Burning Stones by Steven Mills

From The Week of January 23, 2011

Readers of this blog will be familiar with my seemingly endless search for good, harrowing, apocalyptic fiction. I've read some triumphs and some disasters, but not one has read as thoughtfully, as quietly, and as terrifyingly as this first effort from Mr. Mills.

In the near future, humanity is being tormented by three distinct but connected disasters. First came the flu, an avian mutation which wiped out entire population centers and sent the smart and the rich headlong into the country. Next came a second and even more devastating virus which reverted the infected to a kind of proto human, a apelike creature with only a basic capacity for communication and socialization. Lucies, as they are called, are a heavy, destructive burden on an already weakened society. Their devolution is slow, physically painful and emotionally torturous for the families forced to watch it come over their loved ones. Finally, without the human populations and industry to control them, wildfires rip across the land, devastating towns and crops alike and, for once, humans have absolutely no way of checking them.

Set in southeastern British Columbia, we follow three protagonists forced to endure this difficult world. Alex, a paramedic for his town, is a devoted father forced to watch his teenaged daughter become a Lucy. He does everything he can to elevate her spirits, but it's clear that, while he hasn't accepted the dark truth, she has, preparing herself for a quick end. Ronnie, an RCMP officer, tries to maintain order in Alex's town, but that's a difficult task when she has to go it alone against a family of thugs who, from the outskirts of town, have come in, kidnapped a local girl and brought her back to their camp. Ronnie mounts an operation to free the girl from the vicious clan, but in doing so she discovers a far greater evil. Sage is a middle-aged librarian hiking up from Washington in hopes of finding somewhere she can stop and be at peace. On the way, she encounters a group of young Lucies who she tries to civilize and protect. Each of the three characters represents a vital segment of society that is decaying as a result of the societal break down. Emergency services (Alex), the rule of law (Ronnie) and education (Sage) are all necessary components of a functioning civilizations. But despite the valiant efforts of these three brave souls to maintain them, the destructive pressures are too much for any of them to bear.

This is a wonderful, dark novel, a wholly unanticipated success. Alex and Ronnie are exquisitely drawn portraits of good-hearted people pushed too far and unable to find their way back from grief. Sage was, by far, the weakest of the three, having very little to offer the broader story, but the success of Alex and Ronnie far outweighs Sage's failure. Burning Stones is a snapshot of lives lived hard, lived with the best of intentions, lived in the face of horrors no one should have to witness. But this is also its virtue; for it's in the journey that we learn who we are and what we're about. Excellent work. (4/5 Stars)