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Foreword

GARY POOLE


When John and I first started talking about the idea that ended up becoming the first of the Black Tide novels, neither of us thought that what he was creating would end up becoming so, well, extensive.

What you hold in your hands (or are reading on your reader or listening to someone read aloud) is the fourth collection of stories set in the ever-expanding Black Tide universe. Which goes along with eight novels and a graphic novel adaptation. With, hopefully, more to come.

Which raises the question, why has this series struck such a chord with readers?

Postapocalyptic fiction is hardly a new genre. Writers have been intrigued by the “What happens when civilization falls?” question for decades upon decades. Everything from post-nuclear classics like On the Beach and Alas, Babylon to more fanciful classics such as A Canticle for Leibowitz, and of course the bevy of end-of-the-world novels, television series, films, and games. We, as readers and viewers, have long been attracted to the often very dark worlds portrayed therein and the characters who strive to overcome against long odds. If they overcome at all.

But what makes the Black Tide universe different?

It is a question that John and I have talked about many times over the past few years. And from conversations with fans and other writers, we have come to a simple conclusion: it’s all about hope.

Not just Hope, as John so prophetically named one of the most popular characters in the series, but hope as in “even in the darkest times, there will always be someone to light a candle.” For as I’ve written about in previous forewords, the entire core of this series has not been about the infected but about the people who strive to not only survive but try to make the world a better place. Or at least somewhat more survivable. Hope is one of the strongest and most human of all emotions. It is what keeps us going when everything—and everyone—around us is telling us to stop. It’s what drives us to build, to create, and yes, even purge when necessary. For without hope, there is nothing to live for, no reason to take another breath.

Each anthology has had an overarching theme: the aftermath, communication, rising above the challenges. For this collection, John and I wanted to go even further. Sure, it’s great to survive, it’s great to be able to reach out to other survivors, and it’s great to start building for a future. But the real challenge is how to keep that future alive. How not just to survive, not just to rebuild, but to actually thrive. To stand united. To tell the universe that mankind can take whatever nature throws against us and not back down.

Even when the enemy is no longer the infected, but ourselves.

I could write more, but, like you, I want to get to the “good stuff.” And there’s a lot of very good stuff in this anthology.

I hope you enjoy it.


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