The Deading

Stephen King’s Under the Dome meets The Last of Us in this harrowing dystopian novel about the downward
spiral of a seaside town that becomes infected by a mysterious ocean-borne contagion.
If you want to stay, you have to die.
In a small fishing town known for its aging birding community and the local oyster farm, a hidden evil emerges
from the depths of the ocean. It begins with sea snails washing ashore, attacking whatever they cling to. This
mysterious infection starts transforming the wildlife, the seascapes, and finally, the people.
Once infected, residents of Baywood start “deading”: collapsing and dying, only to rise again, changed in ways
both fanatical and physical. As the government cuts the town off from the rest of the world, the uninfected,
including the introverted bird-loving Blas and his jaded older brother Chango, realize their town could be ground
zero for a fundamental shift in all living things.
Soon, disturbing beliefs and autocratic rituals emerge, overseen by the death-worshiping Risers. People must
choose how to survive, how to find home, and whether or not to betray those closest to them. Stoked by paranoia
and isolation, tensions escalate until Blas, Chango, and the survivors of Baywood must make their escape or
become subsumed by this terrifying new normal.
At points claustrophobic and haunting, soulful and melancholic, The Deading lyrically explores the disintegration
of society, the horror of survival and adaptation, and the unexpected solace found through connections in
nature and between humans.