Introducing the first book in a speculative fiction series called The Atavist Effect: Rika's Run, this sets the framework of an epic tale that starts with the actions of unlikely characters, whose pursuit of their faith, family, and freedom put them against distant, seemingly all-powerful forces. The story is told from the twenty-second century through the research of a maker's apprentice trying to keep a seat in the qargi, the maker school. Like a complex puzzle, he pieces together old family stories to discover how a girl changed the events of the twenty-first century. On a stolen flying contraption and searching for her brother, Rika sowed the seeds of rebellion against technocratic globalists quietly seizing control and restricting people's freedoms.

The storyteller already knows that the world collapsed in the late twenty-first century; after all, it is a part of the curriculum in school. But the mystery is how it happened and how it all came back together. How do the choices of the previous generations impact the present? What is the right response when faced with difficult decisions against impossible odds?

While the book deals with tough issues, it's written for a diverse audience--from youth to those blessed with age. The characters are multigenerational, opening the door for families to read the book together to discover and talk about what happens and how things work in the world between the pages. It's not science fiction. It's science possible. Welcome to the age of cold-steam--a time for the makers.