Bio-terrorism has created a world of diseased agriculture.
In order to continue human existence, scientist have
engineered a plant that will sustain mankind until nature
heals itself, but in a rush to seed the west coast with this
resource, another, deadly bio-engineered seed mistakenly
gets mixed into the growth. If the blue leaf doesn't kill
the victims with fever, they become a Beater, flesh-craving
mindless creatures. When Cass wakes up after having been
taken by Beaters, the evidence of the attack painfully on
her body with her raw injuries, she comes to a realization
that she has not only recovered from the sickness, but is
becoming better for it as well. Now she must make her way
back through Beaters, extremists, and zealots to the only
thing worth still living for; her daughter Ruthie.
Aftertime is one woman's quest to recover what she lost; in
this case her three year old daughter. After battling
addiction prior to the Aftertime, nothing will stop Cass
from finding her daughter and getting her back, again. With
the help of the somewhat mysterious Smoke, they travel
through an extremely well done post-apocalyptic landscape,
dodging gangs and monsters in the quest to find
Ruthie.
Sophie Littlefield doesn't throw the readers a mushy
paranormal romance but a true piece of science fiction
horror set in an urban atmosphere that the reader could see
as a distant possibility. The character of Cass I like to
compare to Alien's Ripley; a woman on a mission with the
protective motherly overtones. The ending builds to an
exciting crescendo, with enough twists and turns that keep
you wondering who will actually survive. By the end of the
novel, I was wishing to know more of the world and its
people in this Aftertime.
Sophie Littlefield has stepped into the male dominated field
of apocalyptic fiction and is making them take notice. I
hope to see more works like this from Ms. Littlefield in the
future.
Awakening in a bleak landscape as scarred as her body, Cass
Dollar vaguely recalls surviving something terrible. Wearing
unfamiliar clothes and having no idea how many days—or
weeks—have passed, she slowly realizes the horrifying truth:
Ruthie has vanished.
And with her, nearly all of civilization. Where once-lush
hills carried cars and commerce, the roads today see only
cannibalistic Beaters—people turned hungry for human flesh
by a government experiment gone wrong.
In a broken, barren California, Cass will undergo a
harrowing quest to get her Ruthie back. Few people trust an
outsider, let alone a woman who became a zombie and somehow
turned back, but she finds help from an enigmatic outlaw,
Smoke. Smoke is her savior, and her safety. For the Beaters
are out there. And the humans grip at survival with their
trigger fingers. Especially when they learn that she and
Ruthie have become the most feared, and desired, of weapons
in a brave new world....
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