Three years, three months and eleven days: this is how long it has taken for By the Feet of Men to go from the initial planning stage (a 10,000-word document detailing every chapter in the book) to its official release today in bookstores around the world.
Here is the synopsis in all its 70s B-movie glory:
WANTED: Men and women willing to drive through the valley of the shadow of death.
The world’s population has been decimated by the Change, a chain reaction of events triggered by global warming. In Europe, governments have fallen, cities have crumbled and the wheels of production have ground to a halt. The Alps region, containing most of the continent’s remaining fresh water, has become a closed state with heavily fortified borders. Survivors cling on by trading through the Runners, truck drivers who deliver cargo and take a percentage.
Amid the ruins of central Germany, two Runners, Cassady and Ghazi, are called on to deliver medical supplies to a research base deep in the Italian desert, where scientists claim to be building a machine that could reverse the effects of the Change. Joining the pair is a ragtag collection of drivers, all of whom have something to prove. Standing in their way are starving nomads, crumbling cities, hostile weather and a rogue state hell-bent on the convoy's destruction. And there's another problem:
A whole lot of reviews for the novel are available here.
If you would like to buy the book (I do hope so), it is available from most bookstores, many of which can be found via this link. It is also available from Waterstones, WH Smith, Barnes & Noble, Target and elsewhere.
It has been a long process full of beatific moments and frustration, and I am glad to have experienced every minute of it. I know how lucky I am. I have counted on the support of so many people, and I would not have been able to reach this day without them. Thank you all.
Now on to the next novel.
FIRE.