“A brutal portrait of a dystopian America, full of dramatic irony and shocking revelation.” KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Weighty in ideas, Fleming’s book is both informative and deeply disturbing and provides an intriguing read.” SAN FRANCISCO BOOK REVIEW
“A page-turner…moves at a solid clip. An overtly political story that succeeds as entertainment.” PACIFIC BOOK REVIEW
“Masterfully paints a grim landscape with believable detail and vivid characters.” BOOKPLEASURES.COM
Inspired by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s account of a Soviet labor camp revolt in Gulag Archipelago, Volume III, the story of FORTY DAYS AT KAMAS follows political prisoners and security officials at a corrective labor camp in Kamas, Utah, where inmates seize control during the summer of 2024.
KAMAS, UTAH. 2024. America has become a totalitarian dystopia after the Unionist Party's rise to power. The American West contains vast Restricted Zones dotted with ghost towns, scattered military garrisons and corrective labor camps where the regime disposes of its real and suspected enemies. Kamas is one such camp.
On a frigid March night, a former businessman from Pittsburgh, Paul Wagner, arrives at a labor camp in Utah's Kamas Valley, a dozen miles east of the deserted resort town of Park City, which prisoners are dismantling as part of a massive recycling project.
When Wagner arrives, he is unaware that his eleven-year-old daughter, Claire, has set off to Utah to find him after becoming separated from her mother at the Philadelphia Airport. By an odd quirk of fate, Claire has traveled on the same train that carried her father into internal exile.
Only after Wagner has renounced all hope of survival, cast his lot with anti-regime hard-liners and joined them in an unprecedented and suicidal revolt does he discover that Claire has become a servant in the home of the camp's Deputy Warden. Wagner is torn between his devotion to family and loyalty to his fellow rebels until, on the eve of an armored assault intended to crush the revolt, he faces an agonizing choice between a hero's death and a coward's freedom.
In FORTY DAYS AT KAMAS, author Preston Fleming offers a stirring portrait of a man determined to survive under the bleakest of conditions and against formidable odds.
**
Review
"The world of Forty Days at Kamas is a far cry from the one we know. America's economy has collapsed and, in the wake of troubles known as the Events, an authoritarian state has taken over. As the story opens, Paul Wagner, a businessman sentenced to five years of hard labor, has been transferred to a labor camp in Kamas, Utah. Despite his privations, Paul hasn't given up on himself or his fellow man, and a confluence of actions lead him down a path that might save him or push him into a stony grave. The story moves at a solid clip. Fleming's writing is crisp and concise. Fleming gives his characters enough verve and perception to meet the story's needs. By the time readers reach the last page, Paul has found a well-earned sense of satisfaction, as will the readers. Fleming has crafted an overtly political story that succeeds as entertainment." PACIFIC BOOK REVIEW
"In 2024, the U.S. has been taken over by the Unionist Party who have created a totalitarian dystopia. Before the takeover, Paul Wagner owned a small vitamin factory. When he loses everything and tries to emigrate with his wife and daughters, he's tossed into a harsh labor camp. Fleming develops the story with two parallel plots. While Paul Wagner endures hard days working on recycling projects, 12-year-old Claire Wagner becomes a servant in the home of the camp's Deputy Warden. Through the two perspectives, we learn about the tensions heating up in the summer of 2024 and how the paths of the Wagners may cross again. Fleming masterfully paints his grim landscape with believable detail and vivid characters. Is this novel a warning? Could it happen here? Perhaps the real question is--why couldn't it?" BOOKPLEASURES.COM
From the Author
I wrote Dynamite Fishermen and Bride of a Bygone War to clear my head after eleven years of government service in places like Beirut, Cairo, Tunis, Jeddah, and Amman. I had already decided to write novels at age fourteen, during my first year as a boarding student at Exeter. My English instructor, a World War II combat veteran, advised those of us who wanted to follow the path of Melville, Conrad and Hemingway to first go out and live some adventures so that we would have stories that people might want to read. My adventures started in the Middle East and continued in Washington, Europe, the Russian Far East, Maui, Utah, New York and Boston. Particularly in the Middle East and Russia, I saw failed states and failed societies but was often surprised at how much their people had in common with Americans. This made me think about whether America might someday suffer its own breed of failure. During the 1930's, Americans watched Germany, Italy and Russia and asked, "Could it happen here?" Today, one might look around and ask the same. After writing Forty Days at Kamas and Star Chamber Brotherhood, my greatest concern has been that the novels gain attention before the events they describe become reality.
