An "action-packed apocalyptic SF yarn"
"Will I be reading future books? Hell yeah"
"I've always loved a good sci-fi novel and a good dystopian novel so having both of them together in this way was pretty cool!"
Sample Chapters
Discussion Questions
Who or what do you consider the primary antagonist of Atom Bomb Baby?
Who is your favorite character, and why? What do you most want to learn about them in future stories?
The story has at least four themes about coping with grief. Can you identify them? What do you think about each?
For much of the book, Ashe remembers Kelly as her dog rather than her little brother. What clues did you notice before the reveal? Why do you think her mind changed the memory instead of simply suppressing it altogether?
How does Ashe’s definition of home change throughout the story?
What do you think Jade meant when he told Ashe, “I am Jade”?
What did you think of the Commissioner’s story? Were you satisfied with how her part played out?
Do you think Ashe is right to idealize the world from before the Arrival, despite the concerning remnants of that civilization—including authoritarian institutions, questionable experiments, and powerful corporations like Ordyne?
What do you think is the nature of the growlers and the charred? Are they truly dead, still alive, or something in between? Do their utterances offer any clues?
Jade and Ember are siblings of a sort and share similar powers, but they are also very different. How would you describe those differences?
Were you satisfied that Ember wasn’t found by the end of the story? Why or why not?
Did the postlude cut-scene with Suzerain change your understanding of the Kraal, Ordyne, or the scale of the story to come?
Writing Challenges
Write an alternate version of Ashe’s confrontation with the Commissioner in which the Commissioner survives. How would that change the ending?
Develop your own explanation for Moonbeam’s memory problems, whether mundane, void-connected, or something else that radically changes what we think we know about him.
People become growlers during void storms, but the process is not instantaneous. Write the journal of someone slowly realizing that they are becoming one.
Write an in-world document—an Ordyne research report, a Warden intelligence briefing, or the notes of a frightened scientist—proposing a theory about what the Kraal actually are and why Jade and Ember matter to them.
Write the story of what happened to Jade and Ember after Mei Tammimura died, leaving them alone on Arcadia, and how they became separated. Jade ultimately became a tool raiders used to listen to others’ thoughts. How did Ember end up back with Ordyne?
The Galaxy Express 3-9 appears to offer Glenn an escape and a new beginning, but the postlude suggests something is not right aboard the ship. Continue his story.
Classroom Activities
Conduct a mock trial, putting Ashe on trial for the death of her brother.
Different students can take the roles of prosecution, defense, witnesses, jury, and judge. Characters from the story may be called as witnesses.
