Blight

When an agribusiness facility producing genetically engineered food releases a deadly toxin into the environment, seventeen-year-old Tempest Torres races to deliver the cure before time runs out.

From the author of the acclaimed American Booksellers Association’s Indies Introduce pick Salvage, which was called “Brilliant, feminist science fiction” by Stephanie Perkins, the internationally bestselling author of Anna and the French Kiss. This stand-alone action-adventure story is perfect for fans of Oryx and Crake and The House of the Scorpion.

Seventeen-year-old Tempest Torres has lived on the AgraStar farm north of Atlanta, Georgia, since she was found outside its gates at the age of five. Now she’s part of the security force guarding the fence and watching for scavengers―people who would rather steal genetically engineered food from the Company than work for it. When a group of such rebels accidentally sets off an explosion in the research compound, it releases into the air a blight that kills every living thing in its path―including humans. With blight-resistant seeds in her pocket, Tempest teams up with a scavenger boy named Alder and runs for help. But when they finally arrive at AgraStar headquarters, they discover that there’s an even bigger plot behind the blight―and it’s up to them to stop it from happening again.

Inspired by current environmental issues, specifically the genetic adjustment of seeds to resist blight and the risks of not allowing natural seed diversity, this is an action-adventure story that is Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake meets Nancy Farmer’s House of the Scorpion.

She was trained to hunt scavengers, not trust them. But with the world dying around her, what other choice does she have?

• A YA Dystopian World: In a future controlled by corporate agribusiness, 17-year-old security guard Tempest Torres has never questioned her loyalty—until the company’s genetically engineered food becomes a weapon.
• A Tense Survival Story: When a deadly blight is unleashed from the AgraStar research compound, Tempest must race against time to find a cure before everything and everyone she knows is wiped out.
• Post-Apocalyptic Adventure: Forced to flee the only home she’s ever known, Tempest must navigate a dying landscape with Alder, a boy from the outside who challenges everything she believes.
• For Fans of The Hunger Games: Perfect for readers who love high-stakes, action-packed science fiction with a strong female protagonist fighting a corrupt system.

Alexandra Duncan is an author and librarian. She lives in the mountains of western North Carolina with her husband and two monstrous, furry cats.