by Johnny Cycles, December 7th, 2023

Welcome to the alternate reality that lives inside my head, also known as my novel. I will publish chapters from this Science Fiction/Fantasy novel every other week. Below I’ve included the jacket copy of the book to give you an idea of what it’s about. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it!

The Podkind

Charleston wants to follow in the footsteps of Jonathan Stiles, the beloved Founder of New Washington, who sacrificed himself to save the remnants of humanity after Earth’s sixth extinction.

Well, not the dying part. Saving the world, though? That would be pretty awesome. He’d settle for making the Dome Guard, though. Maintaining order in New Washington was kind of like saving it, right?

That, and the Dome Guard got to carry laser rifles and wear jetpacks.

Charleston is one of the Podkind, the first generation of children born in more than four hundred years. He and his podmates are in the last weeks of preparation for their Test, after which they will learn their future roles in New Washington.

The year is 4255. Earth is dead. Humans are immortal. God doesn’t exist. There is only the Collective, made up of nine elevated domed cities and ruled by a council with one member from each. The voice of the Council and one of Charleston’s moms, Claire, conveys their rulings, thus protecting its members’ identities and ensuring impartiality in the country’s governance.

But there is more to the Council than Charleston could ever have imagined.

At least, that’s what the strange girl, Violet, tells him. Able to appear and disappear as if by magic, Violet warns Charleston that the Council is hiding a sinister past and has nefarious plans for Charleston and the others that go far beyond the Dome Guard or any role in New Washington for that matter.

Compelled in equal parts by a desire to prove the strange girl wrong, as by a growing fear she may be right, Charleston sets out to find the truth about the city he was born to serve. What he discovers will shatter his view of New Washington and the Founder and call into doubt his very purpose for being.

The Podkind is a science fiction/fantasy novel written by Johnny Cycles. Click here for Chapter 1.