Outland Exile

Book excerpt: The United States is dead and the Democratic Unity killed it. After catastrophic wars and the Meltdown, The Unity rules from its East Coast citadel, leaving the outlands to savages and its strangely altered plants. Providing free health care, employment, and ThiZ (the drug of any really civilized life), the Unity mandates retirement at forty before fatigue and error contaminate a culture of youth, innovation and vigor. With liberating body implants, history’s finest democracy supervises every citizen for her/his/its own and the nation’s welfare. Seventeen-year-old Lieutenant Malila Chiu, is a veteran officer who, despite well-earned fame, finds her career in tatters. Vandalism at a distant station triggers her demotion. Facing denunciation ... or worse, Malila’s one option is to enter the outlands to repair the station herself. At first, the repairs go well. Dropping from fatigue, she wakes to find a hideously ancient savage has murdered her platoon and now holds a knife at her throat, making her the ... Outland Exile. “A powerful blend of post-apocalyptic fiction, science fiction and brass-knuckle social commentary ... Outland Exile ... is a towering tour de force of a novel ... “Relentlessly visionary, thematically profound and impeccably edited, it is one of those rare stories that both entertains and enlightens.”– Blue Ink Reviews “(T)his unique and entertaining dystopian adventure is full of well-drawn characters ... Boutwell has created his own version of the future ...” – James Burt of Forward Clarion “Boutwell’s prose is sharp and efficient... creat(ing) an immersive world where provocative ideas propel a darkly satisfying adventure.” -- Kirkus Review