Debbie Kump has a “futuristic” imagination and created what she thinks could happen if technology essentially overloaded and destroyed the world.
“My husband is a futurist and likes to come up with ideas for things that might possibly happen later on … he said wouldn’t it be neat if we had contact lens computers,” said Kump.
That passing comment, made during a TV upgrade, grew into “7G,” an apocalyptic thriller and Kump’s first published novel.
“It becomes a disaster and ends up giving people cerebral hemorrhaging … the world became so dependent on technology it was destroyed by that technology itself,” said Kump, an ’89 Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School graduate.
“7G” has only been out almost a year but Kump is already working on a sequel where the characters figure out how to survive in an environment where everything and everyone they’d known and loved is gone.
“It’s a challenge at first because you have to think about it in terms of everything we do right now on computers and cell phones and it’s all involved in these contact lenses they access through their eyes,” said Kump. “I had to think so many times and change my book … sometimes I feel like I live in an alternate reality; I get so wrapped up in my books that I kind of forget where I am but it helps get the ideas out.”
The action of “7G” got Kump hooked on writing thrillers of all types, like the supernatural thriller she’s also in the middle of writing.
“This book is totally different. It’s a young adult supernatural thriller, fast paced from paragraph one. I like that writing style; I really like action packed movies so it seems like that whole excitement and constant tension … has found its way into my writing style,” said Kump.
She’s on a thriller kick now, but the first book Kump ever wrote (which will finally be published in October) was a young adult romance novel.
“It’s a contemporary style about a girl uprooted from her tropical life in Hawaii and she has to move to Minnesota in the dead of winter and learn to cope with all the changes of losing her friends, losing the guy she loves and adjust to the climate,” said Kump.
The book is called “Exiled to the North” and was her way of coping with the unexpected death of her Siberian husky, Jack. She based many of the main character’s experiences on her own stories of adapting to harsh winters of Minnesota where she lives.
It seems like a cavernous contrast between “Exiled to the North” and “7G,” but Kump said there were actually several books written between those two that bridged the genre gap but haven’t been completed.
“I abandoned them in various states and am trying to come back to them and see if it’s worth reviving,” said Kump.
Kump used to teach science before personal circumstances forced her to quit her job. Writing, which she said she’s always been interested in and casually dappled in during her time at BHBL high school, was never supposed to take off the way it has.
“This whole thing is progressing much further than I ever anticipated. It’s exciting to hold the book in your hands and see your dream to completion, it’s pretty amazing,” said Kump. “I don’t know if I fully comprehend exactly what has happened.”
It’s an unexpected career twist but Kump said she hopes it continues.
“I plan on having more and more ideas. Ideas are backlogged so I have a lot of things I’d like to continue to get out there,” said Kump. “It feels like [ideas] are bursting at the seams in my head right now and I need to get them out to maintain my own sanity.”
Her books are available online and she said she hopes they’ll eventually gain popularity.
“I think now they’re online so eventually they’ll start popping up in stores once I get to a larger press,” said Kump.
“7G” available in E-book and paperback at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. For more information visit https://sites.google.com/site/debbiekumpbooks/.