February 1, 2025 • 33 mins
In this episode of the Christian Book Blurb podcast, host Matt McCleary interviews author Lydia Jenkins about her dystopian fiction series, 'Son of Endless Days.' They discuss the themes of worthiness, authenticity, and the Christian worldview within the genre. Jenkins shares insights on how dystopian fiction can serve as a tool for exploring faith and societal issues, as well as her personal journey as a writer. The conversation also touches on the challenges of navigating faith in a non-Christian world and the importance of presenting alternative belief systems.
Links
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Visit Matt McChlery's website mattmcchlery.com
Visit Lydia Jenkin's website lgjenkins.com
Takeaways
- 'Son of Endless Days' is the first in a dystopian series.
- Dystopian fiction often reflects societal warnings.
- Christian principles can be woven into dystopian narratives.
- Authenticity in relationships is crucial for connection.
- Themes of worthiness and societal acceptance are explored.
- The guiding light represents an alternative belief system.
- Navigating faith can be challenging in a secular world.
- Personal experiences shape the writing process.
- Exploring different genres can enhance storytelling.
- Future projects may include contemporary themes and personal experiences.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Author 01:06 Exploring 'Son of Endless Days' and Dystopian Fiction 04:15 Dystopian Fiction and Christian Worldview 10:10 Truth, Lies, and Authenticity in Relationships 12:41 Themes of Worthiness and Outcasts 15:40 The Guiding Light: An Alternative Belief System 19:27 Navigating Faith in a Non-Christian World 22:11 Getting to Know the Author 28:51 Future Projects and Closing Thoughts
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is Christian Book Blurb brought to you by author and songwriter, Matt McChlery.
Get a behind the scenes glimpse into the lives of some of your favourite Christianauthors.
Hear about their books and faith.
Also, why not check out my website, mattmcleary.com.
Hello and welcome to this edition of the Christian Book Blurb podcast where we like toencourage you in your discipleship one book at a time as we meet some amazing Christian
(00:28):
authors and learn about their books.
their lives and their faith.
Well, thank you for clicking over here today.
I'm your host, Matt McChlery, and it's great to be with you.
Now on today's show, I'm going to be speaking with the author, Jenkins, all about her newbook, The Son of Endless Days.
(00:49):
So Lydia, hello and welcome to the podcast.
Hi Matt, thank you very much for having me on.
Now you've written a novel, Son of Endless Days, and it's the first of a series, Ibelieve.
What can you tell us about it?
Yeah, so Son of Endless Days is the first of dystopian fiction series called The MeritHunter series, which is set in a city called Chulo, which is built on a meritocracy.
(01:18):
So only the productive are rewarded with merit points.
And it follows AJ and Jenny, who are a young couple in their twenties, both trying to makeit to the top of society.
But each of them have secrets that threaten their relationship and all of their ambitions.
Hmm interesting and I know it's part of a series Do we know yet how many books there willbe in this series?
(01:44):
Yes, so it's a four part series.
I've actually published the first three already.
So I did a bit of a, I originally published them the first two a couple of years ago andthen I relaunched them all last year with new branding and new titles.
And so I've been working on making sure that's consistent in my marketing and the olderstuff is gone.
(02:07):
yeah, so the first three are already out there and I'm currently working on the fourth.
Yep.
And this is the first book, so it's a great way to get into the story and the world andeverything else.
So it's a fictional novel.
And as you've already said, it's part of the dystopian genre.
Now for some of our listeners, they hear that and either, you know, they might not knowwhat it is.
(02:30):
Or if they do, they might be a bit scared by the word because it sounds a bit weird.
So what is dystopian fiction?
So dystopian fiction is usually set in a futuristic world where some sort of disaster hashappened.
It might be a climate disaster, it might be an overthrow of governmental power, but themain feature of dystopian fiction is that there's an oppressive system over society.
(02:59):
And so that then lends itself to quite dark environments, quite...
totalitarian environments.
original, people call the original dystopia sort of brave new world and 1984 by GeorgeOrwell, but they were actually inspired by a Russian novel called We, whose authors name I
(03:21):
forget and can't pronounce.
But they originally served as being a warning to society.
So,
hey guys, if we carry on along this track, this is where we're gonna end up.
So for example, 1984 is very much speaking into the suppression of individual expressionand how if we continue with this industrialization and all of this use of technology,
(03:48):
we're all gonna end up the same.
That was sort of some of George Orwell's thinking.
yeah, dystopian fiction sort of then evolved with the likes of the Hunger Games and TheGiver.
into a lot of young adult stories, which is looking at teenage self-expression.
But fundamentally dystopian fiction is set in quite a dark environment and serves as awarning to society.
(04:15):
And with all that sort of in background, and you've mentioned some other books, likeHunger Games and such like, they're not Christian in their worldview.
Yours is, I get hints of it in the first book.
I have to keep reading to find the story to unfold more.
(04:38):
But how does the genre kind of fit with a
Christian worldview, how can Christian writers use dystopian fiction?
How can they use it as a tool to tell people about God and Jesus and...
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, as I sort of developed as a writer and a reader as well, I've read a lot ofdystopian books that very much present Christian principles and Christian values.
(05:11):
And the way that the dystopian genre is quite a dark environment lends itself to show toshow goodness and light and using, you know, those contrasting images and contrasting
ideas.
And I think going back to the idea of a dystopian book serving as a warning or serving asa tool to express a particular thought about an area, that lends itself really well.
(05:38):
So for example, with my books, it's very much focusing on things such as having yourcareer as an idol, seeking external validation.
And so the genre allows me to say to readers, hey, let's not.
put all of our worth into the work that we do or what others think about us, becauseactually our worth is so much more than that.
