The James Expedition

The Whitehorse Chronicles are the stories of the Valley People living in the Yukon three hundred years from now who have adapted to climate change and resource depletion, but now struggle to keep a progressive and just society functioning in the face of a host of problems. Overwhelmed by drought, storms, floods, rising sea levels and heat, the governments in other parts of the continent have broken down and old boundaries have been redrawn. Militant, authoritarian tribes and states, which have grown out of the chaos, now covet Valley resources, especially coal, oil and natural gas, which the Valley people have banned from use. A flood of refugees that has been created by the disorder has moved to the Yukon bringing with them different cultures and technology, but much of the knowledge and technology gained during the Golden Age (1820-2078 C.E.) when civilization flourished has been lost.

In the year 2507, Cap Ironshank, who lives in Mile 1019 near Whitehorse discovers an unusual conscious AI machine, Celebric 67. This discovery is to set him on a quest to find knowledge from the Golden Age that could save his society. The Valley people have come under attack by the Suncorans, who are allied with an eastern realm, the Confederate States of America. As a result of his discovery, Cap Ironshank quickly finds himself embroiled in the conflict. He is sent on an expedition led by Leon James and accompanied by Dugger McPhee to recover a memory component of the AI machine.  This memory unit secreted in enemy territory near Boston contains an immense amount of information, including defense technology that could be the key to the survival of the Valley people. Celebric provides Cap with ancient servo-bots to help him on his way. As the recovery team tries to elude Confederate and Suncoran agents sent to intercept them, they rescue two women, Amy and Martha Brown, from a polygamous Mormon shepherd colony, who are on the run from Suncoran slavers. The women turn out to be a surprising boon to the expedition's efforts. After Leon is seriously wounded, Cap is forced to take a leadership role in a desperate struggle to recover the valuable memory unit, save his leader and ensure the survival of the Valley people.

Harvey Quamme is an award winning research scientist who has published papers on the effects of weather and climate change on agriculture production in refereed scientific journals. In this novel he weaves the threads of environmental impacts of global warming and fossil fuel depletion and knowledge of past impacts of climate change on society together into a setting for a gripping, insightful story. The science is realistic, the geography and place names real and the outcomes highly possible.

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