Camp Zero

 By: Michelle Min Sterling

Location: FIC STE

Genre: Sci Fi, Dystopia, Climate Change Fiction

Thrilling, immersive and disturbingly prescient, Camp Zero is about the world we've built and where we go from here.

'A cold, hungry adventure story about the power of choice and the strength of solidarity' SEAN MICHAELS

In a near-future northern settlement, a handful of climate change survivors find their fates intertwined in this mesmerizing and transportive novel in the vein of Station Eleven and The Power.

In the far north of Canada sits Camp Zero, an American building project hiding many secrets.

Desperate to help her climate-displaced Korean immigrant mother, Rose agrees to travel to Camp Zero and spy on its architect in exchange for housing. She arrives at the same time as another newcomer, a college professor named Grant who is determined to flee his wealthy family’s dark legacy. Gradually, they realize that there is more to the architect than previously thought, and a disturbing mystery lurks beneath the surface of the camp. At the same time, rumors abound of an elite group of women soldiers living and working at a nearby Cold War-era climate research station. What are they doing there? And who is leading them?

An electrifying page-turner where nothing is as it seems, Camp Zero cleverly explores how the intersection of gender, class, and migration will impact who and what will survive in a warming world.

Sterling's stunning debut offers a glimpse into a climate change-ravaged future in which resources diminish quickly and new frontiers are hard to find . . . this cleverly constructed climate fiction mystery feels like one many readers could see within their lifetimes. This should earn a place on shelves alongside Station Eleven and Annihilation ― Publishers Weekly

"I was fortunate to receive an early copy of this one from the publisher, and once I started reading, I could not put it down. I'm in awe of the world-building here. The future Michelle Sterling imagines in CAMP ZERO is recognizably our own, if we do nothing to halt climate change: one in which the powerful find new and devastating ways to exploit both the earth and its people. Fortunately, at least in this book, all is not as it seems: in a series of ingenious twists and increasingly tight connections, Sterling imagines how, in the chaos that ensues after the ice caps melt, our most marginalized brethren may gain a foothold to power. This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time; it’s mesmerizing, terrifying, and ultimately, hopeful." Caroline