Authorpreneur Dashboard – Deirdre Gould
After the Cure
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Eight years ago the December Plague swept through the human population of earth. The Infected were driven mad by the disease, becoming violent and cannibalistic, killing even those closest to them without hesitation. Six years ago, the tiny surviving community of Immune humans found a cure, and the Infected began to wake up and realize what they'd done. And what had been done to them. Over time, society began to rebuild itself. Now it is ready to judge those responsible for the Plague. Nella Rider, the court psychologist and Frank Courtlen a defense attorney are trying to establish the truth. But more depends on it than they know. They race to find the answers they need before the fragile remains of humanity vanish for good.
Book Bubbles from After the Cure
Who are the good guys?
I wanted to highlight that no one in this world was innocent. They'd all done terrible things, some to survive, some because there was nobody around to stop them. The overarching question is if you have done something terrible, even if you had good reasons or it was an accident or out of your control, are you still a good person? Can you ever become a good person after doing those things? Can you ever find redemption, not in any religious sense, but in the sense of living with yourself and your neighbors?
Waking up at the end of the world
I thought about starting this story much later, where the main narration starts, six years after the Cure. But I thought it was important to show just how damaged both sides were. One one hand you have a ragged band of immune people, they've been through the wringer and they know they are the only people left. They know they're alone. On the other, you have the Cured, who are just returning to sanity and realize the gravity of what they each have done and the emptiness of the world they are waking up in. So, I added the prologue.
The Cured
Literature & Fiction
Henry spent eight years chained to a post. Exposed, starved, infected with the December Plague, and mad. During those eight years, the December Plague consumed most of the world's human population, causing the infected to become violent and cannibalistic. But Henry escaped. And now he's been Cured. He vividly remembers what has been done to him and others. He can also recall the terrible things he did while he was infected. He and his fellow survivors face a world unlike anything they knew before. They are weak, lost and completely alone. Now released from both the madness of the Plague and the cruelty of their captors, they must decide which is more important: survival or revenge. The Cured is a standalone novel in the world of After the Cure.
Book Bubbles from The Cured
Waking Up
In the previous book in this series, After the Cure, we see the world through the eyes of someone that is immune to the plague. In The Cured, I really wanted the reader to experience what the Infected had gone through without it being super gory, which a blow by blow account would have been. The most shocking part of their illness was not what they actually did, because they weren't in control. For the Infected, the worst part was waking up and realizing what had happened and their own responsibility in it. So I chose this moment as the "real" beginning for Henry's character, it's what launches him into everything else that happens. In fact, this scene was the first one written in the entire book, before I'd even decided who these people were.