(06:01):
And so, you know, we, that's very similar to, I'm sure you know, Liz Carter, who's alsowritten a dystopian trilogy, which begins with Repression Ground.
And that's a very similar idea around our worth in God rather than our worth in materialor worldly things.
(06:21):
And so the dystopian genre just...
allows us as authors present a Christian way of looking at things.
Do you think presenting it in a fictional way and in this kind of other world, as it were,because it's sort of this world, but it isn't, it's kind of removed from our world in a
(06:43):
way.
Although it really reflects our world a lot.
It's kind of dials up the, I don't know, the darkness has dialed up, but the light's alsodialed up to give you those contrasts.
But do think it creates a safer space, do you think, to discuss and explore some of thesethings, whereas other genres might not?
(07:06):
Yeah, I think so.
think it allows us to discuss characters who are, as you say, very removed from ourimmediate setting and who are in scenarios that we probably wouldn't find ourselves in.
For example, the characters in my stories, take a drug called skip sleep, whicheffectively allows them to skip sleep.
(07:31):
and so they've got more hours in the day to continue working.
Now we don't necessarily have anything like that other than perhaps coffee and energy.
So it's a little bit removed, but we can relate.
And I think you're right.
does having the characters who aren't necessarily in the same environment exactly thatwe're in.
(07:55):
allows people to open their minds a little bit more and actually think, okay, well, if Iwas in that world and I was in that situation, how would I act?
And it was really interesting because I've had quite a few comments from people about AJ,who is the main character, and how they don't like him.
(08:15):
And I always respond with, it's kind of a little bit of the point.
I understand that obviously when you're reading a novel, you want to connect to thecharacter in order to root for them and that sort of thing.
But actually we get lot of AJ's in a monologue and we hear a lot of his ugliness and thethings that he maybe thinks about other people and thinks about himself.
(08:37):
And actually it challenges us to think, yeah, I have those thoughts sometimes.
And you see it without your own emotion connected.
I don't know if that makes sense, but yeah, that's been quite an interesting response.
Yeah.
And you deal with other things in the book as well.
like, well, as you say, success, chasing success and also sort of being wanting to beliked, but it's, it's not being liked for who you are.
(09:03):
It's like a superficial thing.
we see it in our lives with social media and you know, you're chasing, you're chasing thelikes or how many followers do I have on whatever platform it is?
they have a similar system, but, the implications of it are a lot more severe and drasticthan ours, which is just some likes on.
on Facebook or whatever.
(09:25):
But yet some people still really place their value in their self-worth in that and gochasing after it and success.
Yeah, I know it's a tricky one, but it is.
It's some of those narratives that run through life today that are kind of explored, whichI find very interesting.
(09:48):
So your main character, as you said, his name is AJ.
And in your...
novel Son of Endless Days, it becomes apparent that he's not being truthful.
What's your take on truth and lies?
And is there such thing as a white lie?
Or without giving the plot away, how has telling lies affected AJ?
(10:10):
Yeah, gosh, philosophical question of a white lie.
Probably not.
I think anytime that you're not being authentic is a lie, is a lie, is a lie, right?
And the lies that AJ tells in the novel, and obviously I don't want to, as you say, go toomuch into it, actually means that many of the relationships he has or he believes he has,
(10:41):
are inauthentic, are based on something that is not real.
And in the subsequent books, you see how that has knock-on effects into the lives of otherpeople, such as his girlfriend and his grandma, into his best friends.
So there's just a whole series of events that unravel with his lies.
(11:08):
And it starts from something
quite understandable actually from when he was a child, a very simple desire of wanting tobe worthy, which in this society, everybody wants.
So it starts from that simple desire, but then in order to get there, he tells a lie andthen he needs to tell another lie.
(11:31):
And yeah, you get the idea.
just dominos really.
And so it's been a really interesting way
especially over a series of books to see the different characters reacting to AJ's actionsand how they feel about him and their own development in looking towards forgiveness or
(11:54):
not forgiving him.
So yeah, it's been a really interesting journey.
And some of the, think unintentionally, I don't think you set out to explore some of this.
Maybe you did.
But for me anyway, reading it, I kept catching myself thinking about thoughts aroundimmigration and also like refugees.
(12:21):
Because AJ is kind of in that in between transitionary.
kind of place.
And you can kind of see some of the desperate choices people make in those situations inthe character himself.
so, yeah, it was...
It was interesting.
(12:42):
that's really interesting.
I, there's definitely a whole theme going on about outcasts from, like from a particularsociety, city, country, whatever.
and how do we treat people who are not one of us in inverted commas and how do we treatpeople who believe different things to us and like how
(13:10):
Do we cut them out?
How do we, yeah, you're right.
It does explore those sorts of things.
And actually, while the sort of outcasts in my books kind of represent people of faith,really, it's also a challenge on all of us for different viewpoints, different, how can we
(13:35):
be loving towards each other rather than...
oppressive or repressive really.
And your novel centers around, as you've said, the idea of those who are deemed worthy orunworthy, the sort of those who are accepted and those who are outcast.
Your book doesn't really go into this in much detail.
(13:57):
It might do later.
I've only read the first one.
But because you've been writing about this and exploring it, I'm sure you've got somethoughts on, what does it mean to be worthy and not necessarily in your created world?
But in our world today, in our lives, how does knowing God and what God thinks of us, howis that, how is worthiness supposed to work?
(14:22):
Yeah, I mean, fundamentally where I've got to, sort of writing these books has been my wayof exploring this and my way of with God battling a bit with what does this actually mean,
you know?
And ultimately the point I've got to is that none of us are worthy.
We've all fallen short of the glory of God.
