The Writers' Network! discussion

Hi

I've written A Guide to First Contact. The title is a play on the disaster that unfolds following first contact with aliens.
It’s 2062. Most of the West has collapsed; all that remains of the former United States is the Petit États, centered over New England. Outside of there, civilization survives only in enclaves. A new and mysterious power controls what's left of the world - the mandat culturel. It came into being when the Earth was first contacted by aliens and it controls access to advanced technology.
First contact causes chaos, as it would, but then an epidemic sweeps the planet. No-one knows where it originates from; the aliens blame human authorities and the planet is quarantined. Its symptoms are an incurable, degenerative illness which turns victims into savage, sub-human brutes.
Wahchinksapa, a former intelligence officer, heads up a confederation of Sioux peoples. He jockeys to keep his people from the control of the mandat culturel.
Into this mix comes Triste. He’s a bounty hunter and has all the latest ordnance. His contracts take him to the former urban areas and give him leeway to do pretty much as he wants. When the cities were abandoned a lot of loot was left behind....

Read it and discover:
...a Star Being set to watch over our out-of-the-way planet: a vast and powerful entity with an agenda.
...two intelligence agents; one sexy and ruthless, the other a bit of a bumbler; who get caught up in intrigues that culminate in the collapse of Western civilization.
...a gang, whose influence stretches far beyond their base in the ruins of New York, yet they have an uneasy coexistence with a clandestine alien facility in the heart of Manhattan.

USP: includes a Story Arc section (with relevant links) so readers can track main character appearances and follow particular story lines. Can be read on different levels. Multiple plots. Literary references. Explicit content.

Feedback welcome.

T.P. Archie

You do write a very clear & interesting synopsis! Sorry i won't be reading the book, probably, I am not really into post-apocalyptica (I have just had too much of it I think). It's just me.
I am curious why the disaster has made everyone use French so much?

Tura wrote: "You do write a very clear & interesting synopsis! Sorry i won't be reading the book, probably, I am not really into post-apocalyptica (I have just had too much of it I think). It's just me.
I am c..."

Good question. The French twist is intentional and the novel makes clear just how this all comes about.
The term: Mandat Culturel is French for Cultural Mandate. It's a historical reference with a twist. The reference is this: in the late C19th, European powers carved up Africa and the Middle East into spheres of influence. As a result some nations, particularly Great Britain & France had mandates over certain territories. A mandate was a legal instrument to administer the territory.
This post apocalypse setting demands the treatment of other topics such as evolution, God, first contact, mass extinction....

I've received a copy-edit proposal which I can't turn down. The copy-editing will be done by Stephen Cashmore. He is a professional proof-reader and copy-editor and is a member of a number of relevant bodies including the Society for Editors and Proofreaders, the Glasgow Editor's Network, and the Glasgow SF Writers Circle.

I'm convinced that this will make it a better book and while this is underway, I plan to remove the book from my author page. It will take about a month.