A distracted world suffers unimaginable devastation in Beyond the Lost

Is the world on the brink of the Great Middle Eastern War mentioned in Beyond the Lost? The war drums are pounding and aren’t letting up.

If there’s been one common denominator throughout my adult life, it’s been the West’s tensions with Iran. Meanwhile, Russia and China most likely wouldn’t be dormant should an all-out war erupt.

That sets the stage for a bleak outlook here in the real world. But what if I told you my dystopian survival trilogy Beyond the Lost, slated to hit the shelves on Jul. 1, hinted at such a conflict?

On one side sits the U.S., its NATO allies, and Israel. On the other, Iran, Russia, China, and their allies. Yet another U.S.-led regime-change conflict goes so wrong that by Jul. 2030, there had been no end in sight. That the regional conflict involving multiple global powers is spilling into a world war.

And then—those same nations in one cataclysmic moment—cease to exist. As the entire world looks the other way, someone in the global elite puts its own ragtag boots on the ground, taking out innocent civilians left and right at sporting events, concert venues, and any location that draws massive numbers.

If you read Beyond the Lost Horizon, you’ll already know Quinn Cozens got himself caught up in that mess at a K-pop concert near Pittsburgh. There, he crossed the Ethereal Princess, Yui Kikuchi, and the two ran for their lives.

As for what’s going on in the Middle East, nobody has a clue about what’s going on. Did this worldwide cataclysmic loss of human life from terrorist cells end the war? Or is the fighting still going on? Spoiler alert: I don’t answer the question.

Red Dawn-like attack in the real world? No. Great Middle Eastern War? Well…

While I highly doubt and pray to the universe that a group of elitists wouldn’t have the audacity to launch a full-scale attack with their own soldiers in the world’s most powerful countries while there’s a war going on, I’m not questioning the possibility of a Great Middle Eastern War itself.

In Iran, we’re seeing the same old script play out. Foreign government bad (and it is, let’s not sugarcoat it). America and its allies intervene to overthrow the regime and instill its own hand puppet until something goes wrong and all hell breaks loose, and it’s yet another war with no clear ending.

That’s where our world and my world in Beyond the Lost entwine. It wouldn’t surprise me one single iota if we’re looking at a war of such damaging proportions come Jul. 2030, that it would mean mass casualties abroad and mass economic strain, plus a deteriorating dollar, here in the West. As if it hasn’t deteriorated as-is.

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