When a nuclear civil war shatters the United States, Mya loses everything. After being stripped of her poverty stricken childhood in Baltimore, a twisted turn of fate elects her the princess of a post United States empire. However, that same fate takes the only thing she treasured during her low times in Baltimore—her childhood lover.
After five years of dealing with a harsh term in office, without her lover by her side, Mya finds the strength to move on, but just when she’s moving forward…the betrayal of a trusted father, and the sudden revelation of a terrorist mastermind planning to apprehend her with unknown motives, causes doubt about her unexplainable past. Mya finds herself in limbo; on an opportunity to prevent another nuclear war and on the brink of uncovering the past she tried to leave behind.
The Conflict
The central idea of this book could be summed up simply as, “the romance of a princess and a terrorist.” A unique combination where the main character, 16 year old Princess Mya Wright, finds herself at odds with the antagonist terrorist, Tyressee Strathmore. Tyressee wants to posses the world, Mya wants to save it, and in time, Mya finds that the key to saving the world might be saving Tyressee from himself.
To get more into detail, my main character Mya is from the streets of Baltimore, where she’s pretty much impoverish and furthermore confined to poverty. The only thing she really has going for her is her childhood lover. Now, outside of that sphere, we have something going on in United States politics, where a group of states are trying to introduce cloning into the constitution. The remaining states refuse and assume their own identity. Such an unprecedented political split results in a nuclear civil war. Now, back to Mya in her sphere. When the victor states raid Mya’s city, they take her away to a concentration camp, where by her beauty she is chosen to fill the vacancy of the new President’s royal family. This is where Mya loses that only thing she had going for her, her childhood lover. They get split up at the camp. Mya goes from rags to riches, but from being fulfilled to being brokenhearted.
From there Mya, who use to be confined in poverty, now sits in luxury as a Princess, but now confined to sorrow in an office of solitude, where she avoids her political career and steers clear of the media. But Mya cant run from her past forever. After trying to move on by way of giving a massive speech at a championship baseball game, a terrorist attack levels the stadium to the ground. Mya barely escapes with her life, only to find her Father (the King) tight-mouthed about the intelligence. He refuses to explain what happened . . .or why it happened. It is her father’s silence that hastens Mya to find the answers, and in doing so, learns a horrible truth that sends her past speeding back to haunt her. In a search for answers, Mya is thrown into a predicament, with a possible nuclear war in the balance, and piecing together the past she almost left behind.
Characters and Settings NAME: Mya Wright AGE: 16
Protagonist
The princess of the Georgian Empire. Very young and very emotional, but remarkably mature, Mya was taken from her home along with her family in Baltimore, Maryland during the United States War. Her best friend, Zurrell Loriez, who shared her impoverished childhood, was also taken. She later lost him at the concentration camp in Tennessee.
Since his disappearance, Mya has sought to move on and revive her political isolation with little success. That success is further halted by a sudden terrorist attack that almost claims her life and will speed her past back to haunt her. With nothing else left to lose, Mya plunges forward on a rollercoaster ride that will put her face to face with the terrorist, and an opportunity to save the world from a nuclear holocaust, while piecing together the past she almost left behind.
NAME: Zurrell Loriez
AGE: Last reported, 14
Protagonist
Mya’s childhood friend. Mya’s parents took legal custody of Zurrell shortly before the war, giving him and Mya just enough time to bond and share an innocent childhood together. That innocence was shattered during the United States war. Zurrell was separated from Mya at the concentration camp. No reports ever revealed what truly happened, but he’s absent now, except for in the mind and heart of Mya Wright.
NAME: Tyressee Strathmore AGE: n/a
Antagonist
Commander of the terrorist organization SERENITY. Hot tempered and almost fearless, he’ll do whatever it takes to ensure the collapse of the Georgian Empire. It wont stand unless he dies…or someone saves him from himself. His origins and motivations are unknown, which makes him an even greater threat.
URBAN
The city out of which SERENITY operates. Believed to be a ruined United States city located along the east coast, though which city isn't known.
THE UNITED STATES WAR
A nuclear civil war resulting from an unprecedented political split in the United States. While the immoral north sought the means to clone the first human being, the southern states assumed their own identity. The situation went unchecked until the tension mounted so much, the south launched five nuclear weapons and sent more than four million volunteered citizens on a blitzkrieg invasion into the remaining states. The United States was destroyed and left in ruins, while the southern states (the Georgian Empire) flourished like no other nation ever has.
Zurrell Loriez on Nothing Good Lasts Forever: When did you write this book?
I wrote the book when I was fifteen years old, although I had been planning it since thirteen. It took me four months to write it.
What motivated you to write this book?
I wrote this book, first and foremost, to work out my emotional salvation. I am very romance minded, and in a world where men aren’t supposed to have minds preoccupied by the desire to have a close relationship with a woman, I found the perfect outlet to vent my romantic desires. In this case, in my book Nothing Good Lasts Forever, I wrote out my desire to receive a love that basically cannot be found today. A love that could salvage me from both my anger and my hurt, an anger and hurt that anyone else would feel is irrelevant and foolish.
