The Fortress, Book 1
A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller
Date Published: August 29, 2023
We are the fortress, and the fortress is us.
Sim was a teacher in his old life. Now he's the savior of orphans.
He isn't their father. God knows he has already failed in that role. But he is their guide. And the kids? They are his penance. His redemption.
For three years Sim has prepared his orphans for the hard realities of life after the plague that wiped out most of the global population. Theirs is a life without laws or creature comforts. He has trained them to forage and grow their own food, to be vigilant, and to protect themselves and each other by any means necessary. In building a fortress of brick and mortar, they've become a fortress of flesh and blood.
These allegiances and ideals are put to the test when a man named Zagan, who believes himself to be on a mission for the devil to bring about the destruction of civilization's remains, gathers hundreds of marauders and confronts Sim and his orphans in a merciless siege.
Will the fortress hold... Or will it collapse under the pressure of evil?
Introduce yourself and tell me about what you do.
Thomas Styles. I am a twelve year veteran of public school teaching and fifteen years ago created a childcare business, TSL Adventures, which offers dynamic daycare programs, summer camp programs, and before and after school programs for children ages infant through twelve years old. Serving 1000 kids a day. I am owner and CEO and it keeps me busy. I'm an indy writer, and world travler with two grown children.
Tell me more about your journey as an author, including the writing processes.
My joruney started at 13 when I penned (literally) my first book in a five subject notebook. I still have it to this day. I continued writing for many years after, and prior to starting my own childcare business and raising kids, I wrote a lot of middle grade and YA novels. Many of them I lost in moves and such, which was hearrbreaking. I published lots of articles in those days for local magazines and was really pushing to be published. Alas, TSL Adventures and raising two kids pushed writing to the back burner and only recently have I picked it back up where I left off, now writing adult fiction, typically centered around family drama and intermingled with a bit of fantasy. Ground adult fiction fantasy. I wrote the Fortress series and published it on Amazon and have another series, Shift, ready to launch. Two other drafts as well ready to go. I write prolifically. My goal is to publish several books a year and see my press, Transcendence, grow with all my books. My writing process involves turning my ideas into full length novels. I do not outline or plan ahead. My stories build on themselves as I write quite naturally and very rarely get stuck. I rely on beta readers and DE's to see the stories evolve to the end point.
Tell me about your Book
The Fortress built on my love of being a kid in the eighties (Rambo, GIJoe, War) so created a book that involes kids going to war. I am a big fan of kids and have a large respect for their capabilities and resilience, especially under the leadership of a caring and loving adult. In this story a man with a broken past takes lost children of the apocalypse in and trains them to surive but also how to love and be a family. The heart of the story is the Fortress family, with lots of amazing kids. I worked with kids my whole life so I write them very well. I love to talk about the importance of the family values, the resilence of children, and the reality that kids now and espeically in the apocalypse do not always live fairy tale lives. They cry, bleed and die, and sometimes have a choice in that. Their are stories from Gavroche and Agu of Beasts of No Nation about children being trained soldiers so there is a little of this notion as well to speak of. When do we run and when do we stay and defend our honor and fight, even to the death. An adult or child can have a choice in this and in The Fortress, they certainly do.
About the Author
T.A. Styles earned his B.S. in Elementary Education and Mathematics and his M.S. in Developmental Reading. He taught in elementary and junior high schools for twelve years before launching his own childcare enterprise, TSL Kids Crew, which he has operated since 2009. He has had a passion for writing stories since he was a teenager, as it was a hobby and skill for which he realized at a young age he had a knack for and loved. He has two grown children and has traveled extensively including to Iceland, Australia, Greece, Italy, South America, and many other places nationally and internationally.
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