The Penal Colony, a professionally written and proofed 103,000-word thriller, is free to download at
Smashwords. It is the basis of the futuristic Ray Liotta movie
No Escape – but there is much more to the book than mere adventure, for it also examines the spiritual development of an ordinary man catapulted into extraordinary circumstances.
Here is the cover blurb from the first hardback edition of 1987 (it has been published all over the world and in various languages):
It is 1997. The British government now runs island prison colonies to take dangerous offenders from its overcrowded mainland jails.
Among all these colonies, Sert, 25 miles off the north Cornish coast, has the worst reputation. There are no warders. Satellite technology is used to keep the convicts under watch. New arrivals are dumped by helicopter and must learn to survive as best they can. To Sert, one afternoon in July, is brought Anthony John Routledge, sentenced for a sex-murder he did not commit. Routledge knows he is here for ever. And he knows he must quickly forget the rules of civilized life. But not all the islanders are savages. Under the charismatic leadership of one man a community has evolved. A community with harsh and unyielding rules, peopled by resourceful men for whom the hopeless dream of escape may not be so hopeless after all ...
Some readers' reviews are
here, and here is a brief quote from a review by Roger Miller of the
Milwaukee Journal:
If I could bring myself to put “perfect” in front of any noun, which I can’t, I’d be tempted to use it here. The Penal Colony
came into the office absolutely unheralded, with little promotion or publicity, which usually means the publisher has few hopes for it. I really think this novel is in a class with Walter Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz
, whose intellectual qualities it shares. I wish for it the same long-lasting fame and respect.
I have made this book available for nothing, like
The Stone Arrow, to bring readers to my other books at Smashwords. If you like
The Penal Colony, I'd much appreciate a Smashwords review to raise its profile for those browsing the site for free reads!