Who is this book’s targeted audience and why?
Mainly for women in the age range of 14 to 28, but all women in general. The most interesting aspect of the book that most girls will find attractive is the scale of the plot this romance occurs in. Most juvenile romances take place in a school, workforce, or at the highest level, maybe a breakup induced by pursuing careers of fame and fortune. Girls will find the idea of a juvenile relationship in the setting of a federal plot, where the heroine has the potential to alter world events and salvage a man, very refreshing and original. Especially when this federal setting occurs in their own country, the United States.
All in all, this book will give girls the opportunity to step into a 16 year old’s shoes who is trying to salvage her man and at the same time invert a possible nuclear war. Last but not least, this book challenges the idea that teenagers don’t understand or know true love. In Nothing Good Lasts Forever, what seems to be the simple infatuation of a young minded princess, soon becomes obvious to be true love by the trials she endures and perseveres.
Excerpt
"Do you have the love you need to sustain life? Perhaps you’ve lost yours too. When love waxes cold, war is inevitable. When the hate is even colder, the destruction is incredible."
-Princess Mya Wright
Professional Reviews
Amazing, Shocking!
The Character arc to Mya Wright is one of the best I've ever read before. The author immediately sets a tone and writing style that is unique, fresh and every bit as engrossing as the love story. This is accomplished through the use of metaphors and descriptive language in a manner that at first seems slightly off and awkward, but which quickly develops into this writer’s personal style. The following excerpt illustrates this, and is in the heroine Mya’s point of view:
April pushed me out of my seat and forced me to the stage. I peered up from my perch and beheld a pool of eyes stalking me.
My father rushed the microphone to me and placed it in unprepared hands. The microphone felt like a micro-ton in hands weakened by the unexpected turn of events.
I held the microphone tight against my breasts like someone would take it from me, and in the back of my mind, I hoped someone would. My neck shortened, my shoulders stood up. My eyes shot around the room in spurts.
A woman stood up and restated the question. “Well Princess, is there a prince?”
I opened my mouth but no words came out. Air came in though. The air dried my tongue in seconds. The crowd leaned forward in anticipation of the big answer. The question had been asked. The spark flew. The fire was set. They forced me to face my problem.
My dry tongue slapped the roof of my mouth and I uttered tomorrow’s headline, “There is no prince.” I forced a smile but my cheeks countered my efforts when they trembled. My eyes watered. As the tears fell, the crowd sat back in waves. “He’s gone he’s just gone.” I choked into tears and fell to the stage. When I looked up, I couldn’t make out anything. The liquid in my eyes stirred the shapes and colors of the room into a plaster of confusion.
Expressions like “a pool of eyes stalking me,” “my shoulders stood up,” “I forced a smile but my cheeks countered my efforts when they trembled,” and “I choked into tears” are creative and highly expressive.
The author constantly finds new ways of using old words, and in doing so enlists diction and syntax into creating the sense of fantasy of the story itself:
I was sitting on a piece of wood looking coldly onto the river. Ariel pulled herself away from Cory and came to rest beside me. She too, looked onto the river, watching the smooth waves as the sunlight seasoned it with sparkles.
A “cold” stare is usually one of malice; here, it is used for a heart chilled by the fear that love is lost. The phrase “came to rest” is normally used for things that fly or at least float in the air; here, though Ariel doesn’t fly, it is perfect for her movement. And sunlight “seasoning” the river waves with sparkles is a fantastic, expressive image.
Amazing first novel
Nothing Good Lasts Forever is a piece that has the potential to become a classic among adult readers as well as young readers, among fans of, romance, mystery, and imaginative fiction, as well as historical fiction, and among the scholars of fantasy and science fiction. It’s compelling plot, along with its dynamic characters and unique diction and point of view, allows it to be unique while expressing common themes in the literary world.
Before a word is read, the setting of historical future-fiction hooks the reader immediately. Furthermore, it is a setting that is believable and almost disturbingly possible. All of this gives way to a complex plot that is familiar for any reader, and can thus be enjoyed by fans of any literary genre.
The characters are real, and the reader, through the author’s excellent ability to compose believable dialogue, cannot help but empathize with them. The character of Mya, especially, is boldly written in the style of Lee’s Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. Due to the author’s passion for intimate themes to be expressed through both the story and the characters themselves, Nothing Good Lasts Forever is certain to become recognized as a truly great piece of writing.
—Brad Davis
Blending Southern Gothic mystery romance, fantasy, theater, dance, music, and flashes of humor, tells the story of a pair of lovers in two separate time periods who find themselves battling an evil fifty years apart.
Book 3 f of the Horses of Tir Na Nog Romance trilogy
CJ’s dreams continue, as she finds herself back at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. First, seeking protection for Rachel, then, the entire Sisterhood. (Actually, make that Sisterhoods; as there wil
