Auger's Touchstone

Beyond dystopia ... After a millennium of cultural eclipse, the Earth's human inhabitants have resurrected civilization and rekindled high tech. But immense challenges loom. The Outer World remains caught up in barbarism. A tech-enriched plutocracy runs the Inner World. Prosperity is commonplace, but so is poverty and inequality. Schisms roil the Gaia faith as ancient artifacts come to light. And scientists struggle to convince the public that an errant asteroid could bring earthly extinction, and thus for humanity the end of the line, if not repelled. Set in Silicon Valley 27 centuries hence, Auger's Touchstone is a tale of historians, astronomers, techno-elites, agrarians, believers, dissidents, nihilists, a bruja, and a brilliant young couple living by their wits and trying to make sense of it all. It's a world much different from ours, but also surprisingly familiar. Ideas and adventures abound. Auger's Touchstone completes a four-part dystopian, science fiction, apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic series, which was begun with the novel September Snow, published in 2006. The first novel 40 to 80 years in the future, the second 60 to 110 years in the future, the third 600 years in the future, the final book, Auger's Touchstone, 2700 years in the future. The first two novels deal with the profound effects of climate change, accompanied with the development of a "second half of the 21st century" for of neo-totalitarianism. Book Three deals with a primitive form of theocracy, after the collapse of civilization. Each of these books being dystopian are all dark in nature, but they end with a ray of hope. Auger's Touchstone -- showing a high tech Silicon Valley of the far distant future -- is also dark, but optimistic. Each of the books are "stand alones," as is Auger's Touchstone, the final book in the tetralogy. Auger's Touchstone can be read as the "first" in the series, indeed it is the perfect setup for reading the technically first book September Snow.