The Afterlife Project: A Novel

by Tim Weed

Separated by ten thousand years, a team of scientists and their test subject must work together to save the human species—before it’s too late . . .

With humanity facing imminent extinction, Centauri Project scientists use technology originally designed for interstellar travel to send a test subject ten millennia into Earth’s future. Marooned in an uninhabited wilderness, microbiologist Nicholas Hindman searches for evidence of remnant populations. He has a protocol to follow and is determined to do so to the bitter end—though he knows he’s probably searching in vain, stranded on an uninhabited planet silently orbiting the sun.

Meanwhile, back in 2068 AD, a devastating hyperpandemic has quelled all talk of interstellar travel and thrown the future of humanity into grave doubt. Four surviving members of the Centauri team board a vintage solar-powered sailing yacht for a harrowing journey in search of a second test subject. Their destination is a small volcanic island north of Sicily rumored to harbor that rarest of a woman capable of getting pregnant, thereby ensuring this generation of Homo sapiens isn’t the last. But first they must make it halfway across the post-apocalyptic globe, risking heatwaves, oceanic megastorms, murderous gangs, deranged cult leaders, a volcanic eruption, and the dangerous microbes that continue to circulate through the planet’s atmosphere.

A finalist for the Prism Prize for Climate Literature, The Afterlife Project encompasses a desperate quest for the key to the future of humanity, an impossible love story, and a search for meaning across the inconceivable vastness of geological time.

“Smart, achingly beautiful, and (yes) a gripping novel of climate cataclysm with a cast of characters I cared about deeply.” —Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Flight Attendant

“A super-smart, super-fun page-turner about a scientist trying to survive alone on Earth in the deep future—and the love of his life trying to travel through time to find him. I can’t think of a single page that didn’t make me pause to admire a sentence, an image, or a particularly fascinating idea. I loved this book.” —Angie Kim, New York Times–bestselling author of Happiness Falls

“The Afterlife Project isn’t just a story about the end of the world as we know it—it’s an exploration of beauty, and love, and hope in the darkness. If you were a fan of Cloud Atlas, you won’t want to miss this one.” —Janelle Brown, New York Times–bestselling author of Pretty Things

“This beautiful and heartbreaking book reminds us of what we have, and what we stand to lose. Unforgettable.” —Danielle Trussoni, New York Times–bestselling author of The Puzzle Master

“Weed is a fabulous storyteller working at the top of his game. I predict this novel will become a classic.” —Joseph Monninger, author of The World As We Know It

“A brave and brilliant imagining of Earth in the years just after a mega-pandemic has killed almost everyone, and ten thousand years hence, when a test subject emerges from suspension to explore a wilderness echoing with solitude.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Time Travel, Dystopia, Nature, Science Fiction Fantasy

271 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 3, 2025

About the author

Tim Weed is the author of four books of fiction. His recent novel, The Afterlife Project, was a best books of 2025 pick from Library Journal and the Toronto Star. He’s won multiple Writer’s Digest Annual Fiction Awards and his work has been shortlisted for the Eric Hoffer Book Award, the Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction, the Prism Prize for Climate Literature, the Fish International Short Story Award, the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Award for a Novel-in-Progress, the New Rivers Many Voices Project, and many others. Tim's essays and articles have appeared in Writers Digest, Literary Hub, The Revelator, The Millions, The Writer’s Chronicle, Talking Points Memo, The Good Men Project, and elsewhere.

Read more at the author's official website.

Reviews

[Tomislav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim Weed is a new writer to me, and as far as I can tell, The Afterlife Project is also his first novel that would qualify as science fiction. It opens with a great hook, as Nick (Dr. Nicholas Hindman) comes to consciousness in a cave in what was once New Hampshire, after a 10,000-year suspension – long enough for the Earth to heal from the climate disaster of the 21st century, an Earth in which he may be the only living human. His survival strategies have been carefully prepared with that contingency in mind, given that essentially no artifacts were contained within his Time Dilation Sphere. I’ve spent time on the AT, and found Weed’s descriptions of the physical environment to be detailed and evocative. As the months go by, Nick struggles to maintain his sanity and sense of purpose in the face of disappointments. It was fascinating to consider that he is in the same location as his prior life, where he recognizes very few features other than a few rock outcroppings.

