J. R. Devoe
Science Fiction & Fantasy Author
Onero's Hunt
In a decimated world, two Antarctic nations wage war over food. Their only hope: a seed vault in the Arctic, and an outcast who must cross the ravaged world to reach it.
The Dark Monarch Trilogy
Exploring Anterra
Year 2722 CE
Illustrated by Chaim Holtjer · © 2022 Chaim Holtjer
THE CONTINENT BENEATH THE ICE
For the release of the second edition of Onero’s Hunt, I commissioned illustrating cartographer Chaim Holtjer to create a representation of Antarctica 700 years after a catastrophe caused the complete melting of the polar ice caps.Pictured above are the results of the Bedmap2 project, performed by the British Antarctic Survey. This provided the basis of the geography of Anterra, however, the map of the story world also had to factor in the results of isostatic rebound, a process where landmasses rise after being pushed down by massive ice sheets.Fun fact: parts of Northern Europe are still rebounding from the last Ice Age! The rebound happens in two phases. The first is an immediate elastic rebound upon melting of the oppressing ice, up to 4.7 inches a year. The second phase happens more slowly, over millennia, up to a centimeter a year.So, in the story realm, as the shorelines of the world receded due to the rising sea levels, the hidden land of Anterra rose from the depths of its icy oppression.In addition to providing unclaimed land, the risen southern continent also provided respite from a world suffering extreme temperatures and radiation. Indeed, the covered landmass is larger than the continental United States.What could go wrong with the whole world flocking in desperation to one isolated piece of land?
The story behind the story
It was March of 2013 when I found myself backpacking in Argentina. My love for genre-blending fiction—which includes dystopian, sci-fi, fantasy, and post-apocalyptic—had me playing with this idea about a future when all the world's ice melted.In Ushuaia, I found a last-minute deal on an expedition to Antarctica.Even with forty percent off, the cost of a bunk in a twin room—shared with a stranger—would have got me another four months of travel through South America. Trust me, I did the math. Many times.I started weighing my options, but in the end it all came down to a coin toss. Heads = north. Tails = south. It was 3/3 for tails, so I made my way straight to the office to book my ticket.
Learning about geological processes online is one thing, but there are certain elements of that distant land that I wanted to experience with my own senses.I'd been to a good many beautiful places in my travels, but few required such strong coaxing to move me along. I like to keep moving, but Antarctica was different. That fresh air, glaring sun sparkling off pristine water, and jagged mountains everywhere I looked felt like I'd wandered into a dream.
Onero's Hunt is set 700 years in the future, after the polar ice caps melted, so it was solid land that really drew me to Antarctica. I needed to get a sense of the landscape after the ice was gone. Luckily it wasn't long after arriving at the peninsula tip that I was boarding a landing craft to go step foot on the southernmost continent.On one such landing, a few of us stripped off and went for a dip. To say it was cold would be an understatement, but it certainly woke me up. Though it ruined my waterproof watch, I continued to wear it for some time after for the novelty of having Antarctic water bubbles and fog trapped underneath.
I wanted that deep southern sun glare in my eyes as it would be in my characters'.
I spent much of those nights above decks watching the full moon cast its silvery light over the water while giving shape to the jagged mountain ranges around us. The sound of whale blows in the dark served as a reminder of how deep into unspoiled nature we'd traveled.But it wasn't all smooth sailing in my heart. The farther we left that magical land behind, the more I longed to go back.I could only imagine the despair of my characters leaving behind the only place they've ever known, sailing toward a stormy horizon to unthinkable dangers on lands unseen for 700 years.
Onero's Hunt - Atmospheric Playlist
Multiple Formats
Onero's Hunt is available in eBook, Paperback, and Hardcover.
More Antarctic beauty
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