The Steading: A Story of Survival and New Beginnings (The Steading Trilogy #1)

The modern world has vanished, the human race is on the verge of extinction; Mother Nature is firmly back in charge.

A desperate band of survivors seeks out a place of possible safety, The Steading, where they hope to carve out a new life. However, simply staying hidden is not enough. It is a battle for survival in a world which is indifferent to their plight. Will mistakes of the past be repeated? Can this remnant of humanity find a different path and save itself?

This gentle tale is set in a world similar to our own, with various Nordic and Celtic influences, at some unspecified ‘post-modern’ point in the future. Society as we know it has long since vanished. The natural world has fully reasserted itself, leaving a few isolated pockets of human existence, teetering on the verge of extinction. Birth rates are very low and infant mortality very high; the cause is unclear. Remaining settlements are slowly withering out of existence.

The story is told almost entirely without spoken dialogue, as if it is being recounted around a campfire. It is a tale of new beginnings, which follows a small group as they carve out a new life. The story is intrinsically part guide to survival and the basics of homesteading, a blend of fiction and non-fiction. This unusual style of storytelling reflects the author’s preferred means of communication as an autistic person.

The tale sets out a more positive possibility for a future where rampant and destructive ‘modernity’ has vanished. With a natural check on the human population, Earth has become a properly functioning ecosystem and is mostly a near Eden. This book is therefore a somewhat idealised best-case scenario, a #cosyapocalypse. Book two, The Fallen, is it's counterpart!

Readers may recognise influences for some locations in the story, loosely based around the breath-taking landscapes of Snowdonia and beyond, the Author’s home in North Wales.