Clive Semmens – författare

To Birgom''s people, the Known World is bounded by treacherous ice to the North and South, by the endless ocean to the West, and by impenetrable jungles and merciless deserts in the East.

Birgom leaves this world behind.

Sometimes joyful, sometimes desperately sad, sometimes written in excruciating detail or forgotten for years, Birgom''s Diary charts his long and eventful life in a world that''s recognizably ours, yet very different. Maybe a few hundred years in the future, maybe a few thousand, I don’t know. Post-apocalyptic, but so far post- that the apocalypse is the subject of speculation or mythology, not history – on the rare occasions that it enters anyone’s consciousness at all. This is not a sci-fi world of high technology or space travel, but nor is it a world of primitive savages. But you’ll have to read it…

In the back of the book there are some maps that Birgom drew of his travels.

It''s in the same world as my previous novel, Exile, with some of the same characters – Birgom is an important secondary character in Exile, and his diary is mentioned.

The "Story Elements" below are oversimplified: while there''s a lot of nautical setting, there''s a lot of non-nautical setting too; and the time period is wrong.

A very varied collection of short (or very short) stories, a recount, a bit of polemic, and one poem. Exploring environmental issues, the human mind, relationships, politics and more…

Some are set in the recent past, some in the present, some in the near future, and many in the distant future; two are set in space, but most are firmly on the ground - two in India, two in Antarctica, two at sea; most could be almost anywhere on Earth.

Many but not all have a post-apocalyptic flavour - sometimes so far post-apocalyptic that the apocalypse is forgotten.

Only three involve highly advanced technology, and that scientifically reasonably credible; none involve any magic or anything fantastical.

Most but not all of the protagonists are human.

It''s 2024, on a timeline that diverged from yours in the late 1970s.

"Going Forth" is a sequel to "Pawns." In 1990, in "Pawns", Pete, Persie, and Merly were in their mid-twenties. They''re now about sixty. Little Mikey is one of their grandchildren.

Life is very different now almost everyone in the world is gone, but for Mikey (who is six), it''s just how life is - until the family decides that as a matter of survival it has to undertake a huge expedition. Thousands of miles in a post-apocalyptic world…

As usual, the "Genre" information is nonsense…