“An apocalyptic coming-of-age tale the likes of which you’ve never seen, Mark Falkin’s The Late Bloomer channels the heart of Ray Bradbury, the sensibilities of Rod Serling, and the grim despair of Cormac McCarthy, all wrapped up in Falkin’s unshakable, inimitable style. Both beautiful and horrific, this is a young adult novel that even the most case-hardened fans of speculative fiction will find riveting and deeply moving. Highly recommended.”
“With dark humor and taught prose, The Late Bloomer takes the reader on an apocalyptic journey that is hurried, furrowed and in Mark Falkin’s skilled hands, all too real. Literary horror at its finest.”
“If you’re a fan of dull, weary storytelling with characters you’ve seen a million times doing the things you’ve seen them do a million times until you pass out from boredom, then this isn’t the book for you. If, on the other hand, you’re into roller coasters, laughter, fear, surprise, and characters who keep going against all odds, then The Late Bloomer will suck you down its twisted literary throat through its very last word.”
“With pitch-perfect prose, Falkin has penned an irresistible and audacious coming-of-age novel that plumbs the depths of adolescence and global cataclysm in equal, page-turning measure. I predict The Late Bloomer will take its place on the post-apocalyptic bestseller list, next to Station Eleven and The Stand.”
“With The Late Bloomer, Mark Falkin has created a visceral, classic adventure story updated for our dystopian times when many of us long to push the reset button. Read your Jackson, your Golding, your King, and your Falkin, and be careful what you wish for.”
“An apocalyptic tale unlike any other, The Late Bloomer is smartly written; with shades of Stephen King meeting Cormac McCarthy, a blistering pace and lyrical prose, it demands to be consumed. Falkin’s take on the end of the world is intriguing, beautiful and tragic—a must-read.”
“With The Late Bloomer, Mark Falkin has written a Blair Witch Project-kind of novel, a dystopian nightmare that sends his characters racing to escape a killer that always seems to be waiting just ahead of them. It’s a gripping rush of literary adrenaline.”
“Imagine nature itself seething with Holden Caulfield’s rage at adult phoniness. Now imagine what happens when a decimated humanity inherits the planet. With The Late Bloomer, Mark Falkin combines an authentic portrait of twenty-first-century adolescence with a terrifying, and unsettlingly plausible, vision of the end of humanity as we know it.”
“The Late Bloomer is a standout novel—a contemporary end-of-days novel that grabs you by the throat and won’t let go. Narrated in the unforgettable voice of Kevin March, the unlikely and resistant teenaged ‘late bloomer’ whose prophetic dreams have marked him for leadership of those who survive a world apocalypse reminiscent of the great floods, The Late Bloomer is an important cautionary tale that will haunt you long after you’ve finished the last page. With themes of good versus evil, the horrors of mob mentality, and the necessity of human empathy, The Late Bloomer gives strong nods to The Hunger Games, The Terminator, and The Lord of the Flies, wherein the beast resides within us all. The story’s unexpected climax is a chilling perspective of a political era where it may seem that only our youth can be entrusted with society’s moral compass.”
“Imagine a dystopian vision in which Stephen King’s The Mist meets Jeff VanderMeer’s The Southern Reach trilogy, and Margaret Atwood’s The MaddAddam Trilogy. This is the world Mark Falkin conjures up in The Late Bloomer. Like the best postapocalyptic novels, The Late Bloomer is a tale of horror derived from the stuff of everyday life. A dark menace haunts these pages, lurks in the shadows, and the beauty of this novel is that it makes you seriously wonder: could this happen to us? A smart, sophisticated YA novel, The Late Bloomer will grab you by the scruff and pull you along for a wild ride.”
“In The Late Bloomer, Mark Falkin’s postapocalyptic young adult novel, the world as we know it has imploded. A small band of teenagers are the only ones left to figure out what has happened and try to piece some semblance of their world back together. Beautifully written and action-packed, The Late Bloomer is narrated by a teenager who is at once jaded and hopeful, a voice you’re not likely to forget any time soon.”
Copyright
THIS IS A GENUINE CALIFORNIA COLDBLOOD BOOK
A California Coldblood Book | Rare Bird Books
453 South Spring Street, Suite 302
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Copyright © 2018 by Mark Falkin
ISBN 978-1-947856-54-7