A Tidy Armageddon
- Publisher
- ECW Press
- Initial publish date
- Apr 2023
- Category
- Dystopian, Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic, Literary
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781770416888
- Publish Date
- Apr 2023
- List Price
- $26.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781778521089
- Publish Date
- Apr 2023
- List Price
- $14.99
-
Downloadable audio file
- ISBN
- 9781778522482
- Publish Date
- Jul 2023
- List Price
- $32.99
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
“Samuel Beckett meets Stephen King in an absurd and eerie coming-of-end tale that should serve as some sort of warning.”— Peter Darbyshire, author of Has the World Ended Yet?
“This book is the furthest apocalypse from Mad Max that you can get. Instead, it’s a transfixing and brilliant attack on consumerism and, in a way, humanity’s inability to look before we leap…”— Post Apocalyptic Media
The world is transformed into what looks like a massive warehouse overnight, and the result is a suspenseful and action-rich tale as humanity is forced to face the scale of its consumption
A provocative eco-novel featuring an apocalypse like no other, A Tidy Armageddon describes the current world transformed. Civilization has been dismantled by an unknown hand and reassembled into a vast maze of blocks, each comprised of a single item, packed Tetris-style and stacked nine storeys tall: watering cans, electrical transformers, fake Christmas trees, helicopters, plastic spoons, and everything else human culture has ever produced.
In rich, descriptive prose shattered by moments of suspense and action, the novel chronicles the journey of a diverse group of soldiers led by Elsie Sharpcot, a Cree sergeant and Afghanistan vet, who must reconcile a desperate hunt for her daughter with the responsibility to safeguard the recruits under her command. Passing with fear and wonder through this mausoleum of human excess, provisioning themselves from its treasures while searching for those they love, this band of misfits amalgamates into their own dysfunctional family as they race to outrun the approaching winter.
About the author
Contributor Notes
BH Panhuyzen, an author of two previous novels and a collection of stories, lives in Toronto with three humans, a dog, and a cat, plus works as an independent software developer. BH fears that all this personal recycling, squishing every cereal box and milk carton, might not be working.
Editorial Reviews
“Samuel Beckett meets Stephen King in an absurd and eerie coming-of-end tale that should serve as some sort of warning (but probably won’t).” — Peter Darbyshire, author of Has the World Ended Yet?
“In this unique twist on postapocalyptic science fiction, the suspense and action seamlessly entwine, capturing the audience's imagination with every turn. An excellent addition to any audio sci-fi collection.” — Library Journal Audio book Review
“A Tidy Armageddon is a gorgeous, provocative, pitch-perfect conceptual art piece in the literary lineage of Tom McCarthy’s Remainder and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I was immersed from the first page into a world resembling an enormous and very organized megastore, where capitalism’s last breath chastened and delighted me. Had God’s hand rearranged all the things just so, or was it an advanced alien civilization? No, it was BH Panhuyzen in passionate authority presenting me with the end of the world in a way never before imagined. Unforgettable. ” — Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, author of All the Broken Things and Wait Softly Brother
“This book is the furthest apocalypse from Mad Max that you can get. Instead, it’s a transfixing and brilliant attack on consumerism and, in a way, humanity’s inability to look before we leap...If you want an almost literary fiction apocalypse novel (like The Road or Station Eleven) that contains quite a few tropes but in ways you don’t expect, you should totally check this out.” — Post Apocalyptic Media