In the end days of catastrophic global warming the sea has risen to reclaim the land, the Earth’s oil reserves have run dry, and the Federal Government has collapsed along with the economy. Besieged by the Pacific Ocean, the ruined archipelago of San Francisco has been carved up between ruthless gangs and a corrupt and brutal police force. As the wealthy retreat to their bunkers those left behind fight a vicious tribal war to secure the dwindling supplies of food and fresh water.
Among them is one man who’s seen cities perish before. Barricaded high above the carnage, he watches as the fires take over and the desperate hordes close in around him. Everyone wants what he has – water. More precious than gold, anyone would kill for it, and a lone man is an easy target – but Nero isn’t just any man, he’s a man with a dangerous secret – and he’s not going to tell…
I Am Nero is that difficult first novel you write in your existentially-depressed mid-twenties – a 160,000 word brick about climate change, addiction and compulsive self-destruction. Set sometime in the future, the narrative spans genres from low-key Sci-Fi to Gothic Horror to Apocalyptic Thriller as Nero fights to survive in a ruined world. Conceived just before the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, I Am Nero took shape against a background of cataclysmic disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and growing concern for the state of our planet.
The reader can almost feel that they are there, living in this wasteland.
It is a true gothic horror with a modern twist in its strong message against global warming – the reader is very aware of the narrator’s sad acceptance and distaste for man’s destruction of the earth and mankind. The quality of the writing is superb – with every sentence the reader can sense the desolation and despair. The stark imagery can make for uncomfortable reading, yet the powerful prose keeps the reader gripped from start to finish.
Chronicles Magazine, 2008.
I Am Nero is available from these outlets:
In paperback:
or any bookstore – ISBN-13: 978-1847999351
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