Meanwhile in alternating chapters we follow Nick’s colleagues in the years after he was suspended, as population declines, and civil society deteriorates. After the events begin, a great deal of the climate disaster background is supplied through flashbacks and memories in both plotlines. That works well. At the same time, the fringe survivalists they encounter seem extreme and contrived for purposes of plot promotion. It is a world where human fertility has gone to near zero, due to a pandemic. They are searching for a fertile companion to send forward with Nick, and a lot of the suspense involves whether that quest will be successful. Nick, in his plot thread has not discovered any other TDS.

In the end, the survival of the human species is at stake, and while the outcome seems actually reasonable, something in the drama was missing for me. Perhaps it involved the sudden switch from a first-person narrative to a third-person omniscient perspective. Sadly, I do not have a preferred ending that I would like to recommend, but I’m afraid that some of the emotional impact I expected was missing. Still, I found this novel overall to be recommended reading.

I read an Advance Review Copy of The Afterlife Project in ebook format, which I received from Podium Publishing through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review on social media platforms and on my book review blog. This new title is scheduled for release on 3 June 2025.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this captivating adventure/survival story set in two intriguing timelines—one in the near future (2068) and another 10,000+ years later. The alternating narratives were well-paced, controlled but emotional, and seamlessly connected. I couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of compassion for these scientists—fragile yet incredibly resilient humans who, despite their vulnerabilities, exhibit brilliance, open-mindedness, and extraordinary bravery.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim Weed’s The Afterlife Project starts with a familiar kind of post-apocalyptic world. Earth has witnessed a catastrophic virus that robbed humanity of its fertility, sending the population into a death spiral and causing global unrest, the breakdown of food distribution systems and ultimately, societal collapse. But when microbiologist Nicholas Hindman emerges from suspended animation ten thousand years into what he calls the ‘deep future’, he’s overcome with its beauty: ‘the forest floor [is] covered in ferns and sedges and mushrooms of every description, with extravagant layers of emerald and yellow-green moss upholstering a complex topography of boulders and criss-crossing fallen logs… hardwoods with massive buttressed root flares [emerge] from thousands of years’ accumulation of leaf litter and organic soil’. Of course, he grieves not just for human company but also that ‘everything he’s ever known could have been so fully erased by the passage of time… NASA, plug-in hybrids, rock-n-roll, jazz. The Roman calendar. Days of the week. Politics. Blueberry scones.’ But the world he’s gained recalls descriptions of the Cretaceous period or, much closer in time, the vast old-growth Canadian forests at the start of Annie Proulx’s Barkskins, filled with ‘birdsong and small mammals chittering, and the throbbing many-voiced chorus of pollinating insects’.

Ten thousand years in the past and a couple decades into our own future, we learn why Nicholas was put into deep freeze in the first place. Dr Alejandra Morgan-Ochoa narrates the quest of a small team of scientists to find any remaining fertile women on Earth and to suspend them, alongside Nicholas (who also retains his fertility), until the pathogens that caused this catastrophe have stopped circulating and they can restart the human race. We know that Nicholas believes he’s alone in the future, but it also seems possible that he might be wrong – especially when it’s revealed that the capsules may open at any point within about a twenty-year period, so Nicholas’s future mate may not yet have been reborn. This tense plot thread recalls other speculative novels about fertility like Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder or the much higher stakes of Jane Rodgers’s The Testament of Jessie Lamb. However, Weed is less interested in exploring the individual ethical questions that arise from this project and more interested in the bigger questions about life and its interconnectivity that are considered so effectively, though differently, in Martin MacInnes’s In Ascension, another novel about a microbiologist but one which finds its answers not in the deep future but in the deep past.

I was utterly immersed in The Afterlife Project, which covers some grim ground but, like MacInnes, finds unexpected hope, especially in the mediative sections where Nicholas explores ‘what was formerly the state of New Hampshire’. It strikes a beautiful, intelligent balance between Alejandra’s faster-paced narrative and these moments of deeper reflection. And unlike so many recent eco-fictions that seek to show, as this does, that humans are merely a part of nature and not the be all and end all (Lauren Groff’s The Vaster Wilds comes to mind), Weed avoids nihilism, recognising the value of humanity but also its fragility. Highly, highly recommended, especially for MacInnes fans. 4.5 stars.

