S.W. Lothian – Author

New York City is filled with hidden treasures. The ones that we all know about are obvious on the surface. Central Park. Empire State Building. Rockefeller Center. Statue of Liberty. Times Square. Broadway. Wall Street. It’s impossible to list them all here but I think you know what I mean – NYC has so much to offer. But the city that never sleeps also has a completely different side, you just need to look below the surface to see it.

We all know about the Subway, it’s the veins that energize the city from within, transporting millions of commuters every day, reducing crowds on the sidewalks above, and letting riders pop up like groundhogs wherever they want. There’s a whole different world below the surface.

It was this side of New York that I chose to write about in my new series. I wanted to explore the flip side of what we all knew and inject it with something sinister and thought-provoking. My research discovered there were some incredible gems below the city, which became central to the story of Subway in creating an integrated world below the surface. Many of the settings for Subway | Palliatopia are abandoned stations that really exist below New York.

City Hall station is probably the most widely known and beautiful. I had been writing the book for more two years and the first version was complete and I was in the stage of reviewing, refining, and adjusting. Some of you may recall there was a station featured in Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, that station is City Hall. The very same one that I had already prominently featured in my book. I remember saying to a friend as we left the cinema that the book I was writing had something big in common with FBAWTFT. Now that she has read the book I’m sure that comment will make a little more sense.

After the initial shock and awe that JK had chosen the same setting as me, I was a little tempted to change my own book so it wouldn’t be seen as something borrowed from Beasts. After some consideration, I decided that I had chosen the setting without any knowledge of what was coming with Beasts, so it was my setting and JK had somehow channeled my thoughts (yeah yeah dreaming). City Hall is just one of many incredible (and real) settings that are in the story and I have a number of others that are equally incredible in mind for the next book/s in the series.

As I continue to research for future book/s I come across some great information about these abandoned stations. Earlier this week I discovered this article that I thought was perfect to share with visitors who would like some more background about City Hall station from Subway | Palliatopia.

Click or tap HERE to see the article at Untapped Cities.

Subway | Palliatopia is available now from Amazon.
Click or tap below to grab your copy today.