(14:44):
And so.
any worthiness that we have all comes by God's grace and all comes through what Jesus didrather than what we do and so it's actually not chasing towards career, chasing towards
the opinions of other people, towards success for our salvation but it's just him, it'sjust him it is not about even what he might give us but actually getting to know
(15:16):
Him and through that relationship, through our belief in Jesus, actually, that means we'reworthy.
And that's just like such an incredible truth because we were never worthy in the firstplace, you know?
So, and it's sort of recognizing how much grace we have been given and therefore thenextending that grace to other people as well.
(15:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Coming, coming back to your, your novel.
where I'm up to in the series, the first book, I've said, Son of Endless Days, you startto give hints at an alternative path to the one that everyone's aspiring to in Tula City
(16:00):
and they, you know, wanting success and fame and everything else and are skipping sleep totry and achieve it all and have it all.
But there's this alternative belief system that's kind of...
had this undercurrents and it pops up every now and then in some unexpected places withunexpected, unassuming people.
(16:22):
The name given to it in your novel is the guiding light who teaches this different path.
So why do you think it's important to present an alternative belief system likeChristianity or something similar to it in your novels?
Yeah, well, it's just showing that contrast and actually showing a contrast in terms ofhow people live and how those characters then have a different perspective and actually
(16:56):
how they live their lives is much smoother and much, but not perfect.
think that was the thing I was trying to get across was.
this alternative way doesn't mean that everything goes well, because it really, reallydoesn't.
And in BookTube in particular, you see that a lot more because we get a lot more of theside, which is the sort of outcast community and how they live, but also that they do work
(17:29):
really hard.
So.
command the government in Chulo have sort of suggested that those who follow the guidinglight are lazy and unproductive and they believe in constantly resting and not doing
anything.
And you see that very quickly.
That is not true.
And so what I didn't want to get across is that, you know, if you believe in Jesus, youdon't have to do a day of work in your life.
(17:52):
That's absolutely not true.
Work is great.
Work is good.
It's a calling from God.
but yeah, it's
It's allowing people to think a little bit by seeing those characters and seeing thatdifferent way and thinking, well, actually, what values do I want to have in my life?
What way do I want to approach work?
How do I want to connect with other people?
(18:16):
Where do relationships sit in terms of my priorities in my life?
So yeah, it's been a really cool way for me to figure that out for myself.
and figure that out for my relationship in God.
Like how do you see this God?
How do you see the way I approach my work?
(18:37):
How do you see the way I approach my marriage?
And actually using the way God has used my fiction to teach me that is just an amazingthing because his ways are clearly not our ways, because I wouldn't have thought of that.
Like how can I figure this out?
write a whole dystopian book series.
Like, yeah.
(18:59):
That's really good.
So as Christians, we may feel like some of your characters on the side, we might feelpushed aside or even shunned sometimes for the beliefs that we have, or we feel like the
odd ones out because everyone else is believing something else and we, we're the weirdones because we believe something different.
(19:27):
So like some of the characters in your book, we might feel what we want to hide ourbeliefs in order to fit in.
What's your advice for those who might be experiencing this kind of situation?
Yeah, I mean, I've been there, I still am there a lot of the time.
(19:49):
There can be a real fear in certain scenarios of expressing your faith and therefore thenbeing outcast for it.
But in my experience actually, I found that assumptions I have made about certain peoplehave been completely wrong.
(20:11):
in the sense of, they're gonna react like this if they know I'm a Christian or they'regonna do this.
And actually, I recognize that a lot of my fear came from my judgments, you know?
So what is trying to figure out whether that fear is actually based on your own judgmentsof somebody else, first and foremost.
(20:33):
And then also just like praying, like praying for people.
praying that God will cover you, praying that actually if you do face negativity to holdGod's opinion of you and the opinion of those closest to you highest, because you are
gonna have people who disagree with you.
(20:55):
If that's anything I've learned in my 20s actually, is that not everyone's gonna like you.
And actually there's aspects of that where you take a situation,
pray through it.
See what God and the Holy Spirit are saying about that situation where you might need tomake adjustments.
(21:17):
And other than that, then cover that other person in prayer is how I'd say.
Pray for those who persecute you.
Good advice.
Thank you.
So we've been chatting with Lydia Jenkins about her novel Son of Endless Days, which isthe first in a part of a four book series.
We're to be back just after these, chatting more with Lydia, more about her faith and herlife.
(21:42):
So stay tuned.
If you enjoy listening to this podcast, you can help keep it on the web.
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Head over to buymeacoffee.com slash Matt McCleary to make a donation.
There is a link in this episode's show notes.
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(22:11):
Hello, welcome back to the Christian Book Blur podcast where we've been chatting withauthor Lydia Jenkins all about her book, Son of Endless Days, a dystopian fiction novel
that's well worth a read.
So do go and check it out.
Now, Lydia, this part of the show, we like to get to know the author a little bit.
(22:31):
So what do you like to do for fun?
For fun, I play netball once a week.
So I've done that since I was about 10 years old.
Are you part of a club or are you in a league or?
Yes.
And yes, well, we're a bit amateur really.
Like we don't train or anything.
(22:52):
just turn up on a Monday night and play netball, but we are in a league.
Yeah.
We've been up and down the last couple of years, know, promoted, demoted, bit of a yo-yoteam.
Okay.
It affect how much sponsorship you get like football or not quite.
(23:14):
Yeah, there's not much of that going on.
So yeah, I like playing netball and I love to read as a writer and just spending time withfamily and friends and I adore traveling.
Absolutely love exploring new places.
Where's one of the best places you've visited?
(23:36):
New Zealand, by a long way actually.
Just because of the landscape or because Lord of the Rings was filmed there?
What are your reasons?
No, yeah, the landscape.
We went out there two years ago and we hired a camper van and drove around the SouthIsland.
And it was just sensational.
(23:58):
mean, you're sort of driving along.
