Cumbrian resident, Aardman animator turned sailor turned author, Linnhe Harrison launched her first novel. A lover of speculative sci-fi, Linnhe found herself naturally drawn to the genre. Outpost 9 was written over a period of 12 months from May 2023.
The novel introduces readers to the Institute of Thinkery – an organisation on the verge of a ground-breaking, technological breakthrough. An international Thinkery network.
The year is 1892. Life in Manchester is hard for impoverished carpenter Edwin Cooper and his wife Betsy. Hope of a better life arrives when The Institute of Thinkery recruits Betsy for a new research programme. Edwin is subsequently posted overseas to staff Outpost 9 – a tiny cabin on a tiny island in the Wadden Sea.
The pay is good but the work is hard. It gets even harder when two bodies wash up onshore, casting dark shadows over his life, bringing unsettling doubts and unanswered questions to all he needs to hold true. Is Betsy safe?
Desperate to be reunited with his wife, Edwin battles against distance, heartbreak and an Institute that will stop at nothing to keep him from uncovering the dark truth behind their new Thinkery technologies.
Dark and dystopian, Outpost 9 is already garnering praise:
“Powered by sound research and a distinctive authorial voice, Outpost 9 has a compelling plotline, engaging characters and a vivid sense of place.” Mary Ingham, Freelance Journalist
And as to the author herself? Linnhe grew up in North Wales and moved to the Lake District in the late 80s with her parents and two sisters. Home-educated and used to living in remote locations, Linnhe and her sisters used their initiative to channel their creativity and teach themselves stop-motion animation. The trio showed so much potential they were picked up by Aardman Animations. Wallace and Gromit lead on to pastures new and the sisters formed their own company, culminating in a Silver Award at the British Television Advertising Awards 2002.
However, Animation belied an unfulfilled desire to learn to sail. So, at the age of 25, Linnhe swapped animation for action and took to the water. There followed a happy decade of teaching sailing on Ullswater at the Glenridding Sailing Centre.
In 2017 things took a turn, when she began to experience unexplained neurological symptoms. Specialists, scans and tests could not determine the root cause, but suffice to say Linnhe found herself looking for a new avenue through which to channel her creative mind whilst coping with a progressively failing body.
Enter – writing. Inspired by a good friend who runs a writing group in Kirkby Stephen, Linnhe pushed herself to share some short pieces. The encouragement and feedback she received from the group gave her the courage to consider a full novel.
On the writing process, Linnhe said: “First off, I was ‘fortunate’ as I found myself unexpectedly time-rich and bored thanks to a difficult combination of chronic pain and fatigue which has left me pinned to the house for long periods of time. Quite frankly, writing has been my salvation. Both because it occupies my mind positively and creatively, and also because I can literally escape to other worlds and live as someone else for a time without leaving my home.
“I’ve discovered that speculative sci-fi suits my style of writing as it is just pure escapism – you are not restricted by what’s technically possible, you’re free to create realistic, relatable characters who find themselves in uncomfortable, alien circumstances.
“Writing Outpost 9 has been hugely cathartic for me. I honestly didn’t think I’d ever get to the point where I was ready to share it with the world – well Cumbria anyway! I’ve been overwhelmed with the response from the local, independent bookshops who have received it so warmly and helped me as a self-publisher navigate the distribution process”
Outpost 9 had its preview earlier this month at Pooley Bridge’s Verey Books. It’s now available to buy both online and at good independent bookshops around Cumbria.
