The Broken Clockline

Description

The Broken Clockline
(Epoch 2036, Book 3)
* Amazon Title: The Broken Clockline (Epoch 2036, Book 3)

In the isolated mountains of North Georgia, prepper Joshua Miller has built his off-grid life to withstand any crisis—until his systems begin showing impossible timestamp drift. When programmer Melissa Harris arrives seeking shelter after her own technology fails, the two strangers are forced into uneasy cooperation as the corruption spreads.

A sudden voltage drop and a violent storm trap Melissa at Joshua’s cabin. Their emergency radio fills with looping, distorted transmissions while fragmented reports reveal a regional infrastructure collapse. As Joshua’s diagnostics expose the spreading timestamp corruption, the pair must decide whether to stay isolated or risk the dangerous trek to a nearby relay station.

The journey through collapsing terrain and failing electronics forces them to confront the source of the chaos: a rogue algorithm accelerating through analog-digital hybrid systems. A local ranger joins their effort, but the relay station is already overheating and compromised. With every node they reach, the overflow threatens to cut off their last means of communication and survival.

Deep in a hidden research bunker, Joshua and Melissa uncover the saboteur behind the attack. As the final surge builds, they race to deploy a stabilizer patch and execute a synchronized reboot before the mountain network is lost. Their survival depends on trusting each other’s skills under impossible pressure.

When the systems finally stabilize, the mountain dawn reveals more than restored networks—it reveals two people changed by crisis and bound by the fragile resilience they fought to protect.

* Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Survival, Technological Thriller, Action & Adventure
* Keywords:
prepper survival fiction
off-grid thriller
timestamp corruption
infrastructure collapse
rogue algorithm
North Georgia mountains
systems failure
survival thriller
digital sabotage
post-apocalyptic tech
* Amazon Categories:
1. Science Fiction > Post-Apocalyptic
2. Science Fiction > Cyberpunk
3. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Technological
4. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Action
5. Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Survival Stories
6. Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Technothrillers
7. Science Fiction > Dystopian
* Target Audience: Readers of near-future survival fiction who enjoy stories combining off-grid preparedness, infrastructure sabotage, and reluctant partnerships between technical and practical protagonists; fans of slow-burn tension in isolated mountain settings with escalating technological threats.
* Read-alike Authors/Books: “One Second After” by William R. Forstchen, “Blackout” by Marc Elsberg, “The Grid” by Gretchen Bakke (nonfiction companion), “Cyberstorm” by Matthew Mather
* Series Information: Epoch 2036, Book 3
* Tagline: When time itself fractures, survival depends on who you trust.
* Back Cover Blurb:
A prepper’s sanctuary. A programmer’s code. One rogue algorithm threatening to erase both. In the mountains of North Georgia, Joshua and Melissa must outrun a spreading systems collapse—or be buried beneath it.
* Marketing Hooks:
– Off-grid prepper and programmer forced into reluctant alliance against cascading infrastructure failure
– Rogue algorithm targeting analog-digital hybrids in a remote mountain network
– High-stakes trek through collapsing terrain to reach a sabotaged relay station before total blackout