Author's Note: The Companion Stories

The novel that I envisioned would be set in a not-to-distant world after dramatic climate change has made the United States an unlivable failed state. People had fled north in such numbers that Canada had been forced to build a wall to keep people from overwhelming their social services. The climate changed radically enough that the Great Lakes region became something like the Mediterranean or Hawaii are today.

New cities were built much further north. The story would be set in a new mega city called New Toronto on the edge of Hudson Bay. The trade-off in being so far north being that there wouldn’t be as much light so far north. The city was thus built under canopies that provided simulated daylight to the millions of people that live there.

These further north areas were re-designated as the Northern Provinces, but people refer to the them as The Newlands. The social and economic systems are quite different as you’ll see, but we’ll leave that to the stories to explain.

When I sat down to create the world of The Newlands, I started by writing six short stories that I called backstories, because they are set one generation ahead of the events of the novel. The stories that you are about to read are those short stories (and maybe a couple more) expanded and updated. They build a world in the 2050s, which will lay the foundation for the novel that is set in approximately 2075.

I’m planning to publish these more slowly my book The Sit Boy, about one story per month. They are short stories that are meant to read stand alone. The characters do not generally cross over between the stories, but some of these characters may be the parents of characters in the upcoming novel.

And no, I’m not telling you here about LUCkE. There’s a whole story coming about that. You’ll have to wait and see.

I know that thinking about the future is scary and what I’m describing may sound bleak. But actually the tone of these stories is hopeful. And the novel is actually quite funny and uplifting.

I hope you enjoy visiting this version of the future with me.

Thank you for reading my stories. I’m grateful for each one of you.

See you in 2058.