One minute you feel like you're in Scotland, the next you feel like you're in Australia.
I mean, it's just absolutely breathtaking.
you know, some of the landscapes are very similar to Canada, but it's also concentratedbecause it's smaller country.
yeah.
And I think really I say New Zealand because I might not never go back.
(24:20):
You know, it's kind of like a once in a lifetime thing.
it's a really long way.
Really is.
And for those who listening, and you might even be in New Zealand listening to thisthinking, what, what is it a long way?
It's because we both live in the UK.
So it's quite a long distance for us, but it's a beautiful place.
(24:41):
Wonderful.
Um, do you have other jobs, other pursuits that you do other than writing or is writing,and I know, and I know you, you're a bit famous on TikTok as well.
Is that all you do?
I think famous might be a bit of a strong word, but I'll take it.
Yes, maybe.
(25:03):
Yeah, I mean, I do do social media content more around my writing and my books.
I'm particularly focusing on people in their 20s.
So that's really who my book was for when I was writing them is that like, actually, your20s are a very uncertain time of your life.
And there's loads going on there that a lot of people don't.
(25:23):
talk about, so it's sort of my entry into that sort of space.
I also work for a small publishing house two days a week, and I work for my church aswell, so I do have a different portfolio of things going on, and I do editing and
proofreading with other authors as well.
(25:44):
So it really feels like God's pointing me towards the publishing world.
Where that's going to go in terms of how I can empower other authors, I don't know yet,but that is something that I would love to do.
And also continuing to write books for people in their 20s would be great.
Maybe not all dystopian ones, more contemporary commercial ones about 20 somethingcharacters experiencing different things.
(26:12):
So I lost my mum last year and actually I'd love to write.
a book about losing a parent in your twenties and what that means for how you feel aboutthe future and all of that.
So yeah, there's a lot of ideas going around.
Which ones I'll pursue I don't know yet.
(26:33):
So it's all in God's hands, as much as I tried to take it out of his hands.
Yeah.
Have you got any favorite things to eat?
are things to eat?
I love Thai food.
they do Thai food in New Zealand.
Now that would be, that would be good.
(26:55):
I don't think I had any Thai food in New Zealand, but I'm sure they have Thai food.
had lots of Thai food in Thailand.
Yes, yeah, they do.
But it's really funny because like, if you think of a Thai dish, you'd think of like PadThai or you'd think of Massaman curry.
(27:16):
You go out to Thailand and Thai locals do not eat that.
That is like westernized.
I was going say it's like Chinese or sort of Indian dishes that, know, they invent, didn'tthey invent Vindaloo in Manchester or something?
And it's not even a thing in India.
Tikka Masala was Glasgow or something, wasn't it?
(27:38):
Right.
there we go.
There's a new novel for a dystopian book.
Weird food that doesn't quite fit in anywhere.
Anyway, maybe not.
Have you got any family at all?
I don't have children, if that's what you mean.
No children yet.
(27:58):
Yet is the keyword, hopefully in the future.
But yeah, I've now got two nieces and a nephew.
So there are children running around at family Christmases and that sort of thing.
Well, actually only one of them runs currently.
The other two are too small.
Just wait, just wait till they're all running.
I it's gonna be, come on, isn't it?
(28:21):
So yeah, no, I'm married and yeah, dad in-laws, normal family stuff, brilliant.
So good.
You've mentioned, we've mentioned this first novel of the series, Son of Endless Days.
Now there are others in the series.
What are they called?
If people have been shouting at the device saying, what's the other one called then?
(28:47):
Because we're mentioning it quite a bit.
What are they called?
Yeah, so number two is storm at dusk.
Number three is quiet echoes at night.
And number four has yet to be revealed.
it's going to say maybe they can pre-order, but maybe not just yet.
But I suppose they can follow you on social media and TikTok and things.
(29:11):
And I'm sure you will tell people when the fourth one is ready to enter the world.
Yes.
Great.
And so I know you're working on that one.
Do you have any other projects?
You've got loads of ideas, but you know, is there something else that you actually areputting sort of pen to paper yet?
Yeah, so there's a couple of books that I would quite like to do, one of which I havewritten about 30,000 words for, which is a little bit different in the sense of it's set
(29:47):
now, but it's a lady who has just retired and she's decided to travel the UK in a campervan.
And as she...
goes off.
She's quite an eccentric character, she's quite funny.
But as she goes off on her trip, a zombie apocalypse hits.
It's basically about her journey on this trip, but she's determined to finish and go andsee the landmark she wants to see, even though there's zombies everywhere.
(30:18):
And she picks up a 21-year-old Northern Irish girl.
And it's really about the friendship that develops between them during this.
Epic adventure.
that has just been a really fun thing to work on.
I don't know if you'll ever see the light of day, but it's kind of something that is justsilly and ridiculous and that I've just enjoyed as a creative release.
(30:44):
And the other one that I'm going to think about working on is actually a romance set inthe same world as my dystopian series.
And because I think it lends itself really well and it, an idea just came to me and I waslike,
really good idea.
So yeah, I'm sort of toying with that as well.
But I've always got so many ideas.
(31:05):
Maybe I need to find a job of just like giving story ideas and somebody else writes thembecause it takes so long.
no, that's great.
And where can people find you?
We've mentioned social media.
So what do people type in to their various social media search bars to find you and yourcontent?
(31:30):
And also if you've got a website and more importantly, where can people buy your books?
Yeah, sure.
So my social media handles on Instagram and TikTok is LG Jenkins Author.
And I have a website, which is lgjengkens.com.
And in terms of buying my books, if you are based in the UK, if you go to lgjengkens.com,you can get signed copies from there.
(31:54):
Otherwise, Amazon, Barnes and Noble online, Waterstones online, all available through youronline retailers.
