Beyond Late-K

In the not-too-distant future villagers forge their lives in the aftermath of the breakdown of civilization - including the loss of modern infrastructure and technology. These ten stories explore the legacy of Bernard's dystopian novel Late-K Lunacy, .Late-K referring to late stage vulnerabilities of complex socio-ecological systems. "Up and down the Ohio Valley people were struggling with post-apocalyptic circumstances as they tried to survive, and help their families and communities." -- Ted Bernard The world has catapulted over the Late-K cliff and people regroup in a downsized world stripped of modernity yet brimming with possibility and hope. Cover and illustrations by ALEXA MILLER, a 2016 graduate of the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University. Following four years as a graphic designer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, still based in Pittsburgh, she now freelances at alexamillerdesign.com. In 2018, she produced the book trailer for Late-K Lunacy.

About the Author :
TED BERNARD earned degrees from Bridgewater State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With a PhD in geography, he taught legions of students at Kenyatta University, the University of Botswana, and Ohio University while also doing what academics do--scoring grants, writing technical reports, publishing journal articles, toying with administration, and thoroughly enjoying the life of the mind. Although creative writing was mostly verboten in academia, it has become his obsession since retirement with the publication of two works of fiction: Late-K Lunacy in 2018 and Beyond Late-K in 2023. He lives with his wife, Donna Lofgren, on a southern Ohio farm in the Shade River watershed.

Review :
I love how Bernard's stories take us to a future that feels like the past ... From the perspective of a new and difficult world we gaze back at "the pointless materialism, the folly of permanence." - John Thorndike, author. (The World Against Her Skin). Picking up where his novel Late-K Lunacy left off, here is a candid exploration of how various characters in the future cope with the "harsh simplicity" of a decimated world. - Kathleen Davies, author. (Sacred Groves). A main message that I take from this book is that after we lose all our material possessions, the environment is degraded, and our health is difficult to maintain, what we have left are relationships. The sustainability of rewarding and good relationships might be the one thing that saves us from a dystopian future. -- Michele Morrone, (Ailing in Place: Environmental and Health Disparities in Appalachia). Bernard handles male and female and alternative-gendered characters equally well, with a perceptive eye toward the strengths and weaknesses of all. Mostly, his primary characters possess a strong work ethic and an inborn wisdom that is needed for their embrace of a world with just a partial skeleton of the previous political and social structure. The southern Ohio communities of the stories are naturally multidimensional and multicultural, with the egalitarian tendencies one would expect of most humans when physical survival is enhanced by cooperative behavior in a post-carbon world. -- Kate Robinson, The U.S. Review of Books For those of you who are new to Late-K Lunacy and Beyond Late-K: Stories of Collapse and Rebirth, you are in for a treat. They are part of a genre of books we might call post-apocalyptic fiction for the thinking person. You won't find zombies here or strange new species spawned by dangerous levels of nuclear radiation. No alien creatures or sinister characters bent on world domination either. Instead, we have humans just like us. Humans who have inherited the world of generations past. Humans who are suffering the consequences of their own decisions and failings. Humans who saw it coming but did nothing to change course. -- Geoff Buckley