The Judas Syndrome: Book one in The Judas Syndrome series (Paperback or Softback)

The Nineties were ruled by Gen Xers. If you remember the Nineties - with limited cell phones and internet and true social networking, then The Judas Syndrome trilogy was written for you. You: the greatest generation of our time. Generation X.

Comparisons between the fractured world outside and the world of the mind beg the question: which will collapse first in this coming-of-age story, told at the end of an age? Classic YA fiction that set the stage for the revival of apocalyptic fiction and dystopian worlds.

In a world devastated by an apocalyptic event, the bonds of friendship are tested in the haze of unrelenting depression, and paranoia. Will you know who your friends are? Joel and his friends are on the verge of graduation and excited and optimistic about their futures. But when they return from a camping trip in the remote woodlands to find themselves faced with a post-apocalyptic world, their daily lives acquire burdens and terrors hitherto unexperienced. The Judas Syndrome is an unforgettable portrait of survival against the odds. Joel, the protagonist, is an average teen whose dreams of entering college in the fall have disintegrated with the rest of the civilized world. Experiencing a barrage of sinister premonitions prior to a camping trip, Joel struggles to shrug them off as nothing more than anxiety over the newest cyber-terror, the Grimm Reaper. For months the Reaper has been inundating the airwaves with threats of mass destruction if world governments do not adhere to his plethora of ridiculous demands. Finally, he does more than just threaten. The deed done, the Reaper’s threats now realized, Joel and his small band of friends find themselves alone in a dying world. Their families are all dead and gone, and Joel’s family home is now their stronghold. Faith and faithlessness are investigated as his ongoing visions prepare Joel for the realization that the worst is far from over. Prisoners to a darkened sky and toxic earth, the group fights to survive. Through battles staged on their hallowed ground, through loss and victory, the group meets the Pilate to their Judas, unwittingly setting in motion - the Judas Syndrome.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Michael Poeltl earned his diploma in Interpretive Illustration and began a career in the field while educating himself on the art of writing. Writing quickly became his passion and after completing several shorts, he undertook his recently published work, The Judas Syndrome.

Drawn to the dark places of the mind, Poeltl often works through his own demons when putting words to paper. When the author lives the words he writes, experiencing each moment as it passes, it becomes more than a story,it becomes tangible, something the astute reader will pick up on.
And as with the Yin and Yang, he can appreciate the good in people, and the hope, and the dreams, and the work that is put into building a better life. This too can be found in both his writings, and in his own life.