Wonderful.
That's wonderful.
Well, thank you, Lydia.
It's been great chatting with you today and learning all about dystopian fiction andeverything else.
So thank you for joining us here on Christian Book Pub.
(32:16):
Thank you so much, Matt.
And thank you as well for listening to this episode.
And we do hope to see you again really soon.
A new episode drops on the 1st and the 15th of every month, so it'll only be a couple ofweeks before we'll be back again with another Christian author talking all about their
books to encourage you and your discipleship one book at a time.
(32:38):
So thanks for listening and we'll see you soon.
Goodbye.
Thanks for listening to Christian Book Blurb with your host Matt McCleary.
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This is Christian Book Blurb brought to you by author and songwriter, Matt McChlery.
Get a behind the scenes glimpse into the lives of some of your favourite Christianauthors.
Hear about their books and faith.
Also, why not check out my website, mattmcleary.com.
Hello and welcome to this edition of the Christian Book Blurb podcast where we like toencourage you in your discipleship one book at a time as we meet some amazing Christian
(00:28):
authors and learn about their books.
their lives and their faith.
Well, thank you for clicking over here today.
I'm your host, Matt McChlery, and it's great to be with you.
Now on today's show, I'm going to be speaking with the author, Jenkins, all about her newbook, The Son of Endless Days.
(00:49):
So Lydia, hello and welcome to the podcast.
Hi Matt, thank you very much for having me on.
Now you've written a novel, Son of Endless Days, and it's the first of a series, Ibelieve.
What can you tell us about it?
Yeah, so Son of Endless Days is the first of dystopian fiction series called The MeritHunter series, which is set in a city called Chulo, which is built on a meritocracy.
(01:18):
So only the productive are rewarded with merit points.
And it follows AJ and Jenny, who are a young couple in their twenties, both trying to makeit to the top of society.
But each of them have secrets that threaten their relationship and all of their ambitions.
Hmm interesting and I know it's part of a series Do we know yet how many books there willbe in this series?
(01:44):
Yes, so it's a four part series.
I've actually published the first three already.
So I did a bit of a, I originally published them the first two a couple of years ago andthen I relaunched them all last year with new branding and new titles.
And so I've been working on making sure that's consistent in my marketing and the olderstuff is gone.
(02:07):
yeah, so the first three are already out there and I'm currently working on the fourth.
Yep.
And this is the first book, so it's a great way to get into the story and the world andeverything else.
So it's a fictional novel.
And as you've already said, it's part of the dystopian genre.
Now for some of our listeners, they hear that and either, you know, they might not knowwhat it is.
(02:30):
Or if they do, they might be a bit scared by the word because it sounds a bit weird.
So what is dystopian fiction?
So dystopian fiction is usually set in a futuristic world where some sort of disaster hashappened.
It might be a climate disaster, it might be an overthrow of governmental power, but themain feature of dystopian fiction is that there's an oppressive system over society.
(02:59):
And so that then lends itself to quite dark environments, quite...
totalitarian environments.
original, people call the original dystopia sort of brave new world and 1984 by GeorgeOrwell, but they were actually inspired by a Russian novel called We, whose authors name I
(03:21):
forget and can't pronounce.
But they originally served as being a warning to society.
So,
hey guys, if we carry on along this track, this is where we're gonna end up.
So for example, 1984 is very much speaking into the suppression of individual expressionand how if we continue with this industrialization and all of this use of technology,
(03:48):
we're all gonna end up the same.
That was sort of some of George Orwell's thinking.
yeah, dystopian fiction sort of then evolved with the likes of the Hunger Games and TheGiver.
into a lot of young adult stories, which is looking at teenage self-expression.
But fundamentally dystopian fiction is set in quite a dark environment and serves as awarning to society.
(04:15):
And with all that sort of in background, and you've mentioned some other books, likeHunger Games and such like, they're not Christian in their worldview.
Yours is, I get hints of it in the first book.
I have to keep reading to find the story to unfold more.
(04:38):
But how does the genre kind of fit with a
Christian worldview, how can Christian writers use dystopian fiction?
How can they use it as a tool to tell people about God and Jesus and...
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, as I sort of developed as a writer and a reader as well, I've read a lot ofdystopian books that very much present Christian principles and Christian values.
(05:11):
And the way that the dystopian genre is quite a dark environment lends itself to show toshow goodness and light and using, you know, those contrasting images and contrasting
ideas.
And I think going back to the idea of a dystopian book serving as a warning or serving asa tool to express a particular thought about an area, that lends itself really well.
(05:38):
So for example, with my books, it's very much focusing on things such as having yourcareer as an idol, seeking external validation.
And so the genre allows me to say to readers, hey, let's not.
put all of our worth into the work that we do or what others think about us, becauseactually our worth is so much more than that.
(06:01):
And so, you know, we, that's very similar to, I'm sure you know, Liz Carter, who's alsowritten a dystopian trilogy, which begins with Repression Ground.
And that's a very similar idea around our worth in God rather than our worth in materialor worldly things.
(06:21):
And so the dystopian genre just...
allows us as authors present a Christian way of looking at things.
Do you think presenting it in a fictional way and in this kind of other world, as it were,because it's sort of this world, but it isn't, it's kind of removed from our world in a
(06:43):
way.
Although it really reflects our world a lot.
It's kind of dials up the, I don't know, the darkness has dialed up, but the light's alsodialed up to give you those contrasts.
But do think it creates a safer space, do you think, to discuss and explore some of thesethings, whereas other genres might not?
(07:06):
Yeah, I think so.
think it allows us to discuss characters who are, as you say, very removed from ourimmediate setting and who are in scenarios that we probably wouldn't find ourselves in.
