspired you to be a writer?
I have always loved stories and reading as many books as possible, being transported to other worlds with new people and new possibilities.
I always said I would be a writer but then I did nothing about it until 2015 when I saw a poster in my local library for a free writing workshop. I took the course and entered their writing competition placing second overall with my debut novel, The Gaia Effect.
Is
writing your full-time profession?
I’d love
to say writing is my full-time profession and I certainly do try to write as
much as possible.
But I’m also a stay at home mum to my little boy, Leo (5) and my little girl, Anabelle (1) so my writing time tends to be crammed into small opportunities at random times in the day!
How
long have you been writing?
I’ve always written – funny stories when I was young, angsty poetry as a teenager, a few dabbles with fantasy ideas in my twenties and then actually committing in my thirties.
Have
you won any awards?
The Gaia Effect won the Raven Award for Best Sci-Fi Fantasy Novel in 2017, The Rose Thief won a Golden Squirrel Award for Best Book Cover 2018 and Tales from the Seaside won Reedly’s Top 50 Indie Books of 2018 (it placed 26th overall).
How
many books have you written?
I’ve written two books so far in The Gaia Collection, my hopeful dystopia series – The Gaia Effect (2016) and The Gaia Project (2018). I wrote the first draft for the third book in the series, The Gaia Solution, during NaNoWriMo in November 2018 so hopefully I’ll be editing that later this year.
I’ve written two collections of humorous short stories, Tales from Suburbia (2017) and Tales from the Seaside (2018).
I wrote a humorous fantasy book called The Rose Thief (2017) and I‘m currently working on another book in that world, The Interspecies Poker Tournament.
Then I released a collection of flash fiction called The Blue Serpent and Other Tales available for free when you subscribe to my newsletter.
I also wrote four poetry books last year which will become part of a larger series. So far I’ve got Little Book of Verse, Spring Fling, Summer Dreaming and Spooky Little Book of Verse and I hope to add more in the near future.
I’ve had
two short stories published, Underground Scratchings in Tales from
the Underground from Inklings Press and Patient Datain The
Quantum Soul from the Sci-Fi Roundtable.
Last year,
my fellow author CH Clepitt and I edited and released a Christmas anthology
called the Sparkly Badgers’ Christmas Anthology which also includes our
co-written short story A Badger Christmas Carol.
Which genres do you write?
So far I write hopeful dystopian, humorous fantasy and satire plus the poetry but I‘m sure that will expand!
What do
you find most challenging writing for these genres?
To be
honest, I don’t really think about the genre I’m writing in. I write for the
characters and the story they’re trying to tell. I do read a lot of sci-fi and
fantasy, they are my go-to genre but I do try to read wide as well.
I think
the most challenging thing in any genre is to be wary of tropes and specific
cliches unless of course you are using that to your advantage. The thing with
writing is someone, somewhere is always breaking the ‘rules’.
Sometimes
it works, sometimes it doesn’t but the most important thing is that the writing
feels real to you.
What
are you working on now?
I have just realized that my planned novella, The Interspecies Poker Tournament, doesn’t quite work yet so I need to expand it into a novel. Which isn’t a bad thing except for those readers who are waiting to read it! I’m actually looking forward to getting stuck in and expanding the universe.
Last year,
during NaNoWriMo, I wrote a very rough draft of The Gaia Solution which
will be the third book in my Gaia Collection series and I hope to get
going with the revision later this year.
I’m also planning to release another free book of flash fiction this year, title to be decided!
Where
do you find inspiration for your characters?
I do a lot
of people watching, but not in a creepy way! My characters tend to tell me what
they want to say. I’m a discovery writer so I never know what’s going to happen
until I write it.
I don’t
model my characters on anyone in particular but I think I do get a lot of
inspiration from the people around me. Whilst I don‘t like being the centre of
attention, I quite enjoy being on the sidelines and watching others interact,
it’s great dialogue fodder.
What
has been your most rewarding experience since publishing your work?
I think the most rewarding experience has been when I was in the library and my little boy said ‘Mummy, your book is on the shelf.’ Sure enough it was. He’s so proud of me, that’s a very motivating and humbling experience.
What
advice would you give to authors just starting out?
Just do
it. Cliche I know and you should probably avoid those but if you want to write,
write. Don’t worry too much about genres or tropes or what you should or
shouldn’t be doing.
If you
love writing that’s what you should be doing. There’s a whole host of advice
out there for what you should be doing and how you should be writing. I would
say take the things that make sense to you, leave the things that don’t.
If you try
something and it doesn’t work, that’s alright. You can’t do everything all the
time. The main thing is that you enjoy the writing experience.
Is
there anything else you’d like your readers to know about you?
If you
read one of my books, please post a review. It helps others decide whether they
want to read it or not and that is so important.
I work
really hard to juggle family life and try to keep the writing and marketing
going so I really appreciate knowing that someone has read my book.
I plan to keep writing for lots more years to come, I’ve got lots of ideas, I just need to resist the urge to write them all at once!
What
message are you sharing in your books and poetry?
Friendship,
love, looking after our planet, the importance of family, being a mum, hope and
a healthy dollop of humour.
What
are your favorite books/authors?
The
Wheel of Time series by
Robert Jordan, The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch, the Discworld
novels by Terry Pratchett, everything Robin Hobb has written. I think it’s fair
to say I love fantasy books!
What
are your favorite movies, TV shows?
Oooh I
love this question. Favourite movies are the LOTR and The Hobbit
trilogies, ThePrincess Bride, all the Disney animation movies, Constantine,
The Matrix, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, The Never-Ending Story, Flight
of the Navigator oh I could go on and on and on!
TV shows – I’m a big fan of anything Joss Whedon wrote so Buffy, Angel
and obviously Firefly among his other shows. The dialogue and character
interplay is so good in those shows.
Currently
we are enjoying the Marvel and DC TV shows as well as things like Suits, TheGood Place, Orange is the New Black.
There is
so much choice out there we’ve gotten very behind on shows we used to watch
because there is always something new popping up. I would like to add that I’ve
got two active lists on my iPad – one for TV shows and one for movies so I
don’t forget to watch things that look interesting.
When
you’re not writing where can we find you?
Usually in
the midst of a huge pile of Legos or trains! #mumlife
