Apologies for the long wait, but Book 20 is out today at Audible (and should be available on Amazon and iTunes by the end of the day)
Audible UK - https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/B0CN3WJMTR
Audible . Com - https://www.audible.com/pd/B0CN3TGJ2H
Audible Australia - https://www.audible.com.au/pd/B0CN3Y8B49
Audible Canada - https://www.audible.ca/pd/B0CN3T5MG3
The final evacuation begins.
A year and a half after the collapse of civilization, pirates plague the Atlantic, the Saint Lawrence River is a radioactive dead-zone, and the forests of Quebec are succumbing to disease. With insufficient supplies to last until autumn, the survivors in Eastern Canada have no choice but to flee. A final evacuation is planned, to migrate across the breadth of irradiated North America to what they hope will be permanent safety on the Pacific coast.
Until they leave, life goes on, and children grow up. For Jay, that means getting a job. Apprenticed to old George Tull, he’s tasked with scouting the Digby Peninsula for roadworthy vehicles left behind during the first evacuation of Canada. Instead, he finds signs that an old foe has returned.
For the Canadian evacuation not to become a deadly tragedy like its British forebear, safe roads and intact bridges must be found. Tuck and Sorcha join the soldiers mapping the tracks and trails through the dying forests of Quebec. It should be a straightforward mission, but the starving bears and predatory wolves are not as great a danger as the desperate survivors, who wish to be forgotten by the world.
With increasing desertification on land, and rising toxicity in the oceans, it is unclear for how much longer the planet can sustain life. With imminent annihilation a real possibility, the more populous group of survivors in the Pacific plan a multi-faith expedition to Jerusalem and Mecca. For the devout, it is an opportunity to complete a pilgrimage. For the politicians, it is a chance to diminish the power of the ascendant crusaders, extremists, and death cults. For a few, it is an opportunity to hunt for the friends and family abandoned during the escape from Europe.
Book 21 should be recorded in December, with Book 22 & Brawl of the Worlds 2 recorded in the New Year. Progress on Book 22 is going rather well, with perhaps 5 chapters left to write. The Australian artillery officer mentioned in a previous post has been minimised as a character. In a few instances it was because she was overshadowing Bran, and in a few others because I wanted to spend some time getting to know Anoshka, Minnie, and the other members of Tom Wilgus’s trading crew (introduced in Book 20). To make it up to the character, and in order not to fall foul of the contract I signed with her, she’s been promoted to colonel. And no, I still haven’t settled on a name for her!
Happy listening, Frank :)