Switching Tracks: Out of the Trash

by Lena Gibson

Overview

"Lena Gibson (the bestselling author of The Edge of Life) lays the tracks into an exciting new post-apocalyptic world where corporate greed controls the necessities of life, one ancient society's trash is today's salvation, and the heart of one heroine can save a country's soul." -D. Lambert, author of Son of No Man series

Life in SoCal in 2195 is controlled by a corporatocracy.

Elsa scavenges twenty-first-century trash, living on the edge of starvation in this ruthless world through her grit and instincts.

When she unearths a metal tube containing maps to six Doomsday seed bunkers and a silver key, she dreams of renewable sources of food and a life based on more than subsistence, but GreenCorps will stop at nothing to acquire her find. Accused of theft and beaten half to death, she escapes with a handsome train hopper. They seek the long-lost bunkers, hoping to break GreenCorps' monopoly on food.

Along the way, they receive help from a teenage pickpocket, a solitary widow, and a rebel leader. If this rag-tag group of lonely misfits cannot reclaim the tube and find a way to distribute the seeds, GreenCorps will continue to choke out any chance of a better life.

Hop aboard this thrilling dystopian train-hopping adventure with Switching Tracks.

2024 IndieReader Discovery Award Winner - Dystopian Fiction

2024 Maxy Awards Finalist - Sci-Fi & Fantasy

2024 Eric Hoffer Awards: Montaigne Medal Finalist

2024 Eric Hoffer Awards: Honorable Mention eBook

2023 Literary Titan Gold Award Winner

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781685133641
Publisher:	Black Rose Writing
Publication date:	02/01/2024
Series:	Train Hoppers , #1
Pages:	366
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.82(d)

About the Author

Lena Gibson is a storyteller as an elementary school teacher and keeper of the family lore. She holds a First Class Honors degree in Archaeology, with minors in History, Biology, Geography, and Environmental Education from Simon Fraser University. A voracious reader from age eight onward, Lena seeks wonderful books in which to escape. Because of her passion for different genres, she combines elements of many in her writing. As an adult newly recognized with autism, she often creates characters that reflect this experience. When Lena isn't writing, she reads, practices karate, and drinks a ton of tea. She resides in New Westminster, Canada with her family and their fuzzy overlord, Ash, the fluffiest of gray cats.

Rusty Mewha is an in-demand narrator with a background in film and stage acting.

Angelina Rocca is an experienced audiobook narrator with more than seventy titles to her credit. Specializing in romance and thrillers, she excels at bringing complex and vulnerable characters to life. She has also voiced documentaries and short-form audio. A classically trained vocalist and pianist as well as a former journalist, she has been many things in her life, but at the core of everything has been her desire to tell stories in compelling and interesting ways.

Editorial Reviews

2023 Literary Titan Gold Award Winner

"In a literary landscape often saturated with familiar themes and predictable narratives, Switching Tracks by Lena Gibson emerges as a breath of fresh air." -American Writing Awards

"Switching Tracks: Out of the Trash is a compelling read that captures the essence of a dystopian reality while highlighting the enduring qualities of heroism and resilience. Gibson's narrative is a poignant reminder of the human capacity to seek change in the face of overwhelming odds." -Literary Titan

"Switching Tracks: Out of the Trash by Lena Gibson is the perfect read for fans of dystopian novels. You'll be glued to the pages." -San Francisco Book Review

"I highly recommend Switching Tracks by Lena Gibson for readers who like exciting love stories full of danger and passion." -Readers' Favorite

"Gibson lays the tracks into an exciting new post-apocalyptic world where corporate greed controls the necessities of life, one ancient society's trash is today's salvation, and the heart of one heroine can save a country's soul." -D. Lambert, author of Son of No Man series

"Gibson's writing is one of the tightest and best I've read in some years; her imaginative setting and characters are exactly what one might expect of our human race in 2195." -J. Ivanel Johnson, award-winning author of the JUST (e)STATE mysteries

"Switching Tracks had me enthralled from the beginning. The story is wellstructured, revelatory, and beautifully written. The character descriptions are almost visual. There is enough mystery and clues to keep the pages turning beyond your bedtime." -Robert Allen Stowe, author of The Third Pitch and the soon-to-be released The Fires of Rubicon

From the Publisher

2024-06-11
Having uncovered a secret that could bring down corporate overlords, a scavenger in post-apocalyptic America goes on the run with an itinerant train-hopper in this novel.

In 2195, 20-year-old Elsa lives with her great-grandmother Granny Lee in SoCal (formerly Southern California), a political prison-cum-slum defined not by guards or walls but rather by economic privation and the bullying oversight of GreenCorps. This corrupt, exploitative organization rose to power under the pretense of salvaging the environment and upholding civilization after the plague-driven societal Collapse. Elsa and Granny Lee work the Heap, a mound of garbage whose layers date back to the early 21st century. Elsa digs while Granny Lee stands guard with her shotgun, “which she wasn’t shy about using.” They trade scrap metal for food and water tokens. Life is tough but bearable until 22-year-old Walker and his adopted brother, Hayden, come along. The men are “hoppers” (itinerants who sneak passage aboard trains), and Hayden has a drug habit. In trying to rob Granny Lee, Hayden leaves her injured and unable to work. Without Granny Lee’s protection, Elsa is forced to take a job serving drinks in a brothel. Walker, too, has found work there (as a bouncer). When he saves Elsa from being brutally raped by a GreenCorps man, the two flee SoCal on the trains, taking with them her last find: a metal tube that contains maps to six pre-Collapse seed vaults. With a price on their heads, can Elsa and Hayden keep clear of their GreenCorps pursuers? Gibson writes in the third person, primarily from Elsa’s and Walker’s perspectives but occasionally from those of teenage pickpocket Tatsuda and widowed ex-rebel Caitlyn. In this series opener, the prose is polished, the dialogue unobtrusive, affording no distraction from Elsa’s bleak life. The world portrayed, while one of extreme hardship, seems very much in keeping with current societal trends. One particularly sobering aspect of this is the disproportionate helplessness experienced by women, especially regarding sexual violence. Elsa’s matter-of-fact wariness of vigilante rape is a disquieting precursor of what she faces in the brothel. Elsa and Walker are relatable characters in whose plight—and romance—readers will invest. Though downbeat in content, the story is light on its feet and moves with assurance toward the sequel.

This engrossing and gritty survival romance pulls no punches in revealing its enviro-economic dystopia.

Kirkus Reviews