By Jed Lanyon
A Healesville author has made her publishing debut with a conspiracy thriller about a world-changing invention.
Lexa Gibson, a fitter and turner by trade working in the engineering industry, has always wondered what would happen if someone were to invent a free energy device.
Would the oil companies and electricity providers allow such a device to potentially and significantly eat into their profit margins?
This sparked the idea for her to pen the novel Free Energy, published by Xlibris AU.
“I thought about what it’d be like to invent an electric car that never needed charging up and if the oil giants and electric companies would stand to lose a lot of money or if they’d try and make the invention disappear,” Ms Gibson said.
The novel follows Trish Adams, who becomes embroiled in a high stakes game of cat-and-mouse as attempts are made to erase the new invention and the inventor from existence.
As a first-time author, Ms Gibson shared some advice for those who might be interested in creating their own story.
“I was really unsure as to whether I could get published. I just wrote a story that I would have liked to read and try not to compare it to the work of other people.”
Ms Gibson said it took a long time to write Free Energy and that approaching a publisher inspired her to finish off the book.
“When I first started writing I thought I’d only get about 200 pages, but the chapters just got bigger and bigger… I enjoyed writing it but it was very challenging. I just got better and better as I went on and I’m quite happy with how it turned out.”
Ms Gibson said readers who like a good conspiracy story filled with thrill and intrigue will enjoy the book.
Ms Gibson is already working on another novel, set in the same universe as Free Energy.
“I’ve got another idea for another book because I approached a publisher before I finished and was able to write the main protagonist of my next book into Free Energy.”
