IN THE AFTER

Surviving alone after an alien invasion and the ensuing apocalypse turns out to be only the beginning of Amy’s trials.

Fourteen-year-old Amy has her paranoid, scientist mother and hippie father to thank for her survival when the aliens land in Central Park. Though neither of her parents is home when the invasion occurs, the house is green enough to be supplied with solar electricity and rainwater plumbing, and it’s surrounded by an electric fence. Amy and a foundling girl she names Baby live there for three years, communicating via sign language to avoid detection by the acute hearing of the small, voracious aliens who have wiped out most of humanity. When their sanctuary is threatened by a very human threat, the girls escape and find New Hope, a colony of human survivors…but the secrets of the regimented survivor community prove to be every bit as dangerous, if not more so, than the alien invaders. Debut author Lunetta crafts a bang-up, twisty sci-fi adventure/thriller that begs continuation. Plucky, smart, inquisitive Amy’s first-person narration is enjoyably snarky, and this end of the world is original enough to make it a good addition to any collection of post-apocalyptic fiction.

Fans will be rabid for The End, scheduled for summer 2014.