Thanks so much to Page One Media for reaching out to me to offer a digital ARC of this novel, and to its indie publisher Podium Entertainment.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bleak and beautiful, Tim Weed's The Afterlife Project is a dour vision of humanity's potential impact on the planet and its ecosystems. Less tech-focused than other time travel stories, this adventure is perfect for readers who enjoy vivid, reverent descriptions of natural environments. Much of the plot takes place on the open ocean or in a stark wilderness, with characters battling the elements to pursue solutions that will ensure the survival of the species.

Afterlife's serene pacing may at first seem slow for a science fiction novel, but the author's elegant prose provides enough buoyancy to carry the story until the all-too-plausible future reveals its grim reality. Readers looking for a unique take on time travel and ecofiction will be pleasantly surprised by this original story of humanity's self-imposed existential threat.

The story incorporates concepts of quantum mechanics, but the ideas are simple enough that any reader can understand how they support the theoretical technology. This dual narrative is split between something like modern day and a far distant future. That structure allows the author to take full advantage of the dramatic potential for big reveals. Surprises along the way leave the reader reconsidering the ethical implications of human civilization, and questioning how far a species should go to sustain itself.

A big thank you to Podium Publishing and Edelweiss+ for the ARC.

[Reneaue · Rating 5 out of 5]

EcoFiction at it's finest!
If you enjoy the novels by Richard Powers, this book is a must read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
=========================================

What if you woke in a world where all humanity was erased from the planet?

Dr. Nicholas Hindman (Nick), has background in extremophile microbiology. His partner, Natalie Quist is the Chief astrobiologist for the Centauri Project - named for the planned colonization of Alpha Centauri (4.5 LY or 25 trillion miles away). Together they are part of a team exploring ways to save humanity from mass extinction resulting from the climate crisis. Unfortunately light speed travel failed to progress to the point of making an interstellar journey possible before the societal collapse. Focus switched to sustaining a limited number of lives and efforts were directed to the creation of cryogenic spheres (referred to as TDS) for long-term suspended animation.

“A few flickers of hope, followed by pandemic and renewed violence and accelerating climatological disruption. Bills coming due for those heady decades of optimism and affluence and devil-may-care consumption built on fossil fuels. Deadly weather weather, raging wildfires, melting icecaps, acidifying oceans. Drought and famine, dislocation and war, fracturing societies, mushrooming authoritarianism. The microbial plagues returned, lethal and unstoppable. Homo sapiens losing its grip. Falling backward into the abyss.”

In 2056, the collapse of the international financial and telecommunications system ushered in a new calendar, A.U.C.T. marking the demise of the Coordinated Universal time in a world completely devoid of children.

In A.U.C.T. 1, Nick was placed in one of three cryospheres (TDS) on the grounds of the Centauri Lab Compound in New Hampshire. The spheres were powered by a cold fusion reactor for a span of 10,150 years (give or take 18.583 years). When the reactor had ran its course, the tubes had retracted and dumped him in the future - into a vast wilderness in which he is literally "the last man standing".

Nick was selected to be the first test subject, because of his background and also because he was the only fertile member of the team. His last memories were of Natalie giving him a kiss and promising to find him some company. It was soon apparent that other viable subjects had not been found, and Nick found himself very much alone and wondering, “How did Natalie die?”

A.U.C.T. 10151 - Nick

“The simple idea that everything he’s ever known could have been so fully erased by the passage of time. Computers, smart phones, the internet. Social media, Hollywood movies, any movies. The stock exchange, McDonalds and Starbucks, Coca Cola, kombucha. NASA, plug-in hybrids, rock-n-roll, jazz. The Roman calendar. Days of the week. Politics. Blueberry scones. Every invention, every creation of the human society he’d ever known, not to mention his family and friends…. All of them vanished and expunged. Never to be revisited, except in memory.”

I found myself involved in Nick's story from the beginning. His disorientation as he wakes up on the grounds of the lab he once knew well, but 10,000 years in the past, was an accurate depiction of how anyone would feel given his circumstances. The compound has converted to wilderness, and he must rely on his survival skills to find shelter and provide for himself. He finds nothing left of his former society, but he is determined to follow his protocols and search for any signs that humanity has survived. Instead he finds that the other species have not only rebounded, but flourished in the absence of humans. Many of which were thought to be extinct. It gives him hope that somewhere there may be survivors of his own species, so he begins his vigil.

