Publisher sees value in lecturer’s take on life after death
The Australian book industry’s Publisher of the Year is now a contributing cause to what an Avondale lecturer describes as her “incurable disease.”
Historian and academic Lynnette Lounsbury is establishing herself as an engaging and successful writer after the publication by Allen & Unwin of her debut novel, Afterworld.
The young adult fantasy follows Dominic Mathers as he discovers that the end of his life is just the beginning of his journey—one that entails adventure, philosophy, romance, metaphysics and theology. “The characters and world stay with you long after you have finished the book,” says Eva Mills, an associate publisher at Allen & Unwin. Afterworld is unique, she adds, because it “draws on multiple traditions to create a life after death.” This “clever concept” leads readers to “think hard about their own beliefs.”
Living with her parents—both teachers—in Papua New Guinea until the age of eight exposed Lynnette to concepts such as myth and to stories about magic. The novel’s other themes all come from history, which, Lynnette says, is even more interesting “when you mess with it.”
Lynnette used her understanding of religion, belief and myth in the ancient world, a unit in which she lectures at Avondale, and of the so-called global consciousness to construct a world where what happens after death is a compilation of what everyone has ever believed will happen. The aim: to introduce the concept of God—described in Afterworld as “the Awe”—without the secular connotations of Christianity. “I wrote whatever I wanted,” says Lynnette. “I thought, They’ll ask me to cut back on the spirituality, but they never did.” Instead, Allen & Unwin said the theme was important and interesting. “They wanted it included because it’s not appearing in a lot of other novels.”
Lynnette describes Allen & Unwin’s publication process as “relaxed but professional.” “It takes a whole heap of pressure from me. They do the marketing and PR, which means once I’m finished writing, I just let go.”
Editing is different, though. Lynnette says the “extremely rigorous” process improved the plot and her writing, which she now describes as “more precise.”
Lynnette is writing two more novels. One—an allegory of the colonisation of Australia—is for her PhD. The other, tentatively called The Anarchist, is about teenagers rejecting the status quo.
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Gripping story more about life than deathNathan Brown reviews Afterworld
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