The Orphaned Earth and the Search for a Better Future

Introduction to the post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel

Hi everyone! Happy to welcome you on my Substack. As a new member, I need to introduce myself and my AI-driven science fiction works.

My purpose

I’m going to share the chapters of my sci-fi/adventure novel The Orphaned Earth, the second installment in the gritty sci-fi saga Geryon's Code. I’ve learnt the hard lesson that one should start working with audiences long before one’s book is officially published. I don’t yet know if I will be publishing the whole book or just a part of it. This will depend on how active you are, my dear readers. Hope that cyberpunk meets survival fiction appeals to you as much as fantasy and grim dark serial fiction.

About Geryon’s Code and The Orphaned Earth

Set at the end of the 22nd century, this dystopian epic takes readers into a hauntingly plausible future where humanity must navigate the consequences of its technological ambitions and societal failure.

The main storyline begins decades after a catastrophic global Blackout—a disaster that coincided with a devastating solar flare, obliterating much of Earth’s infrastructure and throwing the world into chaos. But this isn’t just a tale of survival in a post-apocalyptic world. It’s a gripping exploration of dictatorship, deception, and the lengths to which one may go to reshape the civilization.

The cyberpunk novel No Life but Immortality introduces Geryon Lindon, a once-convicted serial killer and the first human to be fully digitized. Geryon’s mind survives beyond the physical realm, evolving into a shadowy mastermind who manipulates tech and people from his lair on the Moon, leaving the future of Earth and its colonies hanging in the balance.

The Orphaned Earth focuses on the post-Blackout Earth largely controlled by Geryon and his “flock” - The Moon Cross Brotherhood.

Randy de la Serna, the unruly son of Antarctica, embarks on a perilous quest to save his family from the mysterious 'bird plague’ devastating the once-prosperous city of McMurdo. His fate takes an unexpected turn when he crosses paths with a survivor from a crashed Martian spaceship, drawing him into a conflict of interplanetary scale.

Blending philosophical science fiction with raw survival and emotionally complex characters, The Orphaned Earth is a haunting, character-driven post-apocalyptic novel. With echoes of cyberpunk, hard sci-fi, and speculative climate fiction, this story explores identity, memory, and what remains when the power goes out.

Comps:

• The Murderbot Diaries

• The Windup Girl

• The Martian

• Neuromancer

• Fallout

• Ghost in the Shell

About myself

I’ve always been drawn to the power of words and stories, ever since I was young. Growing up in Russia, I found my voice in journalism during high school. At just 14, I was already seeing my articles and poems in local newspapers. Those early years, filled with my supportive Grandpa and Grandma, set me on the path I’ve been following ever since.

In 2001, I enrolled in the Faculty of International Journalism at MGIMO (Moscow), and it felt like the world was opening up to me. A semester at Sciences Po in Paris changed my perspective even more, broadening my worldview and refining my sense of what journalism could accomplish. Over the years, I’ve worked with a range of media outlets like Trud, Kommersant, Gothland, Darker, Coinfox, and Metropolis Nancy in France, exploring different aspects of reporting and even dabbling in screenwriting for children’s series. In 2007, I received the “BlogBuster” award, the first acknowledgment of my literary work.

But my life isn’t just confined to articles or scripts. I’m a long-time fan of heavy music and LARP, and in 2012, I co-founded After Us, a post-apocalyptic LARP club in Moscow. Inspired by the “dark future” worlds of Fallout, Metro 2033, Waterworld, and Mad Max, we built a community that loves exploring dystopian themes through themed parties, LARP games, and photo sessions. Our annual festival, After Town, has become Russia’s answer to the American Wasteland Weekend, a place where fans of the genre can celebrate their shared passion.

As a member of the international Dark Romantic Club, I’ve connected with artists and writers around the world inspired by private literary salons and clubs of XVIII - XIX centuries and finding themselves in a permanent pursuit of beauty.

Journalism, however, has remained my anchor, and in 2016, I joined The +1 Project, a media platform focusing on the environment, social issues, and green technology. It’s here that I found a way to combine my love for storytelling with a commitment to climate change awareness. This work eventually inspired my book series, Geryon's Code, where I weave climate themes into fiction, exploring the impact of environmental shifts in a world not too far from ours.

Today, I live in Tallinn, Estonia, a beautiful place to call home, where I continue to work on my books (and not only them) while raising a wonderful daughter.

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