Meanwhile in 2068, we follow the Centauri team, Natalie, James, Tollie and Al on their journey to find survivors of a disease that left the largest percentage of humanity infertile. Their goal is to find viable (fertile) subjects to occupy the remaining two cryospheres.

Humanity makes one last ditch effort….

“One final roll of the dice for all the human children who have yet to wake up to the glory of a morning sunrise. For all the art yet to be created, the scientific advances yet to be made, love yet to be celebrated. For the chance to strike a long-term balance of sustainability, and for our species finally to assume its destiny as the stewards, rather than the destroyers, of the miraculous web of life that has emerged and flourished over countless eons all across this beautiful, stricken planet."

AUCT 12, March 2068
The remaining members of the Centauri Project set sail on the Solar Barque to the Mediterranean, in search of a pocket of humans who may have retained their fertility. Much of society is in collapse, and while there are survivors, it's a "Lord of the Flies" existence. Each stop is a risk, and although not surprised, they were overcome by the ruins left behind. Each city telling a story of death, anarchy and violence. These stories relayed to the reader through the eyes of the Project's Medical Doctor, Dr. Alejandra "Al" Morgan-Ochoa via her diary entries.

“Across the Globe, demoralized human societies entered a rapid process of decline. Governments could no longer cope. Disaster aid was a figment of the golden past. Health care, telecommunications, and most other essential infrastructure fell into disarray and failure, and looting, murder, rapine, famine, and secondary diseases all became rampant. If the planet itself is a living organism, it has an immune system strong enough to rid itself of the species that has been assailing it.”

Normally I would tear through a 300-page book in an evening or more causally over a weekend. But this novel was so engaging and well-written, I wanted to savor every word - often re-reading sections in order to give them the attention and consideration they deserved. This did not read so much as a dystopian novel as a philosophical treatise on current events with a warning of what is just around the corner.


In an amusing outtake, our protagonist, Nick, decides to try some hallucinogenic mushrooms out of boredom. Given his resulting affinity with nature, maybe we all need to give Amanita muscaria a try. That is, as long as it doesn't result in naked running through the forest in pursuit of an apparition. LOL.

This novel gives one pause to think, but toward the end, it's more about at what point to we give in? Maybe humanity doesn't deserve a happy ending...

The advice to future generations was this:

Tread lightly. Think ahead. Respect the reality that despite your intelligence you are inseparable from the great web of life, a species to whom much has been given and of whom much is expected in return, namely a firm commitment to stewardship as opposed to thoughtless exploitation.

[Kelley Stoneking · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating! ALWAYS in the mood for some good post-apocalyptic fiction, and this did not disappoint. I loved this world-building and the characters. The two timelines, approximately 40 years in our future and 10,000 years in our future, were satisfyingly plausible. Highly recommend!

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh I found this book mind blowing. Set in two different future generations, a dystopian future and a story of love. I so enjoyed it, thank you to the author. Still thinking on the reflections relevant to our situation in the world today. Write more please! Thank you to # NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

[David Agranoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one came totally out of the blue to my mailbox. I was offered an arc of this novel at some point, and I remember saying I would check it out. I am currently ass deep in my own novel so by the time I opened the package I forgot what interested me in the first place. Perfect for me as I love reading a novel with zero idea of what it is even about. Back cover descriptions can often lead you to expectations. I really didn’t know a thing. Tim Weed is also not an author whom I don’t know, so I had no reputation to go on either.

I came to this book not expecting much, but I was hopeful. I have no idea if Tim Weed is a science fiction guy, if this is one of many SF projects, or a one-off environmental novel.I don’t know clearly what the mission statement was, but I got the distinct impression that this novel was not written by someone with a library of SF titles.

Strangely, TAP could be an intense response or a subversion of a sacred sci-fi subgenre, “The Generation Ship novel.” One of the best Science fiction novels of this century so far was a novel with the same mission. While I think Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson is a better novel expressing the same point, I am not insulting TAP; it is a daring original novel at the same time. I don’t want to spoil Aurora, so if you have not read it (and you should), then skip ahead. In that novel, a generation ship goes out from a dying Earth to travel to the nearest star system, and discovers that there is no life available on this other world, so they head back to Earth, hoping that it has regenerated over the decades.

