The Return of the Flame
*This novel is not yet published.
THE RETURN OF THE FLAME is the next iteration of the classic dystopian novel. Following in the thematic footsteps of Huxley’s Brave New World, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and Lowry’s The Giver, this novel is both literary and accessible with a sensibility influenced by C. S. Lewis.
Both timely and timeless, this love letter to books deals with existential struggle in the age of AI, asserting creation as the central human imperative. Reminiscent of epic and fantasy, this slow-burn, cozy dystopian is grounded in a future at our doorstep.
Aedan is a quiet boy with a dormant gift. He can consume books through the fire in his hands, instantly absorbing the words into his mind. In his world, where personal devices rule, students read stories generated on their slates, not printed in books. When Aedan holds a physical book for the first time in class, the flame burns inside him.
Having one friend, a virtual companion, and an absent relationship with his parents, Aedan forms a bond with his teacher, Alice, who steers him towards the Old Library, where every book in existence is preserved and watched over by a librarian who would do anything to protect them.
Confronted by the reality that human stories are lost to the past, Aedan secretly burns books into himself, and once discovered, must decide whether to give in to his selfish hunger or give up all that he has come to know.
In lieu of censorship, THE RETURN OF THE FLAME addresses the deluge of information, the rise of automation and artificial intelligence, and what awaits humanity if technology takes over something as distinctly human as storytelling.
Word Count: 78,500
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Speculative, Cozy Dystopian, Young Adult, Literary
Comparable Titles: Feed, M. T. Anderson; Piranesi, Susanna Clarke
Inspired by: Brave New World, Aldous Huxley; Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury; The Giver, Lowis Lowry
Classic Inspiration: Paradise Lost, John Milton; Frankenstein, Mary Shelley; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis; Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes.
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