STRANGE TOMORROW

by Jean E. Karl ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 23, 1985

This fleshes out the Clordian Sweep alluded to in Karl's The Turning Place (1976) and But We Are Not of Earth (1981). The first half deals with 13-year-old ""Janie One,"" who, through unlikely circumstances, finds herself, her Air Force captain father, and her younger brother in an underground Presidential bunker when an attack from the planet Clord destroys all exposed life on earth--grass, trees, everything. Then, while their father lies in bed in a deep depression, the two children establish radio communication with a few other survivors. Part two, set generations later, takes up ""Janie Two,"" a novice Sustainer setting off from her home cave as part of a program to populate different valleys according to the plans and seed supplies of the earlier Janie's ""wiser"" generation. In her new home at Zeta Valley, Janie Two worries that she hasn't learned enough of healing to care for the small (three-household) colony, but her first case proves her able. She also longs to communicate with Sustainers in other valleys and worries that the Zeta people are becoming grim from all work and no play; this, too, is worked out when she helps establish an annual convocation back at the mother Valley. This doesn't give readers much to get excited about, though it may help fill in the series universe. JLG.

Pub Date: April 23, 1985

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1985

Categories: FICTION