Both novels question the viability of the Generation ship, but in Weed’s story, it never gets off the ground. Despite failing to get off earth, the project retains the name Centuri project, the generation ship is buried underground, and the survivors of humanity (this is not big spoiler) are intended to sleep through a post-human recovery.

The Afterlife Project doesn’t feel like it was written by a Science fiction scenester, but it is a good science fiction novel, it just doesn’t feel like a retread or cookie cutter. It is a good thing. It is hard to spoil because of the way the narrative shifts from the birth of the Centuri project during the fall of Earth, and eons after the fall, with the results. The back and forth makes for an interesting way to tell this story. We know the end of one of the narratives, but the essence of this novel is the why.

So what makes this story special? First off, the novel comments on all of civilization.

“The simple idea that everything he's ever known could have been so fully erased by the passage of time, computers, smartphones, the Internet. Social media, Hollywood movies, any movies. The Stock Exchange, McDonald's and Starbucks, Coca-Cola, kombucha, NASA, plug-in hybrids, rock'n'roll, jazz. The Roman calendar. Days of the week. Politics. Blueberry scones. Every invention, every creation of the human society he had once known, not to mention his family and friends, and Natalie and the rest of the Centauri team. Everyone he'd ever admired, everyone he had ever scorned, all the human beings he'd ever met, and the multitudes he never did. All of them, banished and expunged. Never to be revisited, except in memory.
It was a lot to take in.”

It is a lot to take in, and that is one of the things that makes this a thoughtful and enjoyable experience. The above passage shows that the novel carefully considers the weight of what this story represents. It's about the folly of civilization, and one possible way we might survive it.
The book is directly speaking to future humans who have a chance to rebuild, but of course, it is directly speaking to us.

“If you are reading this, I hope you have a more generous capacity to forgive your fellow humans than I do and that you will teach your children and grandchildren that there is a better way to live.”
One smart thing is that Weed doesn’t assume the beings in possession of this story will read the same language.

“If you can't read these words, I presume your attention will be drawn to the graphic representations in the accompanying codex. If you can read these words, then it is my hope you now understand that we have tried our best, and perhaps we're not quite done trying yet.
Approximately seven decades before I completed these pages a scientist by the name of James E Lovelock proposed the idea of the last book on earth, a user's guide to living sustainably on this planet after the fall of human civilization. Our version of Doctor Lovelock's idea the codexs that accompanies this one begins with illustrations detailing the factors that led to this fall and continues with some important discoveries made by the species during our first flourishing on this planet. Continuing in graphic form, we include detailed instructions intended to provide a future population you my futuristic friends, whom I address across the gap of however much time may have passed with knowledge that should help you to avoid making the same mistakes we did with humble affection and great hope for our mutual successes…”

We don’t get to be these future friends, and the only way to survive is to listen to warnings like these and act. The Afterlife Project is a powerful environmental novel, and first and foremost, I felt that way about it. It uses Science Fiction to make a powerful statement about civilization and our desperate need to come to terms with the one and only planet we have.

[Jalen the Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I was a human chosen to be sent to the year 10,151 to try and make sure that the human race can survive extinction, I would not be doing funky ass mushrooms and tripping balls pretending like I'm flying over Ohio. I think I would be doing somersaults, running around naked, or scouring every ruined building I find for a DVD player and a DVD of Tell Me Lies season three. Who woulda thunk that Lucy and Stephan would be toxic again? And why is Wrigley the GOAT? Damn, if this happened in real life and we sent Stephan and Lucy forward in time, the human race is cooked and fried.

[Kate Victoria RescueandReading · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m left with mixed feelings on this one. I enjoyed the characters (mostly, but not Nat) the descriptions of the far future (though I found some of these sections a bit dry at times), and was immersed in the near future team’s endeavours.

I guess you can call this one an eco horror? Or scifi thriller?

It definitely presents a concerning and all too realistic look at the direction humanity is heading in. I don’t know if I was 100% satisfied with the ending or the characters’ outcomes, but that’s just me.

