Outworld

In the future, Climate Change is no longer a theory. It has been a thousand years since the climate of the Earth changed. Now the average high temperature is 120 degrees Fahrenheit with some days reaching 130 or more.

Rain rarely reaches the parched ground, evaporating instead in the thermal barriers encasing much of the land and returning to the clouds. On the wind-swept tall grass prairie of what was once known as the Great Plains, two communities, the descendants of survivors from the time before the change, live in relative isolation from one another with only sporadic, but often violent, contact over the centuries.

The Dome, a protective, insulating bubble perched upon the prairie, holds the last of the society of the “Before Time." A corporate culture, the Dome is governed by a Board of Directors who direct the work of associates who perform the day-to-day tasks of maintaining the structure against the heat, wind and drought of the “Outworld." Chief among these associates are Security, enforcers charged by the Board to maintain order within the Dome and who patrol the Outworld for any possible threat.

But, the Outworld is also home to the Nomads, naked sub-human mutes who wander the land, seemingly adapted to the extreme heat and lack of water. To the Dome Dwellers the Nomads are nothing more than a shadow of what was once been known as mankind. The centuries and the climate devolved the Nomads into sub-human creatures who somehow scratch out a survival in the desolate land.

But, the Nomads are good hunting.

Brought together by “The Hunt” a journey unfolds which reveals the secrets of not only the Nomads but the Dome and the Before Time as well.

"Ultimately, for this reader, OUTWORLD is not just a tale of the world after unchecked climate change, even though it does portray a frighteningly plausible scenario. It is a commentary on how people treat one another in extreme situations, when basic humanity is put to the test." Lisa DelCol, Red Dirt Report, December 15, 2014.

"In OUTWORLD N. Harold Donley shows a future that has not yet come to pass, but sits frighteningly on the horizon of what could be … Anyone who cares at all about how precious life on earth is should read Outworld…", Erinn Gavaghan, Oklahoma City, OK"

"OUTWORLD is prescient (in an Orwellian sort of way) and a very unique take on the human condition…", Debra Levy Martinelli, Norman, Oklahoma

"OUTWORLD by N. Harold Donley is a fast paced novel that extends the lines of current political unrest into an artfully imagined future.

As in “The Time Machine” the earth has changed and two diverse groups have arisen. The Dome Dwellers are predictably enclosed physically as well as culturally. Hierarchal and highly controlled, they live a life built on the past and resources that will soon dry up. The Gnomon are a fascinating study in cultural anthropology as the author brings together, in a credible narrative, elements of popular culture, Native American custom and religion, progressive Christian theology, evolution and climate studies. The main characters are complex and the plot unpredictable. The ending leaves me wishing for the sequel…" The Rev. Dwight N. Helt, Norman, Oklahoma

***

From the Author.

These are only a small sample of the reviews by both media and readers over the past four years.  OUTWORLD has helped to provoke thought on climate change, but, as important, as Lisa DelCol cites, it has also provoked discussion of how we treat each other.

It would have been fairly simple to write another "us against them" survivalist tale.  

That was not what I wanted to write.  Instead, I wanted to explore the "better angels" of our nature and see what would manifest if we fashioned a community, a society, built upon family, cooperation and living in balance with the world around us. 

A few central questions lead me on my writing journey, principle among them was one as old as the New Testament, What if the 'meek' did, indeed, inherit the Earth?. What are the parameters of non-violence? and What if, instead of descending into dystopian violence and lawlessness,we saw an opportunity to radically change our culture and ourselves...for the better?

An altered climate, resulting from the pitiless way we treated our home, our planet, our "Garden", is the setting, but the way we regard one another in that world is the story.

N. Harold Donley is a free-lance writer who lives in the university community of Norman, OK. N. Harold studied at the University of Oklahoma.  

An extended biography is available at outworldthebook.com