Below

by Jason Chabot

Two teens from different worlds must work together to survive in this YA post-apocalyptic fantasy adventure, the first novel in the Broken Sky Chronicles.

Exiled from his home, estranged from his family, Hokk Feste lives off the desolate prairie lands of Below, finding just enough food and water to sustain him and his fox companion, Nym. When dead bodies rain down from the clouds, Hokk searches through the funeral wrappings desperate to find some valuable resources among the human remains that he can use to bargain his return to the City of Ago. 

Elia lives with her family on the floating islands of Above. She is a laundress, serving the realm of the Twin Emperors, two rulers of an oppressive regime. Her thankless labor goes unnoticed until the day a royal servant pursued by an Imperial Guard gives her an ornate wooden box to hide. Within it lies something capable of toppling the monarchy. Fleeing the guard, Elia stumbles off her island home and plummets to Below, the final resting place for her people's dead where monstrous scavengers roam. 

Found by Hokk after falling into the ocean, Elia discovers a civilization far removed from her own and a cloud-shrouded land that has never known sunlight. Hokk is skeptical about Elia's tales about Above, but he knows the fallen girl is just the rare gift he needs to end his exile. And as they challenge each other's very beliefs while journeying across the dangerous landscape, the Imperial Guard ventures Below to find Elia and the secret she carries . . .

"Inventive world-building and epic scope. . . . A great read for fans of YA, fantasy, or anyone looking for a fresh vision." —award-winning author Jennifer Brody

" Below is post-apocalyptic at its roots, but the nature of the world allows the introduction of tropes from fantasy, dystopia and science fiction, injecting much needed originality into this recently oversaturated genre." — CM Magazine

288 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication February 17, 2026

About the author

I live in Vancouver, British Columbia, but grew up in the rural outskirts of a city called Chilliwack – a Stó:lō First Nations word meaning “quieter water up the river” – where our home was built beside a gurgling creek and surrounded by forests. With no neighbors in sight and only one channel on TV, I had plenty of time to invest in my imagination.

Looking back, the seed for The Broken Sky Chronicles was first planted as a teenager when I worked at a tree nursery that supplied saplings to reforestation programs. I didn’t think a summer job could get any worse – the burning sunshine, the dirt, my aching back, the relentless little flies, always biting. I used to gaze up to the mountain peaks poking above a halo of clouds and wish I could somehow, miraculously, be transported to their alpine meadows, to relax for hours while watching everyone else slave away, far below, in the afternoon heat. “Above” always seemed like the ideal place to be, although I now suspect the bugs would have been larger and definitely more ravenous.

Many other elements of The Broken Sky Chronicles were inspired by places and moments in my life. Growing up on the West Coast, I have always been captivated by nature, whether by our storms, our oceans, or our sunsets. In Vancouver, we are always warned that the Juan de Fuca fault line is long overdue for a horrendous earthquake – so be prepared! And during an amazing trip to Egypt, I was surprised many times to see plastic trash everywhere, half-buried in the sand dunes or floating high in the air, caught in the currents where clouds should be drifting instead.

I chose to write a fantasy adventure novel for young adults because I was intrigued by all these natural elements and how they might affect the lives of two teenagers when their physical worlds collide. While Elia has been enslaved by class and drudgery, Hokk lives in almost complete isolation, and I have enjoyed exploring how each character discovers unexpected strength to survive epic challenges, yet at the same time questioning their perception of reality.

But of course, I suppose Hokk and Elia could have had it worse. They could have worked in a tree nursery!