They believed Daeios would be a safe haven.

They were wrong.

Fleeing apocalyptic weather, survivalists Shea and her family seek safety deep underground in Daeios. Fear drives them to the shelter as the killer storm worsens. They reach the shelter just before permanent lockdown. Now they’re 140 feet down, protected from the storms to live out their shortened lives until the food runs out and they starve to death. It buys them about a year.

But it soon becomes clear that they’re trapped in a nightmarish existence.

When the Elders who run Daeios announce their plans to breed with all fertile females to repopulate the earth, Shea knows they will force her to breed. She plans to fight off her seed-bearer.

The punishments of the Daeiosians begin, including long periods of total darkness with the Daeios song blaring repetitively. Each time the darkness and music finally stop, several more people are missing. It’s especially clear that the Elders are getting rid of the other men. What happens to the people who disappear into the total darkness of Daeios?

Shea’s time for her breeding arrives. She must make the gut-wrenching decision whether to breed with an elderly, sadistic man and bear his child, or to fight the breeding, knowing that defiance will endanger her life and that of the other Daeiosians. She vows that her family must not vanish into the darkness.

A dystopian thriller with overtones of The Handmaid’s Tale, Shea’s chilling story will appeal to readers with an interest in family and survival.

Contains mature situations and language.

DAEIOS: 140 FEET DOWN is interesting because it takes current world issues such as drug addiction, abortion, climate change, mental health, racial tensions, and other issues and imagines what they could be like in 2034. It’s about a group of people trapped deep in an underground cavern who must abide by the rules set forth by their leaders or be punished. Although it has overtones of The Handmaid’s Tale, both men and women are enjoying this suspenseful dystopian thriller.

“A post-apocalyptic story with…clear echoes of The Handmaid’s Tale.The protagonist, Shea, grows from a hopeful skeptic to a revenge-driven, veritable badass.”
—The BookLife Prize

Targeted Age Group:: Adult

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
First of all, I had told my husband when we were dating that I wanted to write and publish a novel someday. When he proposed to me, he included in the proposal that I should write that book and he would support me 100%. I had no idea that the book would be a dystopian thriller until I came across an article about an underground cavern being turned into a survival shelter. What a perfect place for something to go wrong, when people are trapped deep underground. The current world issues mentioned above gave me plenty of fodder for a dystopian world.

[Read more…] about DAEIOS: 140 FEET DOWN by Colleen Eccles Penor