In a futuristic, yet recognizable Britain, the Transformation Age has begun. A time following the end of oil, where Mad Cow Disease ravages the land and divides the population into infected or uninfected camps. Hidden inside a cove near the small coastal village of Rye is a pearl with the ability to seed a blank planet. Rye has one of Englanda (TM)s last uncontaminated fields and remains an edible food source. Jude, the microbiologist who originally predicted the BSE infection, has become Ryea (TM)s fanatical prophet. Jude protects his congregation of survivors, as well as the field, by enlisting mindless foot soldiers called Keepers. The Keepers believe they are the evolutionary torchbearers for a new and pure human race. However, Jude has a dark secret. He is a man possessed and his body is a conduit for the serpent from the Garden of Eden, who longs to find the pearl. Jude is brainwashing the survivors in order to suck out their souls, extract their DNA and create a terrible world of his own. Only a disfigured poet, a clairvoyant and a shape shifter can stop the murderous tirade of Jude and catapult the human race into the next stage of evolution. But will they exorcise their own demons in time or will misplaced love and jealously stand in the way of humanity?

Author Biography

Gretchen Heffernan is a poet, novelist and publisher. She co-founded Backlash Press and has published in journals such as Agni and Brittle Star. She is the author of The Book of Dirt and, forthcoming, The Book of Insects and The Carving Circle, a noir title about American racism, obsession and art. She has a degree in Creative Writing and Modern Poetry from Vermont College. She has completed two Faber Academy writing programs and has been involved with The Poetry School in London.