Scott Overton has become a prolific sci-fi writer in recent years. He’s now published six novels and a book of short stories.
The retired radio host’s debut novel, 2012’s “Dead Air,” was published by the defunct Sudbury publisher Scrivener Press, but he’s self-published the rest of his books.
Noting it’s a “passion project” for him, Overton said he’s always wanted to be a science fiction writer.
“I couldn't do that until much later in life, when I managed to make the time,” he said. “Once I retired from the radio business, I had the time, and that's what I do. It's my full-time job, basically.”
His latest effort is a sci-fi novel called “Indigent Earth.”
The novel tells the story of wealthy “one-percenters” who have abandoned our ravaged planet 500 years earlier to go live in space colonies, leaving the survivors on Earth to live in stagnating communities known as Allocations.
Now, the colonists plan to come back. Earthman Killian Morningcloud dreams of the colonists’ return, hoping to become one of them. Colonist aristocrat and celebrity Natira Celestia is eager to visit Earth and meet the “noble savages” she’s sure must live there.
Killian and Natira’s calamitous meeting will shatter their dreams and hurl them into a struggle for survival as they pursue the darkest secrets of the rich and powerful.
“There’s a very strong theme of colonialism and economic inequity,” said Overton. “I think that the colonialism of the future is not likely to be Europe versus America, or Indigenous peoples, but the wealthy, the rich and powerful against everybody else.
“I mean, the billionaires have half the wealth of the world, you know? And I don't think that's going to get better if we don't do something about that. So it's a comment on that.”
Are things really so bad that those with the means might actually abandon the Earth?
Overton points out that we’ve been polluting our home planet for most of human history, but especially in the past century, when we’ve devastated plant and animal species, acidified vast oceans, and turned the very climate against us.
“I don’t want to believe there’s no hope of fixing these problems,” Overton said, in a quote included in press materials.
“But too many of the world’s most powerful people are still blocking the changes needed because their personal fortunes are threatened. And since billionaires are now dominating space industries, I don’t think my fictional scenario is implausible.”
While commenting on social issues, “Indigent Earth” is also very much about human relationships.
“They're still struggling with the idea of opposites attracting, and these two people are as opposite as they can be,” Overton said.
“So will they attract? Will they not? You know, there is a very strong theme of that because they are forced to be together, when they basically hate each other to begin with, right?”
Overton has been selling his books at the Sudbury Market, trying to get his work into the hands of readers, but will not be regularly selling at the indoor version of the market this winter.
Right now, people can order his books, including “Indigent Earth,” through his website or on Amazon.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.
