Cascadia

From the bestselling middle grade author of the Wildwood Chronicles and the front man of the indie rock band, the Decemberists, an adult debut novel about whether a man can survive the end of the world with his soul intact—perfect for fans of Station Eleven and Public Access Afterworld.

Welcome to Cascadia!

In a near-future Pacific Northwest devastated by climate catastrophe, separatists have carved out a new nation. Run by an autonomous system of government overseen by an all-seeing AI called Matriarch, the country has become a hypercapitalist state—its cities and landmarks sold off and renamed for commercial brands, its citizens’ worth measured by purchasing power and tracked through their Consumer Standing. Overzealous fandoms have organized into armed militias. To the east looms the neighboring Incorporated States of America, led by an autocratic “boy executive.”

And Barnaby Chambers, everyday guy and resident bio-broker, is just trying get by.

Barnaby buys and sells cauls. In this brave new world, these pieces of cast-off amnion are widely believed to increase fertility and can fetch decent money on the open market, if you have the right connections. So far, Barnaby has survived by keeping his head down and his hands clean—until one day following a lead, he suddenly finds himself responsible for a foundling baby named Vernonia.

In another time and place, Emil Franke, one of the world’s leading software developers, is driven by a dream of digital governance. He takes under his wing a young genius, Gershwin Datta, but the two eventually find themselves at opposite ends of a technological race to save the world from itself. How Emil and Gershwin’s rivalry manifests and collides into Barnaby’s journey is the magic of Cascadia, the highly original, human, and thought-provoking adult debut novel by celebrated writer and musician, Colin Meloy.