by Ginger Booth
I abandoned my squash and sat down beside Emmett at the table. Possibilities shot through my head like firecrackers, like the lightning outside. Disbanding the borders. Or establishing trade portals through the borders. Relieving Boston-Providence. Or inviting people from Boston-Providence to staff quarantine zones for exits from New York. Opening debate boards on Amenac. Or a new planning forum separate from Amenac. Getting the survivors in New York involved in planning the exits. What help Canada and the gran caravans would be willing to bring.
“We?” I asked. “So, southern New Haven County gets to offer a proposal?”
“Nope.” Emmett grinned. “Emmett MacLaren, and Dee Baker, by name, are invited to present. Each of us. The scope of our proposals is up to us.”
Emmett watched in enjoyment, as my grin spread from ear to ear. “Yeah, I thought you’d like that, darlin’.” He poured cider into my glass on the table, and lifted his glass in a toast. “To new dreams.”
“And good friends,” I replied, clinking my glass to his.
From the Author
Hope you enjoyed End Game! If you want more, I’m writing further installments in the same universe, and I’m eager for beta readers.
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I’d really appreciate a review on Amazon. Reviews help sell books. But also, I’m energized by feedback, to write more, faster, better. Reviews tell me that people care. So please leave a review – no matter how short – and help me create the next book.
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to the natural beauty of Short Beach Bay, the Farm River marshes, the East Haven beaches, the orchards and raspberry brambles and wildlife of shoreline Connecticut, and the people who love them.
Acknowledgments
My father, Galt Booth, fell in love with a beautiful bay on the Connecticut shoreline when he was fresh out of Caltech. He grew up in Depression-era Los Angeles, surrounded by Dust Bowl refugee Okies. But he followed his dreams, and I grew up on that bay, and now live a few miles from it.
When we were little, Dad would make up stories for us on demand, with us in any starring role we picked. I wanted to make up stories like Dad, like magic out of thin air. And I’ve wanted to write this book for years. When Dad died this year, I decided, “Why the hell not.”
The seed for End Game came when I heard a speaker (Dain Heer) suggest that if something didn’t change, the world could end within 30 years. I’ve read and watched plenty of apocalyptic fiction. The plot usually centers on a larger-than-life hero. But – what if the end can’t be stopped? What if you just have to face it? What do you do with that?
I’m deeply grateful to my test readers. Reading a book-length manuscript is a lot to ask of anyone. Julia Novak and Nathaniel Fuller, as first readers, helped keep me enthused about the project, and let me know where the book got dull. Brett and Georgie and the rest of our mastermind group on Facebook helped me believe in myself and stay on task. My friend Beth Grem kindly checked that my engineering and Navy details didn’t go too far wrong. Of course, any mistakes are my own.
And thank you, for reading my book. Especially if you’re so kind as to post a review on Amazon, or to tell someone else about it, or drop me a line. Books take a long time to write. Feedback is the fuel that powers the next story.
About Ginger Booth
Ginger Booth is a writer and programmer. She's worked in the seismic industry, semiconductor electronics, academic research in biology and environmental science, and online teaching simulators. She lives in shoreline Connecticut, with crops spilling out the balconies and down the driveway. Contact her online at books.gingerbooth.com.
Books
The Calm Act series:
End Game
Dust of Kansas – a prequel short story, the birth of the Calm Act
Project Reunion – the sequel to End Game, saving New York City
Nonfiction:
Indoor Salad: How to Grow Vegetables Indoors
E-Cigarettes 101: How to Start Vaping
E-Cigarettes 102: DIY E-Liquid
Table of Contents
Map
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
From the Author
Dedication
Acknowledgments
About Ginger Booth
Books
