If the Light Escapes: Braving The Light Serires Book 2

by Brenda Marie Smith

“Gritty and powerful… takes the reader on an emotionally charged and adrenaline-fueled journey that lingers long after the last page is read.”
—Mae Clair, author of the Point Pleasant series and the Hode’s Hill series

The standalone sequel to IF DARKNESS TAKES US

A solar electromagnetic pulse has fried the US grid. Now, northern lights are in Texas—three thousand miles farther south than where they belong. The universe won’t stop screwing with eighteen-year-old Keno Simms. All that’s left for him and his broken family is farming their Austin subdivision, trying to eke out a living on poor soil in the scorching heat. Keno’s one solace is his love for Alma, who has her own secret sorrows. When he gets her pregnant, he vows to keep her alive no matter what. Yet armed marauders and nature itself collude against him, forcing him to make choices that rip at his conscience. If the Light Escapes is post-apocalyptic science fiction set in a near-future reality, a coming-of-age story told in the voice of a heroic teen who’s forced into manhood too soon.

“Brenda Marie Smith stuns a gain with the breathtaking sequel to her debut. With her skill for detail and character, Smith captivates us with Keno’s kindness and humanity while also exploring the capacity for violence that lurks within all of us.”
—Aden Polydoros, author of THE CITY BEAUTIFUL

“IF THE LIGHT ESCAPES is a rich coming-of-age story about the legacy of family, infused with hopefulness and humanity.”
—Laura Creedle, author of THE LOVE LETTERS OF ABELARD AND LILY

BRENDA MARIE SMITH lived off the grid for many years in a farming collective where her sons were delivered by midwives. She’s done community activism, managed student housing co-ops, produced
concerts to raise money for causes, done massive quantities of bookkeeping, and raised a small herd of teenage boys. Brenda is attracted to stories where everyday characters transcend their limitations to find their inner heroism. She and her husband reside in a grid-connected, solar-powered home in South Austin, Texas. They have more grown kids and grandkids than they can count.

309 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 20, 2024

About the author

At 67-years-old, Brenda Marie Smith is finally having the writing career she's longed for all her life. Her second novel (and the first to be published by someone besides herself), IF DARKNESS TAKES US, won the 2018 Southern Fried Karma Novel Contest and was published by SFK Press in October 2019. The book is post-apocalyptic science fiction, unique in that it features an aging grandmother, Bea Crenshaw, and it takes place in a slightly altered version of the author's own neighborhood.

Now Brenda's sequel, IF THE LIGHT ESCAPES, will be published in August 2021, again by SFK Press. The story's told in the voice of Bea's 18-year-old grandson, Keno Simms, a stalwart young man who must lead his broken family and neighbors to survive life without electricity, cars, phones, or running water.

IF DARKNESS TAKES US is a true-to-life apocalyptic tale. It portrays a grandmother and her four grandkids struggling to survive after a solar electromagnetic pulse takes out the entire U.S. grid and vehicles with internal computers. No running water, telephones, or doctors to boot. But Grandma has secrets that could help them survive.

Brenda studied fiction in the UCLA Writers Program. She self-published her first novel, Something Radiates, after raising the funds via crowd-funding. A sequel to If Darkness Takes Us called If the Light Should Come is under consideration by the publisher. The story is written in the point of view of Bea’s 18-year-old grandson, Keno. More books in the series are in the works.

Brenda has lived in Austin, Texas for thirty-nine years. Prior to that she was a member of The Farm (a vegan hippie commune based in Tennessee, where she studied spiritual phenomena and her sons were delivered by midwives, including the famed Ina May Gaskin).

In Austin, she helped to found Soy Foods of Texas (maker of tofu salads still available today), the Austin Peace and Justice Coalition, Mockingbird Productions (a concert promotion company), and Green Earth Oil Distributors (a supplier of biodegradable motor oil). She was General Manager of the Inter-Cooperative Council (student housing co-ops near UT) for fifteen years, and she does bookkeeping, business writing, and income taxes today.

Brenda and her husband own a solar-powered home in South Austin and have more grown kids and grandkids than they can count.