e. m. kerkman

Hello everyone! I have some exciting news–after three and a half very long years at Hamilton College, I have finally begun work on my thesis! Rather than droning on and on about how cool this new adult sci-fi adventure novel set on a floating city is going to be, here’s the elevator pitch:

DE TERRA AD INFINITUM is the first book of a New Adult, post-apocalyptic sci-fi duology, with an expected word count of 80,000 ultimately. The story follows Alexia “Terrah” Terranova through her career illegally racing planes beneath Helix City—a massive dieselpunk city floating in Earth’s lower atmosphere—and her desire to do more with her life. When planes begin exploding during races, Terrah finds herself caught up in a conspiracy that leads to her attending Helix City’s airforce academy in search of answers. There, she’s joined by Callum LeGrand, the abrasive and reclusive sole survivor of a mission to Mars that exploded shortly after takeoff, and Elspeth Astara, chemistry whiz and daughter of the academy’s headmistress. Together, they discover that an experimental fuel is the source of these explosions, and trace the fuel’s creation to TerraCorp, a company founded by Terrah and Callum’s parents, now managed by Callum’s uncle, Axiom LeGrand. Terrah is forced to unite the two halves of her life—her friends at the academy and her racing team, Rosie Abdenego and Ryker Mauvais—in a last-ditch effort to not only prove the truth behind the conspiracy, but save the lives of those she loves. As it all comes to a head during the Midyear Race, Terrah’s sabotaged plane explodes, sending her crashing down to Earth’s surface. Her story then becomes one of survival, while her friends bring evidence of their discovery to those who can help—but it’s too little, too late.

Interested? Follow along on my twitter as I finally embark on writing the book I’ve been teasing for the better part of a year. I only anticipate having time to write 30k of the estimated 80k words this semester, but I have no plans on stopping until it’s done. Buckle up, folks; Terrah’s story is going to be one wild ride.