Beyond These Frozen Walls (eBook, ePUB)

Outwardly this story is a gripping futuristic sci-fi techno-thriller: A story about a survivalist group in a post-plague future, an escape thriller about the struggle of a few people to free themselves from the totalitarian grip of an obsessive leader in an inhospitable Arctic environment.In 2039 AD an unforeseen water-borne plague envelops the earth in its deadly grip. Threatened with outright extinction, the surviving remnant of mankind is forced onto the northernmost reaches of land at the tip of Greenland. Only here, where they can drink water directly melted from glacial ice, are they immune to the plague. Once again they are hurtled back to an age where advanced technology has no use and the primitive art of survival is the mainstay. In the new world, The Remnant set about building a city on the banks of the Frederick Hyde Fjord. It will be the true gateway to the new world, they say, and call it "Trugate City." Before it is even completed, however, a cult faction breaks away from The Remnant. Led by the charismatic young American, Raphael, they call themselves "The Youth". They are young and adventurous and brazenly decide to create their own future by building their own compound beneath the ice some 15 km away in an old submarine. "Compound Sub-Zero", as it is named, defies everything that Trugate City stands for. It becomes the state of art model for survival in the hostile wilderness. In the beginning, Compound Sub-Zero is a glorious success. Raphael is extolled as a hero, and The Youth prosper as a result of his ingenuity and bravery. But as the years slip by, things begin to insidiously change. Raphael and his immediate henchmen begin to clothe themselves in the glory of their god-like status wielding absolute power in the compound. While all The Youth remain devoted to Raphael‘s cause, Carl Lorenzo, a young Namibian boy, and his Estonian friend, Ana, become steadily disillusioned with the way the compound is being led. As their love for each other grows they are no longer able to stomach the total and complete control over their lives. In a quest for freedom they confront the oppressive forces of fear and conformity, paying the price for disobedience. Their journey leads them back to Trugate City and then beyond into unchartered territories where they walk a knife edge between freedom and certain death. "Beyond these Frozen Walls" traverses the ideologies that govern different extremes of leadership, exploring both the effects of absolute power in a dictatorial cult as well as the futility of political correctness in a more "democratic" society. It is a multi-layered allegory that presents the reader with an eerie, powerful, and claustrophobic examination of the intensity of mind control, ruthlessly dissecting out the personal evils of power, control, and religion. It examines the megalomaniacal spirit of god-like arrogance that propels many "leaders" in the world today, the subterfuges they create, and the defiance of heroes to such.