For example, the characters in my stories, take a drug called skip sleep, whicheffectively allows them to skip sleep.
(07:31):
and so they've got more hours in the day to continue working.
Now we don't necessarily have anything like that other than perhaps coffee and energy.
So it's a little bit removed, but we can relate.
And I think you're right.
does having the characters who aren't necessarily in the same environment exactly thatwe're in.
(07:55):
allows people to open their minds a little bit more and actually think, okay, well, if Iwas in that world and I was in that situation, how would I act?
And it was really interesting because I've had quite a few comments from people about AJ,who is the main character, and how they don't like him.
(08:15):
And I always respond with, it's kind of a little bit of the point.
I understand that obviously when you're reading a novel, you want to connect to thecharacter in order to root for them and that sort of thing.
But actually we get lot of AJ's in a monologue and we hear a lot of his ugliness and thethings that he maybe thinks about other people and thinks about himself.
(08:37):
And actually it challenges us to think, yeah, I have those thoughts sometimes.
And you see it without your own emotion connected.
I don't know if that makes sense, but yeah, that's been quite an interesting response.
Yeah.
And you deal with other things in the book as well.
like, well, as you say, success, chasing success and also sort of being wanting to beliked, but it's, it's not being liked for who you are.
(09:03):
It's like a superficial thing.
we see it in our lives with social media and you know, you're chasing, you're chasing thelikes or how many followers do I have on whatever platform it is?
they have a similar system, but, the implications of it are a lot more severe and drasticthan ours, which is just some likes on.
on Facebook or whatever.
(09:25):
But yet some people still really place their value in their self-worth in that and gochasing after it and success.
Yeah, I know it's a tricky one, but it is.
It's some of those narratives that run through life today that are kind of explored, whichI find very interesting.
(09:48):
So your main character, as you said, his name is AJ.
And in your...
novel Son of Endless Days, it becomes apparent that he's not being truthful.
What's your take on truth and lies?
And is there such thing as a white lie?
Or without giving the plot away, how has telling lies affected AJ?
(10:10):
Yeah, gosh, philosophical question of a white lie.
Probably not.
I think anytime that you're not being authentic is a lie, is a lie, is a lie, right?
And the lies that AJ tells in the novel, and obviously I don't want to, as you say, go toomuch into it, actually means that many of the relationships he has or he believes he has,
(10:41):
are inauthentic, are based on something that is not real.
And in the subsequent books, you see how that has knock-on effects into the lives of otherpeople, such as his girlfriend and his grandma, into his best friends.
So there's just a whole series of events that unravel with his lies.
(11:08):
And it starts from something
quite understandable actually from when he was a child, a very simple desire of wanting tobe worthy, which in this society, everybody wants.
So it starts from that simple desire, but then in order to get there, he tells a lie andthen he needs to tell another lie.
(11:31):
And yeah, you get the idea.
just dominos really.
And so it's been a really interesting way
especially over a series of books to see the different characters reacting to AJ's actionsand how they feel about him and their own development in looking towards forgiveness or
(11:54):
not forgiving him.
So yeah, it's been a really interesting journey.
And some of the, think unintentionally, I don't think you set out to explore some of this.
Maybe you did.
But for me anyway, reading it, I kept catching myself thinking about thoughts aroundimmigration and also like refugees.
(12:21):
Because AJ is kind of in that in between transitionary.
kind of place.
And you can kind of see some of the desperate choices people make in those situations inthe character himself.
so, yeah, it was...
It was interesting.
(12:42):
that's really interesting.
I, there's definitely a whole theme going on about outcasts from, like from a particularsociety, city, country, whatever.
and how do we treat people who are not one of us in inverted commas and how do we treatpeople who believe different things to us and like how
(13:10):
Do we cut them out?
How do we, yeah, you're right.
It does explore those sorts of things.
And actually, while the sort of outcasts in my books kind of represent people of faith,really, it's also a challenge on all of us for different viewpoints, different, how can we
(13:35):
be loving towards each other rather than...
oppressive or repressive really.
And your novel centers around, as you've said, the idea of those who are deemed worthy orunworthy, the sort of those who are accepted and those who are outcast.
Your book doesn't really go into this in much detail.
(13:57):
It might do later.
I've only read the first one.
But because you've been writing about this and exploring it, I'm sure you've got somethoughts on, what does it mean to be worthy and not necessarily in your created world?
But in our world today, in our lives, how does knowing God and what God thinks of us, howis that, how is worthiness supposed to work?
(14:22):
Yeah, I mean, fundamentally where I've got to, sort of writing these books has been my wayof exploring this and my way of with God battling a bit with what does this actually mean,
you know?
And ultimately the point I've got to is that none of us are worthy.
We've all fallen short of the glory of God.
(14:44):
And so.
any worthiness that we have all comes by God's grace and all comes through what Jesus didrather than what we do and so it's actually not chasing towards career, chasing towards
the opinions of other people, towards success for our salvation but it's just him, it'sjust him it is not about even what he might give us but actually getting to know
(15:16):
Him and through that relationship, through our belief in Jesus, actually, that means we'reworthy.
And that's just like such an incredible truth because we were never worthy in the firstplace, you know?
So, and it's sort of recognizing how much grace we have been given and therefore thenextending that grace to other people as well.
(15:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Coming, coming back to your, your novel.
where I'm up to in the series, the first book, I've said, Son of Endless Days, you startto give hints at an alternative path to the one that everyone's aspiring to in Tula City
(16:00):
and they, you know, wanting success and fame and everything else and are skipping sleep totry and achieve it all and have it all.
But there's this alternative belief system that's kind of...
had this undercurrents and it pops up every now and then in some unexpected places withunexpected, unassuming people.
(16:22):
The name given to it in your novel is the guiding light who teaches this different path.
