The Last Shadow - Influences

A lot of great books and movies influenced "The Last Shadow," too many to name. However, a few are definitely worth mentioning.

Alfonso Cuaron's movie adaptation of P.D. James' "Children of Men" inspired the setting and backstory in "The Last Shadow." Both involve looming genocides and a single person who holds the biological key to prevent them, though the catastrophe in "Children of Men" threatens the entire human race instead of only one population. In addition, both books include a race to a refuge that holds the best hope for preventing the impending disasters. However, the pace of the chase in "The Last Shadow" is based on the pace in "The Fugitive" movie.

The computerized highways in "The Last Shadow" provide a futuristic setting for the pursuit. I want readers to experience them in a way such that they become a character in and of themselves, similar to the asphalt highways in Cormac McCarthy's "The Road." In addition, his protagonist's gloomy perspectives while on the highways in that book influenced the sad reveries of the protagonist in "The Last Shadow"... about her life and about the people she is charged with resurrecting.

Lucy's grief is exacerbated by the same mental disorder that afflicts the main character in Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" - the destructive effects of European beauty standards on the African psyche. However, Lucy's unique appearance in the wake of the Pan-African genocide raises the affliction to a deadly level.

"The Last Shadow" aims to impact readers in the way these stories have impacted me.

---Hemmaat

www.hemmaat.com