Ashes, A Futuristic Science Fiction / Disaster Novel
Ashes is a futuristic science fiction novel about the destruction of planet earth. It's the mid-fifties, and news reporters are broadcasting that the world is slowly and methodically being reduced to ashes. Human and plant life are disappearing from the planet. Who committed such evil? What were their means? Answers come all too soon for three survivors when evil, greed and brutality disrupt the peace they've established on a tranquil Pacific island. A kidnapping triggers a harrowing sea chase to the beautiful island of Kauai in Hawaii, where answers to the survivors' questions are provided in chilling detail. See the video clip below for a video preview of the novel:
Audrey Peyton began writing Ashes in the early ‘70s, and after struggling with three chapters, with only a vague idea of the plot forming in her head, she eventually realized she needed more writing experience. What followed were extension courses in creative writing at the University of California at Irvine (UCI). However, after six years of writing classes, she resurrected the three chapters she had put away in her desk drawer and finished writing ASHES, after which, she managed to acquire a literary agent working with the Swanson Agency on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, Ben Kamsler, a sweet, elderly gentleman who sold the story to highly respected publishers in London, England: Robert Hale, Limited.
An editor there requested Audrey cut several words from the manuscript, with the result that she cut out too many, losing much of the characterization, and after the book was published, she recognized her folly with the finished result. She vowed she would one day rewrite Ashes, and eventually did so:
The yellowing, dog-eared manuscript, after so many moves from one place to another over the years, from the early 1970’s to the 21st century, (2007), is finally rewritten. Peyton resurrected the ageing, (almost-falling-apart manuscript) and rewrote it, fully redeveloping the characters and fleshing out the story and rewriting a more (plausible?) ending, the result being a tighter story and a more original plot.
ASHES IS ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF PLANET Earth, not a pleasant subject, but one which is talked about frequently with the approach of the year 2012 (which is really only a hype carried on the wind and generated by thoughtless, superstitious fear-mongers.) Just how many survivors on Planet Earth is never known in this novel, but by the end of Ashes’ last chapter; there are easily four to five hundred. Though perhaps many hundreds of thousands could have survived in other countries-- OR EVEN MILLIONS could be the eventual figure. In the first two chapters of ASHES, however, only three survivors are introduced to the reader...read the full synopsis here.
