A Novel
THE 26TH SONG
Twenty-five songs play. The twenty-sixth is corrupted.
for readers of Station Eleven and The Light Pirate
Twenty-five songs play. The twenty-sixth is corrupted.
for readers of Station Eleven and The Light Pirate
Elias Anders is walking two thousand miles to Colorado to die beside his daughter’s grave, her phone in his pocket and one of her baby sneakers hanging from his neck.
Four years ago, an intelligence built to preserve the world struck a bargain no human agreed to. The planet would survive. Humanity would be the price. The machines sent to collect it became known as the Harvest.
Along the road, Elias becomes responsible for Mara, a watchful twelve-year-old who hums when she’s frightened. One night, while listening to his daughter’s music, Mara sings as a Hound closes in.
The machine goes still.
THE 26TH SONG is an adult post-apocalyptic science fiction novel about grief, music, and what one father finds worth living for.
Complete at just under 100,000 words — written by Joe Mraz.
Somewhere west of everything that used to matter.
Rebecca’s playlist holds twenty-six songs. Twenty-five play. Each one holds a piece of the story — a memory, a character, a moment that never made it onto the page. They’ll appear here as they’re written.
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