I want to welcome L.E. Fitzpatrick to Novel
November. She is the author of a fantasy series called Dark Waters and
The Running Game (Reachers). She is currently working on more
Reacher novels and short stories.
Me: I've got to ask
- What inspired the idea for The Running Game (Reachers)
Fitzpatrick: I'm a big fan of
fantasy and sci-fi and after spending a number of years writing my fantasy
series Dark Waters I really wanted a break and to do something totally different.
I've always had an interest in Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany and the plight of
the people who were caught in such oppressive regimes, especially when both
movements were so different and yet ultimately had such a disregard for
humanity. Basically when we are at our most vulnerable as a society we turn to
drastic measures, which is something which is happening in Greece and even in Britain
I started to think about what would happen
if poverty in Britain
The "prey" in the case of The
Running Game are the Reachers - a different breed of humans that have some
psychic ability. They are hunted down, experimented on and exterminated. The
Running Game is a story about two Reachers who happen to cross paths.
Me: That's
really intriguing. So, can you share a little about the main characters?
Fitzpatrick: Rachel
was raised in a convent after her father was executed. She's a Reacher hiding
out in the shanty town surrounding London
Charlie used his Reacher talents to get
anything for anyone, but then his wife was murdered, his Reacher daughter taken. Now he's an addict, dependent
on his brother to keep them afloat. He is hired to find Rachel, but when he
realises she's a Reacher he is compelled to do everything he can to help her
while at the same time rediscovering who he once was and what he can still do.
Excerpt:
Five past eleven. Rachel’s shift should have
finished three hours ago. She slammed her time-card into the machine. Nothing.
She gave it a kick, then another until it released, punching her card and
signing her out for the night. The hospital locker room was unusually quiet.
There was a nurse signing out for the night, two doctors signing in. Nobody
spoke to each other – it wasn’t that kind of place. Grabbing her threadbare
coat from her locker, she drew it over her scrubs – the only barrier between
her and the unforgiving October night. She walked through the ER waiting room,
eyes fixed on the exit. You had to ignore the desperation. Three hours over a
twelve hour shift, you had no choice but to pretend like you didn’t care. Push
past the mothers offering up their sick children like you could just lay your
hands on them and everything would be better. Push past the factory workers
bleeding out on the floor. Push that door open and get out. Get home. You had
to. In six hours the whole thing would start again.
The first blast of cold air
slapped the life into her aching body. The second blast nearly pushed her back
inside. She tightened the coat around herself, for the good it would do.
November was coming, and coming fast. She quickened her pace, trying to outrun
the winter.
She hurried past the skeletal
remains of another fallen bank, a relic of the days when there had been an
economy. Now the abandoned building housed those left to the streets; the too
old, the too young, the weak, the stupid. Cops would be coming soon, moving
them on, pushing them from one shadow to another until dawn or death, whichever
came first. But for now they sat, huddled around burning canisters, silently
soaking in the heat as though they could carry that one flame through winter.
They didn’t notice Rachel. Even the really bad men lurking in the doorways,
waiting for helpless things to scurry past, overlooked the young doctor as she
made her way home. Nobody ever saw her. At least they never used to.
If you enjoyed the excerpt, you can continue reading by visiting the purchase links below:
Check out The Running Game on Goodreads:
Follow the author on her blog:
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