Dread Spring

After nuclear armageddon, Chloe's days have fallen into a routine: wake up from the nightmares at four a.m., farm chores with Vishesh, schooling with the kids, fight with Monty, and then an early bedtime. As long as their vegetable patch stays viable, they can avoid a slow and painful death.

But this season their field is contaminated. Short of asking for help from the walking towns--mechanical hulks developed to decontaminate land and water--there's no recourse. Chloe risks going behind Monty's back to contact the towns, but the response isn't at all what she expected. Now that she knows there are bigger problems out there, she can't just leave well enough alone. But what can a former computer scientist hope to do in a world of seeds and soil?

Dread Spring is a post-apocalyptic adventure about love, loyalty, and building the life you want.

Content notes: Domestic abuse, pregnancy, death of family member, occasional use of obscenities, gunshot wound. See the book page on Elizabeth F. Shearly's website for detailed content notes.

Dread Spring was written and is set on the unceded land of the Om跩魾inin魾ag (Algonquin), Anishinabewaki, and Kanienʼkeh?ka (Mohawk) where Elizabeth is a settler. Colonial place names are used throughout the book due to their ubiquity. Please see the full Land Acknowledgement on Elizabeth F. Shearly's website for more information and recommendations of post-apocalyptic sci-fi books by Indigenous authors from the region.