So why do you think it's important to present an alternative belief system likeChristianity or something similar to it in your novels?
Yeah, well, it's just showing that contrast and actually showing a contrast in terms ofhow people live and how those characters then have a different perspective and actually
(16:56):
how they live their lives is much smoother and much, but not perfect.
think that was the thing I was trying to get across was.
this alternative way doesn't mean that everything goes well, because it really, reallydoesn't.
And in BookTube in particular, you see that a lot more because we get a lot more of theside, which is the sort of outcast community and how they live, but also that they do work
(17:29):
really hard.
So.
command the government in Chulo have sort of suggested that those who follow the guidinglight are lazy and unproductive and they believe in constantly resting and not doing
anything.
And you see that very quickly.
That is not true.
And so what I didn't want to get across is that, you know, if you believe in Jesus, youdon't have to do a day of work in your life.
(17:52):
That's absolutely not true.
Work is great.
Work is good.
It's a calling from God.
but yeah, it's
It's allowing people to think a little bit by seeing those characters and seeing thatdifferent way and thinking, well, actually, what values do I want to have in my life?
What way do I want to approach work?
How do I want to connect with other people?
(18:16):
Where do relationships sit in terms of my priorities in my life?
So yeah, it's been a really cool way for me to figure that out for myself.
and figure that out for my relationship in God.
Like how do you see this God?
How do you see the way I approach my work?
(18:37):
How do you see the way I approach my marriage?
And actually using the way God has used my fiction to teach me that is just an amazingthing because his ways are clearly not our ways, because I wouldn't have thought of that.
Like how can I figure this out?
write a whole dystopian book series.
Like, yeah.
(18:59):
That's really good.
So as Christians, we may feel like some of your characters on the side, we might feelpushed aside or even shunned sometimes for the beliefs that we have, or we feel like the
odd ones out because everyone else is believing something else and we, we're the weirdones because we believe something different.
(19:27):
So like some of the characters in your book, we might feel what we want to hide ourbeliefs in order to fit in.
What's your advice for those who might be experiencing this kind of situation?
Yeah, I mean, I've been there, I still am there a lot of the time.
(19:49):
There can be a real fear in certain scenarios of expressing your faith and therefore thenbeing outcast for it.
But in my experience actually, I found that assumptions I have made about certain peoplehave been completely wrong.
(20:11):
in the sense of, they're gonna react like this if they know I'm a Christian or they'regonna do this.
And actually, I recognize that a lot of my fear came from my judgments, you know?
So what is trying to figure out whether that fear is actually based on your own judgmentsof somebody else, first and foremost.
(20:33):
And then also just like praying, like praying for people.
praying that God will cover you, praying that actually if you do face negativity to holdGod's opinion of you and the opinion of those closest to you highest, because you are
gonna have people who disagree with you.
(20:55):
If that's anything I've learned in my 20s actually, is that not everyone's gonna like you.
And actually there's aspects of that where you take a situation,
pray through it.
See what God and the Holy Spirit are saying about that situation where you might need tomake adjustments.
(21:17):
And other than that, then cover that other person in prayer is how I'd say.
Pray for those who persecute you.
Good advice.
Thank you.
So we've been chatting with Lydia Jenkins about her novel Son of Endless Days, which isthe first in a part of a four book series.
We're to be back just after these, chatting more with Lydia, more about her faith and herlife.
(21:42):
So stay tuned.
If you enjoy listening to this podcast, you can help keep it on the web.
All you've got to do is buy me a coffee.
Head over to buymeacoffee.com slash Matt McCleary to make a donation.
There is a link in this episode's show notes.
So go on, buy me a coffee today and help this podcast to keep supporting Christian booksand authors.
(22:11):
Hello, welcome back to the Christian Book Blur podcast where we've been chatting withauthor Lydia Jenkins all about her book, Son of Endless Days, a dystopian fiction novel
that's well worth a read.
So do go and check it out.
Now, Lydia, this part of the show, we like to get to know the author a little bit.
(22:31):
So what do you like to do for fun?
For fun, I play netball once a week.
So I've done that since I was about 10 years old.
Are you part of a club or are you in a league or?
Yes.
And yes, well, we're a bit amateur really.
Like we don't train or anything.
(22:52):
just turn up on a Monday night and play netball, but we are in a league.
Yeah.
We've been up and down the last couple of years, know, promoted, demoted, bit of a yo-yoteam.
Okay.
It affect how much sponsorship you get like football or not quite.
(23:14):
Yeah, there's not much of that going on.
So yeah, I like playing netball and I love to read as a writer and just spending time withfamily and friends and I adore traveling.
Absolutely love exploring new places.
Where's one of the best places you've visited?
(23:36):
New Zealand, by a long way actually.
Just because of the landscape or because Lord of the Rings was filmed there?
What are your reasons?
No, yeah, the landscape.
We went out there two years ago and we hired a camper van and drove around the SouthIsland.
And it was just sensational.
(23:58):
mean, you're sort of driving along.
One minute you feel like you're in Scotland, the next you feel like you're in Australia.
I mean, it's just absolutely breathtaking.
you know, some of the landscapes are very similar to Canada, but it's also concentratedbecause it's smaller country.
yeah.
And I think really I say New Zealand because I might not never go back.
(24:20):
You know, it's kind of like a once in a lifetime thing.
it's a really long way.
Really is.
And for those who listening, and you might even be in New Zealand listening to thisthinking, what, what is it a long way?
It's because we both live in the UK.
So it's quite a long distance for us, but it's a beautiful place.
(24:41):
Wonderful.
Um, do you have other jobs, other pursuits that you do other than writing or is writing,and I know, and I know you, you're a bit famous on TikTok as well.
Is that all you do?
I think famous might be a bit of a strong word, but I'll take it.