I did feel like I was reading a nonfiction at some points due to the way the prose and narration is written, I wasn’t a huge fan of this either. So definitely a “mid” read in general. I can see a lot of people being in the same boat as me in their opinions, OR, really loving this book. I guess it depends on how you like your science fiction/end of the world plots to go.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Podium Entertainment/Publishing for a copy.

[Glenn Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Afterlife Project is a book I received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. It is a dual timeline story in that half of the book is set in a dystopian future (2068) where humans are on the verge of self-destruction. The other half is sci-fi in that it is set 10,000 years in the future. Scientists from 2068 are attempting to send one healthy male, and one healthy female (ie both fertile) 10,000 years ahead. They are doing this to try and ensure the survival of the human race. This is not being done through time travel, but by effectively sealing the chosen human specimens into a type of pod where they are kind of on ice. The pod keeps them alive without aging them, and opens after 10,000 years. They have sealed a healthy male in a pod and the story follows this man once his pod opens 10,000 years later. The other half of the story follows the scientists in a collapsing 2068 world as they desperately search for a healthy female to join him in the future. The whole concept of this book is pretty amazing. The story is quite intense and well told by the author. At times it was tragic with events/incidents that shocked the reader (causing several audible gasps). I very much enjoyed this book once I understood what was happening and what the objectives of the characters were. The only thing that I found odd was the dialogue, which it wasn’t heavy on. People were addressed as “dear” throughout the story. As in hello dear, or how are you dear. This was how my Grandma spoke so it came across as strange for a book set 43 years in the future for people to speak this way. Overall though a terrific book. Thank you Netgalley.

[Shannon Miz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is hands down one of the most thought-provoking books that I have ever read. Which is saying something, because thought-provoking books are kind of my thing. The Afterlife Project is told in two timelines from two perspectives. The first is in the near future (the 2060s), where we read from a journal written by a doctor who is a team member on the project trying desperately to save a rapidly dwindling humanity. The second is from Nick, who finds himself waking up ten thousand years in the future, wondering what happened to not only his loved ones, but the planet as a whole.

I mean. How can you even reconcile either position in your mind? Certainly, at first glance, Nick's seems the most mind-boggling. To be so far removed from everything you've ever known is too huge to fully comprehend to us. But likewise, being the group from the Centauri Project is no easier a position to imagine. How far do you go to save humanity? Is ever the cost too high? These are just some of the questions you'll be grappling with alongside the characters as you make this journey with them.

I have so much to say about this book, but I equally want to tell you no more. Because this is the sort of story that needs to be experienced to be appreciated. The dual timeline provides a perfect balance between excitement and quieter moments, and there is so much exploration on topics of humanity, faith, science, memories, climate, and the entire lifespan of the planet. Truly, if you enjoy any of these existential topics, do yourself a favor and give this book a chance.

Bottom Line: The Afterlife Project is the sort of book that burrows into your mind and will leave you thinking about it for a long time to come.

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

[Jack Kelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s an interesting story somewhere in here, but the writing really isn’t strong enough to back up the majesty of trying to solve problems over huge timescales ala Stephen Baxter or Matt Bell’s Appleseed. The plot is rather convenient and the science rather shaky, and while I did appreciate the eventual reveal that the Centurai team was ultimately unsuccessful at saving the human race, and humanity goes extinct as I think the alternative could’ve been a tempting option to end the book on, it was hard to feel any great sense of stakes—by the time we enter the world of 2068, Earth has already undergone such an incredible series of global catastrophes that it’s mostly depopulated, and was apparently already far removed from our current level of technology before the apocalypse anyway.

The book is at its best when describing what the world looks like in the far future, absent of almost all traces of human habitation. Unfortunately, even these sections are plagued by a specific phrase repeated by every single POV character—the inability to use the name of any proper noun locations (town names, states, landforms, etc.) without putting “what used to be” in front of it. I noticed it in the first chapter, and it gets old quickly. Yes, I understand that as humanity dies out dividing up the country by lines on a map makes less sense, I do not need to be reminded 4 times on one page that the world has ended and these names are arbitrary except as reference points.

I wanted to like this, but it kind of felt like it needed a bit of editing or some more time in the oven. The author definitely has a lot of interesting ideas, but they just aren’t supported by the writing and plot choices.

