Aftermath
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3.9 • 12 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
The acclaimed actor's shockingly prescient novel of speculative fiction "presents a near-future United States torn apart by civil war and deep racial strife" (Tampa Bay Times).
America today is teetering on the edge of the alarming vision presented in LeVar Burton's debut novel, written more than two decades ago . . .
In 2012, the first African American president is assassinated by a white extremist—just four days after he is elected. The horrific tragedy leads to riots, financial collapse, and ultimately, a full-on civil war. In its aftermath, millions are left homeless as famine and disease spread throughout the country.
But from Chicago, a mysterious voice cries out . . .
To Leon Crane, a former NASA scientist now struggling to survive on the streets, the pleas he hears remind him of the wife he could not save—and offer him a chance at redemption.
To Jacob Fire Cloud, a revered Lakota medicine man, the voice is a sign that the White Buffalo Woman has returned to unite all the races in peace and prosperity.
And to little Amy Ladue, the cries are those of her mother, who disappeared during the devastating St. Louis earthquake—and who must still be alive.
These three strangers will be drawn together to rescue someone they have never met, a woman who holds the key to a new future for humanity—one remarkably brimming with hope.
"LeVar Burton brings a strong new voice to science fiction with this powerful, even disturbing, novel." —Ben Bova, New York Times–bestselling author
"An amazingly good first novel." —Rocky Mountain News
"I highly recommend this book!" —Whoopi Goldberg
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Another Star Trek alumnus gets bitten by the writing bug. Here, it's Burton, who played Lt. Cmdr. Geordi LaForge on Star Trek: The Next Generation. His fiction debut is a terribly earnest and straightforward novel about the horrors that occur after America is shattered by a breakdown in race relations. Dr. Rene Reynolds is the inventor of the Neuro-Enhancer, a device with almost mystical healing abilities that also creates telepathic powers in its wearers. After Reynolds demonstrates the device to financiers, she is kidnapped--but not before she desperately thrusts the only existing copies of her computer disks into the hands of a homeless man, Leon Cane, whose life was shattered during the race riots. When Reynolds sends out a telepathic call for help, Cane, Amy LaDue, a plucky child living on the streets, and Jacob Fire Cloud, a Lakota medicine man with a vision, head toward Chicago to aid her and to save the world from destruction. Burton's workmanlike prose is sufficient for the task of displaying his characters' virtues, but the world he builds is muddled and less than credible. His name recognition, however, along with the novel's humane and caring moral message, should ensure respectable sales. Author tour.
Customer Reviews
Great story and apocalyptic adventure
I’ve enjoyed Burton’s foray into fiction. As a child of Reading Rainbow who then discovered Star Trek and later Roots, Levar Burton is an American success story who, through his various projects has shown that even though the adversities of the world we live in, anything is possible for those who persevere.
The editors do need to comb the book for some misspellings, but I would encourage other readers to enjoy the book with that in mind. See if you can spot the errors too! Otherwise it’s a horribly engaging and entertaining story. Thank goodness it’s only fiction!