the true history of the... Tar by Taylor Hohulin

To some, it’s known as filth, or blight. Others call it the Black God in reverential whispers. Whatever name it takes, the effects are the same. Cities left in ruins. People turned into monsters. Living infections with no known cure. The best anyone can do is avoid it, but even that gets harder the more it spreads.

Description:

Release Date: November 27th, 2018

Brendan Cobb calls it tar, but there might be as many names for it as cities left standing.

To some, it’s known as filth, or blight. Others call it the Black God in reverential whispers. Whatever name it takes, the effects are the same. Cities left in ruins. People turned into monsters. Living infections with no known cure. The best anyone can do is avoid it, but even that gets harder the more it spreads.

Brendan survives this waking nightmare by trading salvage for shelter and for repairs to his cybernetic arm, until a newcomer arrives, convinced Brendan is the key to ridding the world of tar once and for all. Reluctantly, Brendan and his mechanic join the newcomer on a journey across the desolate highways of a ruined world, where he learns the true history of the tar…and of the dark power inside him, which grows stronger every day.

GUEST POST

Between Probability and Possibility

 Why We Love Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

The post-apocalyptic genre is nothing new, but it does seem like there’s been a recent rash of books, movies, and TV shows exploring what the end of the world might look like. It would be easy to say it’s a self-perpetuating cycle—people keep making post-apocalyptic stuff because others keep making it and audiences keep consuming it—but what if there was another reason? What if there was something about the genre that resonates so deeply with our very cores that we can’t help but keep coming back to these stories about the end of the world?

I think a lot of it does have to do with the probability of an apocalypse. I think most of us, deep down, truly believe the world as we know it will come to an end. Permanence is hard for us to imagine. Everything we own gets older and breaks down and eventually has to be replaced, so why wouldn’t the same be true of the world?

The other component feeding the genre’s popularity is the multitude of possibilities an apocalypse opens up. There’s always a little spark that comes when we imagine what it might be like to live after the slate has been wiped clean. No more bills, no more governments, no more Facebook. All the external stuff gets stripped away, and you’re left with pure, unadorned humanity.

The whole stripping-away part is what’s really inspiring to me. Post-apocalypse lends itself to an exploration of human nature. Without authority figures to punish wrongdoing or encourage good behavior, how do people act? As a Christian, I believe there is something fundamentally broken in humanity—something that makes our hearts bend toward selfishness and mistreatment of our fellow man. But as a Christian, I also believe there is such a thing as goodness, something we can and should pursue, even if it doesn’t come naturally to us, and even if the pursuit of goodness means a retreat from safety.

I see this tension in glowing neon when I read or watch post-apocalyptic entertainment. I see a world where the number one rule is to survive, even if it means distrusting everyone and taking advantage of the weak. Yet at the same time, when I read post-apocalyptic fiction, I find myself rooting for goodness—and I don’t think I’m alone. I cheer for the little communities that band together and sacrifice for each other, even if in doing so, each member of the community opens himself to betrayal.

Or maybe post-apocalyptic fiction is popular because it’s so daggum cool. Crumbling buildings? Protagonists with gnarly scars? Mutants and monsters waiting to attack in every shadow? Yes, please.

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About the author:

Taylor Hohulin is a radio personality by morning, a science fiction author by afternoon, and asleep by 9:30. He is the author of The Marian Trilogy, Tar, and other genre-blending works. He lives in West Des Moines, Iowa, with his wife, where they are owned by a dog and a cat.

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