When the World Ends

Bett wants more than anything to survive.

But how do you survive the end of the world?

A plague called Blight. Violence, fire, and zealotry. Fear, floods, famine, and war.

Bett must overcome these, and she must keep moving. If she reaches the coast, crossing half of Canada, then she must decide-

North? Or south?

To the north, the U.S. military has cordoned off Fairbanks, inviting survivors of Blight to hole up as long as possible in the wilds of Alaska. A generation or two is all the Earth's got left, but maybe they can make the best of it?

To the south, a self-proclaimed King is offering everyday people a one-way ticket off the Earth. Avidit , one of the New Gods of the emerging technological singularity, is the only trillionaire who doesn't seem anxious to leave the poor behind.

North?

Or south?

In the crux of her decision, Bettina encounters a bewildering, witchy woman who speaks with animals and who listens to whispers on the wind. Mystifying things walk the enduring forests, and rumours of Old Gods spread terror throughout the Cascades.

Old Gods who have no intention of letting the Earth die. Old Gods who want Bett on their side.

Join Bett on her journey. Read When the World Ends today.

When the World Ends is a novella of science fiction and dark fantasy by award-winning author J.L. Forrest. In a future wracked by climate change, social unrest, and engineered diseases, a tiny fragment of humanity clings to survival. The rich buy their way off world, to wait out the worst of it and engineer a better Earth from space. The poor fight each other for what remains, eager to kill over scraps.

In the midst of this, we join Bett, who finds herself in a new Dark Ages-where Dark Gods may once more walk abroad.

When the World Ends is a collaborative project which produced this novella, as well as an electronic track by the same name. "When the World Ends" is by artists King Makis and AwakeFM, who hail from the international production house known as NiceFM, an electronic label based out of Milwaukee.

INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR

This is a different kind of project for you, isn't it? It certainly has been an unexpected one. How so?

It came out of the blue. The folks at NiceFM asked whether I might be interested in writing a science-fiction story to accompany the release of a new track. I gave it a listen, chatted with them, and got a sense for what they were all about. After that, I knew I had to do it.

But it's different in other ways, isn't it? Like the structure?

It's epistolary. I've told first-person, journalistic stories before, but I've never written a story through the form of a diary. In addition, I felt freer on this novella to experiment with dialogue. After all, these events are told through one woman's personal reflections, and she chose to record her conversations with the people she encountered as she saw fit. So much for standard style.

What'll this be like for readers? Fun, I hope The musicians at NiceFM have read it, of course, as well as my inner circle. Proofers have read it. We'll see what fans think. Its structure is seductive, at least to me. It drives the action and story at a blinding pace.

You're developing reputations as both a science-fiction writer and a dark-fantasy writer. What is When the World Ends?

It's both. This story leans heavily on hard science fiction. Then, about 40% through, readers will encounter extremely strange, deeply mystical events. I'm cool with that.

What else should we know?

Honestly, everyone. Read this story.

J.L. Forrest is an Active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.