Yes, maybe.
(25:03):
Yeah, I mean, I do do social media content more around my writing and my books.
I'm particularly focusing on people in their 20s.
So that's really who my book was for when I was writing them is that like, actually, your20s are a very uncertain time of your life.
And there's loads going on there that a lot of people don't.
(25:23):
talk about, so it's sort of my entry into that sort of space.
I also work for a small publishing house two days a week, and I work for my church aswell, so I do have a different portfolio of things going on, and I do editing and
proofreading with other authors as well.
(25:44):
So it really feels like God's pointing me towards the publishing world.
Where that's going to go in terms of how I can empower other authors, I don't know yet,but that is something that I would love to do.
And also continuing to write books for people in their 20s would be great.
Maybe not all dystopian ones, more contemporary commercial ones about 20 somethingcharacters experiencing different things.
(26:12):
So I lost my mum last year and actually I'd love to write.
a book about losing a parent in your twenties and what that means for how you feel aboutthe future and all of that.
So yeah, there's a lot of ideas going around.
Which ones I'll pursue I don't know yet.
(26:33):
So it's all in God's hands, as much as I tried to take it out of his hands.
Yeah.
Have you got any favorite things to eat?
are things to eat?
I love Thai food.
they do Thai food in New Zealand.
Now that would be, that would be good.
(26:55):
I don't think I had any Thai food in New Zealand, but I'm sure they have Thai food.
had lots of Thai food in Thailand.
Yes, yeah, they do.
But it's really funny because like, if you think of a Thai dish, you'd think of like PadThai or you'd think of Massaman curry.
(27:16):
You go out to Thailand and Thai locals do not eat that.
That is like westernized.
I was going say it's like Chinese or sort of Indian dishes that, know, they invent, didn'tthey invent Vindaloo in Manchester or something?
And it's not even a thing in India.
Tikka Masala was Glasgow or something, wasn't it?
(27:38):
Right.
there we go.
There's a new novel for a dystopian book.
Weird food that doesn't quite fit in anywhere.
Anyway, maybe not.
Have you got any family at all?
I don't have children, if that's what you mean.
No children yet.
(27:58):
Yet is the keyword, hopefully in the future.
But yeah, I've now got two nieces and a nephew.
So there are children running around at family Christmases and that sort of thing.
Well, actually only one of them runs currently.
The other two are too small.
Just wait, just wait till they're all running.
I it's gonna be, come on, isn't it?
(28:21):
So yeah, no, I'm married and yeah, dad in-laws, normal family stuff, brilliant.
So good.
You've mentioned, we've mentioned this first novel of the series, Son of Endless Days.
Now there are others in the series.
What are they called?
If people have been shouting at the device saying, what's the other one called then?
(28:47):
Because we're mentioning it quite a bit.
What are they called?
Yeah, so number two is storm at dusk.
Number three is quiet echoes at night.
And number four has yet to be revealed.
it's going to say maybe they can pre-order, but maybe not just yet.
But I suppose they can follow you on social media and TikTok and things.
(29:11):
And I'm sure you will tell people when the fourth one is ready to enter the world.
Yes.
Great.
And so I know you're working on that one.
Do you have any other projects?
You've got loads of ideas, but you know, is there something else that you actually areputting sort of pen to paper yet?
Yeah, so there's a couple of books that I would quite like to do, one of which I havewritten about 30,000 words for, which is a little bit different in the sense of it's set
(29:47):
now, but it's a lady who has just retired and she's decided to travel the UK in a campervan.
And as she...
goes off.
She's quite an eccentric character, she's quite funny.
But as she goes off on her trip, a zombie apocalypse hits.
It's basically about her journey on this trip, but she's determined to finish and go andsee the landmark she wants to see, even though there's zombies everywhere.
(30:18):
And she picks up a 21-year-old Northern Irish girl.
And it's really about the friendship that develops between them during this.
Epic adventure.
that has just been a really fun thing to work on.
I don't know if you'll ever see the light of day, but it's kind of something that is justsilly and ridiculous and that I've just enjoyed as a creative release.
(30:44):
And the other one that I'm going to think about working on is actually a romance set inthe same world as my dystopian series.
And because I think it lends itself really well and it, an idea just came to me and I waslike,
really good idea.
So yeah, I'm sort of toying with that as well.
But I've always got so many ideas.
(31:05):
Maybe I need to find a job of just like giving story ideas and somebody else writes thembecause it takes so long.
no, that's great.
And where can people find you?
We've mentioned social media.
So what do people type in to their various social media search bars to find you and yourcontent?
(31:30):
And also if you've got a website and more importantly, where can people buy your books?
Yeah, sure.
So my social media handles on Instagram and TikTok is LG Jenkins Author.
And I have a website, which is lgjengkens.com.
And in terms of buying my books, if you are based in the UK, if you go to lgjengkens.com,you can get signed copies from there.
(31:54):
Otherwise, Amazon, Barnes and Noble online, Waterstones online, all available through youronline retailers.
Wonderful.
That's wonderful.
Well, thank you, Lydia.
It's been great chatting with you today and learning all about dystopian fiction andeverything else.
So thank you for joining us here on Christian Book Pub.
(32:16):
Thank you so much, Matt.
And thank you as well for listening to this episode.
And we do hope to see you again really soon.
A new episode drops on the 1st and the 15th of every month, so it'll only be a couple ofweeks before we'll be back again with another Christian author talking all about their
books to encourage you and your discipleship one book at a time.
(32:38):
So thanks for listening and we'll see you soon.
Goodbye.
Thanks for listening to Christian Book Blurb with your host Matt McCleary.
Do give it a like, give it a share and let your friends know all about it.
We do hope to see you again soon on another Christian Book Blurb.
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