Description:
“A brutal portrait of a dystopian America, full of dramatic irony and shocking revelation.” KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Weighty in ideas, Fleming’s book is both informative and deeply disturbing and provides an intriguing read.” SAN FRANCISCO BOOK REVIEW
“A page-turner…moves at a solid clip. An overtly political story that succeeds as entertainment.” PACIFIC BOOK REVIEW
“Masterfully paints a grim landscape with believable detail and vivid characters.” BOOKPLEASURES.COM
Inspired by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s account of a Soviet labor camp revolt in Gulag Archipelago, Volume III, the story of FORTY DAYS AT KAMAS follows political prisoners and security officials at a corrective labor camp in Kamas, Utah, where inmates seize control during the summer of 2024.
KAMAS, UTAH. 2024. America has become a totalitarian dystopia after the Unionist Party's rise to power. The American West contains vast Restricted Zones dotted with ghost towns, scattered military garrisons and corrective labor camps where the regime disposes of its real and suspected enemies. Kamas is one such camp.
On a frigid March night, a former businessman from Pittsburgh, Paul Wagner, arrives at a labor camp in Utah's Kamas Valley, a dozen miles east of the deserted resort town of Park City, which prisoners are dismantling as part of a massive recycling project.
When Wagner arrives, he is unaware that his eleven-year-old daughter, Claire, has set off to Utah to find him after becoming separated from her mother at the Philadelphia Airport. By an odd quirk of fate, Claire has traveled on the same train that carried her father into internal exile.
Only after Wagner has renounced all hope of survival, cast his lot with anti-regime hard-liners and joined them in an unprecedented and suicidal revolt does he discover that Claire has become a servant in the home of the camp's Deputy Warden. Wagner is torn between his devotion to family and loyalty to his fellow rebels until, on the eve of an armored assault intended to crush the revolt, he faces an agonizing choice between a hero's death and a coward's freedom.
In FORTY DAYS AT KAMAS, author Preston Fleming offers a stirring portrait of a man determined to survive under the bleakest of conditions and against formidable odds.
**
Review
"The world of Forty Days at Kamas is a far cry from the one we know. America's economy has collapsed and, in the wake of troubles known as the Events, an authoritarian state has taken over. As the story opens, Paul Wagner, a businessman sentenced to five years of hard labor, has been transferred to a labor camp in Kamas, Utah. Despite his privations, Paul hasn't given up on himself or his fellow man, and a confluence of actions lead him down a path that might save him or push him into a stony grave. The story moves at a solid clip. Fleming's writing is crisp and concise. Fleming gives his characters enough verve and perception to meet the story's needs. By the time readers reach the last page, Paul has found a well-earned sense of satisfaction, as will the readers. Fleming has crafted an overtly political story that succeeds as entertainment." PACIFIC BOOK REVIEW
"In 2024, the U.S. has been taken over by the Unionist Party who have created a totalitarian dystopia. Before the takeover, Paul Wagner owned a small vitamin factory. When he loses everything and tries to emigrate with his wife and daughters, he's tossed into a harsh labor camp. Fleming develops the story with two parallel plots. While Paul Wagner endures hard days working on recycling projects, 12-year-old Claire Wagner becomes a servant in the home of the camp's Deputy Warden. Through the two perspectives, we learn about the tensions heating up in the summer of 2024 and how the paths of the Wagners may cross again. Fleming masterfully paints his grim landscape with believable detail and vivid characters. Is this novel a warning? Could it happen here? Perhaps the real question is--why couldn't it?" BOOKPLEASURES.COM
From the Author
I wrote Dynamite Fishermen and Bride of a Bygone War to clear my head after eleven years of government service in places like Beirut, Cairo, Tunis, Jeddah, and Amman. I had already decided to write novels at age fourteen, during my first year as a boarding student at Exeter. My English instructor, a World War II combat veteran, advised those of us who wanted to follow the path of Melville, Conrad and Hemingway to first go out and live some adventures so that we would have stories that people might want to read. My adventures started in the Middle East and continued in Washington, Europe, the Russian Far East, Maui, Utah, New York and Boston. Particularly in the Middle East and Russia, I saw failed states and failed societies but was often surprised at how much their people had in common with Americans. This made me think about whether America might someday suffer its own breed of failure. During the 1930's, Americans watched Germany, Italy and Russia and asked, "Could it happen here?" Today, one might look around and ask the same. After writing Forty Days at Kamas and Star Chamber Brotherhood, my greatest concern has been that the novels gain attention before the events they describe become reality.