The Fécunda

The Fécunda is a dystopian romance which describes the human condition before and after first contact with aliens. It deals with the collapse of civilisation and comes to around 250 pages (78k words). It is the first of a two novel sequence; the second novel is called The Xenocotrix.

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The Fécunda begins in the Late Pleistocene and then alternates between a post apocalyptic future (where most of the action takes place) and the present day.

Triste is a mercenary. He plies his trade hunting the ruins of New York, now known as FUA 1 – Former Urban Area Number One. The place is shunned, with good reason; it’s the haunt of perdokhi. These creatures are the result of a xenogenetic pandemic that reduced most people to sub-human brutes. What’s left of America hides in enclaves. The former urban areas are no longer safe; the perdokhi breed fast and they are mutating and FUA 1 is a hotspot. This situation helps obscure other things, such as a covert alien base, and Redmann. Redmann have found a way to live unmolested amongst the perdokhi. Their line of business puts them beyond the law. Naturally they are secretive.

Shoe is a Redmann; too long has she lived among them. She needs to escape. It will be risky because she’s not like normal humans. Besides, Redmann’s reach is long; but she has a plan. She falls in with Triste. Triste’s current mission is to survey an abandoned laboratory. He relies on drugs to augment his survival instincts, soon he’ll have to return to civilisation – he thinks he’s rescuing her.
He doesn’t know about Redmann and it would be better if things stayed that way; they’d be enemies if he knew what she was. She is careful. A relationship develops. They locate his mission target and stumble across information relating to the collapse of the West. Ultimately, this ties in to the present day narrative, which is centred on the very same place – a genetic research laboratory.

The pandemic had other consequences. It prevented Earth from joining the interstellar community and those aliens who turned up for first contact are also trapped here. They blame humanity. Some of them see opportunities for mischief.
Shoe isn’t as defenceless as she seems. Time is running out.

The Fécunda is a character driven adventure. It takes in pre-history, snippets of science (such as Darwin’s theory of evolution) and speculates on why aliens interested in this remote planet, might prefer to remain unnoticed.

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Cover image:

[to be added]

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Chapter list:

→→ Star Crossed
→→ Late Pleistocene
→→ Star Beings
Capitaires
Gun Law
A High Place
Relics
Cat
and Mouse
Bearer Note
→ Cradle Hood
→ BVI
→ Peer Pressure
→ Observer Effect
→ Poulbots
Misadventure
Berkeley Heights
RUSH
la belle époque
Khwarezm
Manhattan
Trap Door
→ Near Earth Object
→ Xhenogie Corp
→ Flicker