First published 1977
The Kid arrives in Bellona carrying only fragments of memory about his own identity. This midwestern city has become a place where natural laws bend and break. Buildings burn to ash one day and stand whole the next. Two moons hang in the sky where one should be. Time moves differently for different people, stretching a day into a week for some while others experience normal hours. Most residents fled after the disaster struck, leaving behind the desperate and displaced. The Kid joins gangs of young outcasts who roam the empty streets. He takes lovers, writes poetry, and searches for meaning in a place that defies explanation. The city draws those society has pushed aside: the poor, the violent, the lost. As The Kid navigates this transformed landscape, he must confront not only the mystery of what happened to Bellona but the deeper puzzle of who he was before he forgot his own name. The disaster's cause remains hidden, but its effects reshape everyone who stays.
Genres: science-fiction, dystopia, literary-fiction, 20th-century, alternate-universe
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Bellona
Period: 20th-century
936 pages · Hardcover · Gregg Press
Content warnings: violence