Local author Danielle Bellwood pens interesting, dystopian novel of a future Earth

Such stories have resonated with millions of readers and are often made into award-winning movies.

On Saturday, April 28, Bellwood will get valuable feedback when she appears at Petunia’s Place, a Fresno bookstore, for a book signing from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The bookstore is located at 6027 N. Palm Ave. She hopes to schedule book signings in the Hanford and Lemoore area soon.

Bellwood will attend a book signing on Saturday, April 28 at Petunia's Place, a Fresno bookstore from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The store is located at 6027 N. Palm Ave.

But that’s all in the future for Bellwood, who recently published her new novel herself, via a local publishing firm. An avid reader, Bellwood says she and her husband read regularly, and one genre she enjoys is dystopian fiction.

Bellwood, 40, is a Lemoore native and attended Armona Union Academy, Napa’s Pacific Union College, and Chapman University. She currently is the office manager for Phipps-Dale Funeral Chapel.

“I just finished it and released it in January,” said. Bellwood. “I’m excited about it.” She says she’s been writing much of her life. “I’ve written short stories and poems,” she said.

But a novel is something entirely different. “This is a project I’ve been working on for a long time. It’s an adult book, and it’s set in the future." It envisions a world gone crazy with violence and burdened by a deteriorating climate. “It’s geared to adults,” said Bellwood.

It plays somewhat on the climate threat challenge. “I’ve been living and growing up (understanding) that climate change is a real thing,” said Bellwood. “Part of my dystopian world is that climate change has gotten so bad that the earth is really barren. Humanity has almost killed itself off.”

The tome is 447 pages long and can easily be purchased through Amazon.com as a paperback or Kindle edition.

She’s working on a second book in what she hopes is a long series of novels based on the “Candomble Guard” theme. “I hope to have it out by January or February of next year,” she said.

She says that everyone who has read it has given her positive feedback, many saying it would make a great movie or television series. “Everyone that I’ve heard back from say they really like it. They care about the characters, and they can’t wait for the next one.”