THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT at The Tattered Cover Aspen Grove

Book talk at The Tattered Cover Aspen Grove, July 11, 6-7:30 MDT for THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT, a critically acclaimed new “cli-fi” novel.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tim Weed is the author of A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing, Will Poole’s Island, and The Afterlife Project. A former international travel guide, he serves on the core faculty of the Newport MFA in creative writing and is a cofounder of the Cuba Writers Program. He is based in Vermont, but is a third generation Coloradan who grew up in Denver.

ABOUT THE BOOK

“Smart, achingly beautiful, and (yes) important: a gripping novel of climate cataclysm with a cast of characters I cared about deeply.” —Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Flight Attendant

“A fascinating tale that is difficult to put down; dire ecological challenges and imaginative future discovery combine in this very engrossing read.“— Library Journal, starred review

“It’s a relatively simple idea, but Tim Weed makes it into something special with first rate nature writing and a story that underlines how connected we all are to our human and physical environment—which can be a source of resilience even as everything falls apart together.” — Toronto Star

“A dark yet hopeful story that is engrossing enough to be a beach read . . . Weed reminds us why cli-fi matters.” — Seven Days

Separated by ten thousand years, a team of scientists and their test subject must work together to save the human species—before it’s too late . . .

With humanity facing imminent extinction, Centauri Project scientists use technology originally designed for interstellar travel to send a test subject ten millennia into Earth’s future. Marooned in an uninhabited wilderness, microbiologist Nicholas Hindman searches for evidence of remnant populations. He has a protocol to follow and is determined to do so to the bitter end—though he knows he’s probably searching in vain, stranded on an empty planet silently orbiting the sun.

Meanwhile, back in 2068 AD, a devastating hyperpandemic has quelled all talk of interstellar travel and thrown the future of humanity into grave doubt. Four surviving members of the Centauri team board a vintage solar-powered sailing yacht for a harrowing journey in search of a second test subject. Their destination is a small volcanic island north of Sicily rumored to harbor that rarest of creatures: a woman capable of getting pregnant, thereby ensuring this generation of Homo sapiens isn’t the last. But first they must make it halfway across the post-apocalyptic globe, risking heatwaves, oceanic megastorms, murderous gangs, deranged cult leaders, a volcanic eruption, and the dangerous microbes that continue to circulate through the planet’s atmosphere.

A finalist for the Prism Prize for Climate Literature, The Afterlife Project encompasses a desperate quest for the key to the future of humanity, an impossible love story, and a search for meaning across the inconceivable vastness of geological time.