Stories

Solitaire puts her Masters degrees in both Sustainability and Shakespeare to good use in her fiction and poetry.

Godstorm

In a petrol-fuelled Roman Empire which never fell, Arrow, a gladiatrix turned governess must rescue the orphan she has loved as her own, a girl who could tear down the world.

“Mothers who have come before. Daughters who have died in blood. Sons lost to the dark. Hear me!”

When Livy is abducted during a devastating Godstorm, Arrow must unleash years of the gladiator training she’d sworn to forget, to save her. Defying her owner, a heartless Consul, Arrow turns to her ex-lover and the illegal druid underworld in a desperate attempt to rescue the girl she has come to think of as her own. Her search will take her across Londinium, a city of petrol-powered chariots, to the pagan Old Town, then across the seas to the Amazon – all underneath the increasingly violent storms raging above. But finding Livy isn’t the same as saving her. Facing battle and betrayal, Arrow must confront her past to ensure her future and help Livy discover her true destiny.

FAQ: Why did you write Godstorm?

People often sadly assure me, ‘We can’t just stop using fossil fuels, so the climate’s doomed.’ But that sentiment is equally as hilarious as it is absurd, because the solutions are abundant. We’re especially lucky to have invented cheap renewable energy. We’re also blessed with genius scientists explaining exactly what we need to do and why.

My irritation with climate doomism inspired me to imagine a world with less luck than ours. One in which petrol is the only energy and even electricity is unknown. Made worse by extreme weather being blamed on angry gods rather than understood by science. Now, that’s a challenge for an optimist like me!