The world as we know it is gone.

But there are the remains of it. In some places, life is almost normal.

The City has survived with stringent rules and rigorous planning. And with salvage. Gasoline, parts for machinery, even wire. But after twenty years, salvage is beginning to run out.

Outside the City, communities of exiles live off the land, farming and ranching. But it’s a hard life, agriculture done the ancient way, without mechanical power. And precarious. A minor infection can be life-threatening. A natural disaster could leave them starving. And the City doesn’t want them.

Now there are people anticipating war. Very clever people, who think it might be useful, and who don’t want to come in second.

Yet the remains of the world are fragile. Something has to change.

And some things never will.

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The Cage, by D. M. Smith, will be available soon in hardback and paperback formats. For a period of time, Rhapsody Press will make the full text available online. This is part of our new and unconventional business model, bringing stories that matter to a wider audience.

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