September 11, 2041

Blazing Reader,

In my novel All the Humans are Sleeping, World War III begins on September 11, 2041. Each of its chapters opens with an epigraph by historian Dr. Marta Wink, providing some backdrop. Here's a sample from Chapter "4.02: Stay Safe, Stay Asleep":

Excavation of tens of thousands of Metaverse hubs had begun on January 1st, 2035. Their construction was completed a mere forty days before the first bomb fell on September 11, 2045. Some said it was miraculous timing; others said it was conspiratorial.

The hubs were buried deep into the frozen landscapes of northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia, along with another thousand situated along the coast of the Antarctic. They were subterranean prisons for all the humans who were unfortunate enough to survive.

—Dr. Marta Wink, PhD,
The Rise and Fall of 21st Century Man,
volume 3, page 247, Rebirth Press, 2291

Rather than a dystopian tale about death and destruction, after this doomsday opening, the plot shifts to one of life and reconstruction, telling the story of one farmer who refuses to escape into the metaverse. Instead of being buried beneath the earth, he retreats to a mountain in Northern Norway, with his teenage daughter, a few hundred robots and a few thousand seeds.

Get a free sample or buy the book (or audiobook) at: AlltheHumansAreSleeping.com

John C.A. Manley

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.