A-R International: Felicity Harley

Felicity Harley
Authors-Readers International

Felicity Harley has been a published writer all her life. She has also pursued a professional career as a non-profit administrator. In order to supplement her interest in publishing and writing, she served for twenty years on the board of Curbstone Press, an internationally recognized indie publishing house, where she was part of a team that made decisions on manuscript development and publication.
In 2013 her work was published in the anthology, Gathered Light – On the Poetry of Joni Mitchell, alongside writers such as Wally Lamb, Kim Addonizio, Fred Wah (Poet Laureate of Canada), Larry Klein, Susan Deer Cloud, Cornelius Eady, and others.
In celebration of the 65th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and on behalf of Poets for Human Rights, Felicity was the winner of the 2013 Anita McAndrews Award.
In 2014 she was commissioned by HartBeat Ensemble to write the play “Transplant”. This was directed in June, 2014 by one of the nation’s 25 premier young directors, Steven Raider Ginsberg.
In 2015 Felicity’s book of short stories Portraits and Landscapes was published.
Currently Felicity is working on a five part science fiction series. The first in the Until This Last series, The Burning Years, was published by Double Dragon Publishing in February 2017.
Felicity lives in Connecticut for 9.5 months of the year, during the remaining 2.5 months, the winter, she lives on Bequia, a small island in the Grenadines.

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And there you have exactly how I met Felicity Harley … we share the same island in the Caribbean! Even though Felicity has had a much longer (life-long, in fact!) association with Bequia, in my nearly 3 decades of visiting and living here, it wasn’t until Felicity contacted me by email that I actually knew she existed. Felicity had very kindly read and reviewed my novel, Island in the Clouds, from the perspective of someone who knows the setting of Bequia very well, and she gave the book an excellent endorsement, for which I am grateful. The very next time Felicity was visiting Bequia we finally met in person and have been great friends ever since! We’ve supported each other in our writing and publishing and have helped to promote each other’s efforts. Felicity even encouraged one of her granddaughters to get into the act, and I was able to ask Nzarah Trimmingham “What are you reading?”, so she could be the first guest on a new blog I had begun writing. (Nzarah and her grandmother were also mentioned in my promotion of Hazel Hutchins for this series!) Felicity Harley and her husband, Chris Hall, will be here soon on Bequia for their annual visit, and I can’t wait! I’m looking forward to time spent talking about books, reading, writing … and perhaps a little political discussion (!) … all while enjoying delicious food in the company of good friends.

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The Burning Years
In the year, 2060, Sophie, a top female scientist, dismantles the government weather modification program and steals the male and female trans-humans who hold the promise of extended life.

While the remaining inhabitants of Earth are forced to design new underground habitats in order to survive a harsh, overheated world, Captain Rachel Chen, takes the worldship Persephone to Proxima Centauri, hoping this new star system will provide a refuge for the survivors of the human race.

              Comments From Advance Readers:

I LOVED this book. Even more than my just “loving it,” though, I feel very strongly that it critically bridges and transcends audiences and the timing is beyond perfect. I believe what you’ve written is incredibly important.

Your science, both current and future, is sound and far-reaching. You tap into so many levels of what’s going on, and what can possibly go on (travel beyond our planet). I really like the “voice” throughout the book, regardless of which scenario you’ve dropped the reader into. All are equally engaging and the character development is even and (almost) clinically objective. I think this will really (also) appeal to a sci-fi audience, which is awesome and very “in line” with today’s readers.

Additionally, I have to admit that I was haunted by your descriptions of the plutocracy and their reckless disregard for the vast majority of living things on Earth. What OTHER possible explanation can there even BE than yours (that they consider everyone but themselves to be “takers”)? Your descriptions of the political elite align perfectly with real-time scenes playing out across America right now.

The mix and “balance” of gloom and despair vs. incredible scientific achievements removed what might have become an almost claustrophobic effect. Example: The US population goes from 318 million to 10 million VS Rachel’s living, breathing personal space on Persephone which made me think of the vividness and aching beauty of the forests in the movie, “Avatar.” Very hard to achieve this effect.

“Here’s a fiction that’s not afraid to tackle some of the biggest topics of our time.”

                ~ Bill McKibben, author, The End of Nature and numerous environmental books, and founder of 350.org

                          

Felicity Harley is currently preparing the second novel in the Until This Last series for publication. Two of Felicity’s publications are available to be purchased in print and as eBooks from Amazon.

Felicity maintains a blog titled The Shammuramat (and has faithfully been reblogging every single author promotion I’ve already published in this series!). She is also a contributor to Medium.

Felicity Harley has been a guest on my blog, Reading Recommendations, in Mar. 2015, before we met, then again in Feb. 2017, after we had met. She also wrote a guest blog post for this blog.