I’m just waiting for Book 20 to come back from the proofers (which should be very soon), and then I will publish. Apologies for the delay.
It’s been a while since the last book so, as requested, in addition to a story so far, I’ve also added a brief character summary of those people who appear in the book, and their relationship to one another.
This will be the first of (probably) four books focusing on the Higson & Carson families as survivors across the globe wait to learn whether (and where) planet Earth can still sustain life. This set of stories won’t focus on the people making the plans (I’m looking at you, Bill!), but on the everyday folks like you and me who get caught up in whirlwind of other people’s political decisions.
One of the stories I wanted to tell was a return to Europe, but it was hard to justify the expenditure in resources. But our heroes aren’t the only survivors. Wouldn’t a devout survivor want to know what happened to their holy places? Wouldn’t they pressure the politicians to launch a mission to see what befell Mecca? Wouldn’t there be just as much pressure to survey Jerusalem? Wouldn’t the Catholic cardinals feel obligated to check the catacombs beneath the Vatican in case the pope survived? And if the planet is truly dying, and if our species only has a matter of months left, aren’t there many who would wish to complete a pilgrimage before this inescapable death?
Well, I thought so, and so I had a reason to launch a return expedition to the Middle East, and by extension, to Europe.
While we will follow the journey of these pilgrims through the eyes of of one of our longstanding heroes, the main focus will be on the Carson family’s hunt for a new, New Tower, and on the Higsons and the teams gathering scientific data from the oceans and the spreading deserts.
The Final Evacuation Begins
A year and a half after the collapse of civilisation, 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 transport everyone 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.
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I’ll get back to listening to diplomats shout at one another - (In the chapter of Brawl of the Worlds 2 I’m writing at the mo, the governments of Earth have to select a small delegation to send to Towan III. It’s a purely ceremonial event, so absolutely anyone could go. Anyone. Obviously, the diplomats can’t agree on who should be chosen to go, but I’ve got to come up with a few dozen different ways of selecting people, and then the reason why such a group is unacceptable to one nation or another.)
I recommend accompanying Book 20 with porridge, preferably from Australia, so make sure to stock up before the release.
Cheers, Frank :)