Northern Ont. author pens 6th sci-fi novel

Northern Ont. author releases 6th sci-fi novel Sudbury area author Scott Overton joins Tony Ryma to discuss his newly novel 'Indigent Earth.'

Sudbury area author Scott Overton has conjured up a compelling adventure story – his sixth novel – exploring what would happen if social divides were taken to the extreme.

Overton’s new science fiction book ‘Indigent Earth,’ the rich, wealthy and powerful have abandoned our ravaged planet 500 years earlier to allow it to heal from the damage it has suffered from industrialization. While the world’s most power went to live in space colonies, many were left on Earth to live in stagnating communities.

The book begins as those who abandoned the planet decide to return and focus on a discontent survivor named Killian Morningcloud, who works a “dead-end life” and has dreamed of the day colonists return hoping they will take him to the stars, and Natira Celestia, an aristocrat and video celebrity on the space colonies who is “dying to get to Earth” to meet the noble savages that live there.

Overton told CTV News that when the pair finally meet they really clash.

“When they discover a secret that powerful people are desperate to hide, they face a brutal test of endurance and shattered dreams,” said Overton in the summary of his novel.

“Their fire-and-water pairing will shape the course of the whole human race.”

The author said while not specified in the story itself the events of the book play out in northern Ontario.

“It is in northern Ontario,” he said.

“In a very small community in the northern Ontario Boreal Forest.”

Overton added that some of the story also takes place on one of the space colonies – about the distance of the moon.

Overton said as readers may have gathered from the title the book explores colonialism and economic inequality.

“It is not meant to hit anybody over the head (though,)” he said.

“It’s an adventure story – it’s exciting, there’s a lot of action going on… But it does have that strong theme. I was trying to picture the colonialism of the future. I don’t think it is going to be European versus Indigenous peoples – it's going to be perhaps the wealthy and the uber-wealthy and the rest of us.”

Overton explained that with what has gone on in the world recently he feels that anyone could end up on the wrong side of the “privilege divide” in the future.

Overton is a well-known radio morning host for more than 25 years in Sudbury, Overton has now built a second career as a science fiction writer. His radio-themed debut novel Dead Air was shortlisted for a Northern Lit Award in 2012. Since then his other four previous novels ‘The Primus Labyrinth,’ ‘Naïda,’ 'The Dispossession of Dylan Knox' and ‘Augment Nation’ have also been well-received – readers often compare his works with those of Michael Crichton.

Overton’s latest novel is available as both an ebook and in traditional paperback. The author said it will mostly be sold from online retails such as Amazon – though he and a friend will be selling copies of the book at the Sudbury Market on Oct. 14.

He also has several short stories available on his website.

For more information on his writing and where he will be, follow him on 'X' formerly Twitter.