411 on Books, Authors & Publishing

“The Unity Game” is science fiction with philosophy

WHAT IF THE EARTH YOU KNEW WAS JUST THE BEGINNING?

A New York banker is descending into madness.

A being from an advanced civilization is racing to stay alive.

A dead man must unlock the secrets of an unknown dimension to save his loved ones.

From the visions of Socrates in ancient Athens, to the birth of free will aboard a spaceship headed to Earth, The Unity Game tells a story of hope and redemption in a universe more ingenious and surprising than you ever thought possible.

Metaphysical thriller and interstellar mystery, this is a ‘complex, ambitious and thought-provoking novel’ from an exciting and original new voice in fiction.

Goodreads * Amazon

Reviews for The Unity Game

 “A complex, ambitious and thought-provoking novel.” ~~ Kirkus Reviews

“Elegantly written, expertly crafted and a moving message. I found this book very hard to put down. Moving and poignant.” ~~ Lilly, Amazon US reviewer

“An engrossing, unique, and totally bizarre tale! I could not stop reading it once I started. Such a beautiful take on the afterlife, and its connection to those still living. A unity game, indeed!”~~ Brenna, Goodreads reviewer

About the Author

Leonora Meriel grew up in London and studied literature at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and Queen’s University in Canada. She worked at the United Nations in New York, and then for a multinational law firm.

In 2003 she moved from New York to Kyiv, where she founded and managed Ukraine’s largest Internet company. She studied at Kyiv Mohyla Business School and earned an MBA, which included a study trip around China and Taiwan, and climbing to the top of Hoverla, Ukraine’s highest peak and part of the Carpathian Mountains. She also served as President of the International Women’s Club of Kyiv, a major local charity.

During her years in Ukraine, she learned to speak Ukrainian and Russian, witnessed two revolutions and got to know an extraordinary country at a key period of its development.

In 2008, she decided to return to her dream of being a writer, and to dedicate her career to literature. In 2011, she completed The Woman Behind the Waterfall, set in a village in western Ukraine. While her first novel was with a London agent, Leonora completed her second novel The Unity Game, set in New York City and on a distant planet.

Leonora currently lives in Barcelona and London and has two children. She is working on her third novel.

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The Joy of Stories

By Leonora Meriel

I am the author of two novels. They are unusual, strange novels that cross genres and confuse poetry with prose. They have complicated plots and characters both alive and dead. I had dreamed of being a writer since I can remember, and writing and sharing my novels has made me incredibly happy.

I studied literature at university, and read widely. I studied the movements and ages of literature. I studied medieval literature and American literature. I read the Russian greats and novels from as many countries as I could find. I understood what a novel was and what a writer was. It was someone who dedicated their lives to the pursuit of excellence in literature. It was someone who I planned to be.

For one reason or another, I ended up self-publishing my first two novels. My agent couldn’t sell them, and truthfully, they are a bit strange for the mainstream. Thus I entered into the wonderful world of indie books and indie publishing. There was a lot of information to absorb, but one of the first things I learned was how helpful and generous other indie writers are. They genuinely enjoy supporting each other and sharing knowledge and practices. It’s a lovely thing.

I started to make friends in the indie community and joined some reading groups where we championed each other’s work. I also joined Twitter and was astonished by how many writers there were tweeting, writing, reading, editing – all in the throes of a book or a series. The deeper I got into my indie adventure the more extraordinary I found it. At university I had learned about the canon of literature – books carefully chosen as the best of the best. But here – there was everything! Every possible kind of short story, novel, series, plot twist, character, sexual adventure, thrilling ride, unlikely planet, belief system … and so much more. Here were literally millions of people around the planet burning with ideas and frantically writing those stories and sharing them with the world. To me – this is the most inspiring thing I could possibly have witnessed. As the news is going crazy around us with politics and instability, here are thousands upon thousands of human beings creating worlds, writing tales, imagining possibilities. It is the most pervasive evidence of the greatness of the human character that I have ever seen. Our planet is simply bubbling with the magma of these stories – and more are being created at every moment. While I have been writing this blog post – probably a hundred indie books have been published. And each one of those books will bring some kind of positive emotion, pleasure, laughter, excitement, inspiration or even frustration to someone over its lifetime.

I am not arguing that these books are “good” if you examine them from the sterile point of view of the canons of literature (usually white male writers, by the way, with a very few exceptions). Some of the books are written dreadfully. Some are full of typos. Some are begging for an editor. And a lot of them are excellent and should be read the world over.

When I observe the literary establishment of traditional publishers, book journals, newspapers with review sections, with their few hundred highly lauded novels (and a few thousand rubbish money-making commercial novels as well) it seems as if they are in an altogether different time. Clinging on to a cold, high chamber while there is a glorious, wildly-colorful festival of creativity going on all around the planet, in every part except where they are. And this festival has representatives of all the people whose voices should be heard – genders, colors, races, sexualities – there are no gatekeepers. And this is the party that I am proud to be at and one where I feel really happy and at home.

This flow of creativity gives me enormous hope for our future as humans. Whatever inconceivable madness is happening at the start of this century, I now do not doubt that we have the imagination to think of something new – a different way of being and interacting.

So go out there – read some indie novels. There may be commas missing. Or they may be impeccably edited. You might find the plot predictable. Or you might find it’s the most exciting genre-bending work you’ve ever read. Personally – it gives me an enormous joy that the human spirit is, without a doubt, creative at its very core. And so far as reading – I always liked taking a risk.

So join me in picking up an indie book, and don’t forget to write a review to share the love.

Thank you for reading.