Arclight Recap #1

Hey guys.

With MERIDIAN coming out later this month, I thought it might be prudent to do a recap for Arclight, since this is the sequel. It's been a year, and that's long enough for the details to fade. (no pun intended)

So here goes. I'll start with a sort of broad recap and then go on to more specific aspects on different days.

#1 - the Arclight.

Title, setting, and inanimate character of the first book.

Arclight is short for 'Arc of Light,' meaning the weave of high powered lamps that serve as a barrier against the darkness.  It's the only known safe zone for humans left in the world, as creatures called the Fade have taken over pretty much everything else. Since these creatures are photophobic, and have violently adverse reactions to direct sunlight, the Arc functions as a wall.

The Arclight itself isn't a single building, but a military base where the Fade were developed as medical tools. In the early days of man's fall to the Fade, this base was the only facility with containment equipment rigged to handle the Fade, so it's where people from the surrounding areas were taken as refugees.

There are strict rules about when people are allowed outside of the buildings, and how far they can venture, though the younger citizens of the Arclight often challenge these boundaries. Inside, there are dormitory wings made up of apartments (for families) and single rooms (for people living alone). There's a common hall for meals; the kids have classrooms and nursery rooms for infants. Everything is arranged along a grid of colored lines to designate which sections are off-limits to those without security clearance.

Marina, the MC of Arclight discovers that there are also hidden sections to this facility that almost no one her age is aware of. The first such section - the Well - is the secret refuge of her nemesis-turned-ally Tobin. It's an interior courtyard specifically built to dampen the lights and keep the night sky visible, but the tunnel system used to reach it has been walled off in most places. One of the original doors is now located in Tobin's linen closet, and was a secret his father shared with him as a boy.

The second hidden sector is an underground facility that's at least as large as the one topside. This underground area consists of bunkers, for safety, but also the areas where the Arclight's food and clothing are stored. And most terrifyingly of all, it's the home of the White Room, the torture chamber where captive Fade are held under pain of intense lights to see what makes them tick.

That's just a quick recap, but hopefully it'll jog your memory well enough to get you back into the swing of the story. Tomorrow, we'll move on to Marina, the story's main character.

And one final note, for some reason people have gotten the idea that Arclight was a standalone, or that it and Meridian are a duology. That's never been the case. The books were always meant to be an oddly structured series. I hope to not only finish out Marina's story, but to also get the chance at a prequel, and cover Honoria's story of watching humanity fall to the Fade. So don't be surprised that there's more story to tell after Meridian.