2.5/5 stars, rounded down to 2.

[Crystal King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim Weed has crafted something extraordinary with THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT—a novel that operates simultaneously as hard science fiction, intimate character study, and philosophical meditation on humanity's place in the natural world. The dual timeline structure creates perfect narrative tension, following microbiologist Nicholas Hindman's solitary existence 10,000 years in Earth's future alongside the Centauri Project team's desperate 2068 sea voyage to find humanity's last hope. Weed's prose is both scientifically rigorous and deeply lyrical, particularly in his descriptions of a rewilded Earth that has healed from the wounds inflicted by humanity. What elevates this beyond typical climate fiction is its refusal to offer easy answers or false comfort. Instead, it presents a clear-eyed examination of human resilience that feels both devastating and oddly hopeful. This is climate fiction at its most sophisticated, avoiding didactic preaching to deliver something far more powerful: a story that honors both our species' capacity for destruction and its profound determination to endure.

[Tammy - Books, Bones & Buffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The nitty-gritty: A thrilling and immersive adventure story, The Afterlife Project combines complex, thoughtful themes with relatable characters and bittersweet emotion.

Had it not been for a random email from a publicity company I’ve never heard of, offering a book by a publisher I’ve never heard of, and if the book’s blurb hadn’t been as enticing, I might never have read The Afterlife Project, and that would have been a shame. Tim Weed’s latest novel is a gripping and emotional time travel/post apocalyptic adventure with a fair amount of science backing everything up. It’s also full of themes like found family and even a bit of romance, but mostly it’s an ode to our planet’s natural wonder and beauty, as well as a cautionary tale about humanity’s downfall. Weed masterfully tells his story in two timelines with a great deal of distance between them—more than 10,000 years!---and it’s surprisingly effective.

The story takes place in the year 2068, twelve years after a hyperpandemic has decimated the population. Not only have billions died worldwide, but the virus has also left most people sterile and unable to have children. We follow a small group of scientists who are passionate about saving humanity, although their ideas are extreme and have a very low chance of success. Dr. Natalie Quist (“Dr. Q”) is the brilliant head of the Centauri Project, and along with her brother Tollie, pandemic survivor James Swamp and physician Alejandra Morgan-Ochoa (“Al”), she has come up with a bold plan. 

First, the team has devised a time travel pod that will send the occupant 10,000 years into Earth's future, with the hope that the planet will have recovered from the horrors of global warming. Natalie’s longtime lover Nick Hindman is a microbiologist, and he’s also the perfect candidate to send to the future—he just happens to be fertile. In the meantime, Dr. Q and the others will search for an equally fertile female to send to the future as well. Although the chances are slim, Dr. Q hopes this mystery woman and Nick will be able to save humankind and repopulate the planet.

In alternating timelines, we follow Dr. Q, James, Tollie and Al on a thrilling sea adventure as they chase rumors of a group of fertile women in Stromboli, Italy, and 10,000 years in Earth’s future, we follow Nick as he awakens alone on a planet teeming with life and beauty. The chapters that take place in 2068 are journal entries, written by Al and transcribed by Dr. Q, so part of the story is written in epistolary format, which I loved. Al’s voice is a wonderful mix of technical science and wry humor, as she makes candid observations about her team members and injects quite a bit of drama into the story.

And speaking of drama, their sea voyage was one of my favorite parts of the story. Imagine a post apocalyptic landscape where only small groups of desperate humans survive. Resources like food and clothing are in short supply, and infrastructures like hospitals, electrical grids, and even the internet are gone. Dr. Q and her team find themselves in several dicey situations over the months-long course of their journey across the Atlantic, and this made for a very exciting, tension-filled plot.

Meanwhile, on a future Earth, we watch Nick’s adventure unfold as he emerges from his pod and realizes that he might well be the last human on the planet. Although he’s thoroughly versed in plant life and is able to forage for enough food to keep himself alive, he isn’t truly prepared for the intense loneliness that hits him. He’s surrounded by all sorts of animals and insects—it seems Earth has miraculously recovered from global warming—but he misses human companionship. Although there are dangers from predators and the elements, Nick’s storyline is mostly emotional and full of internal conflict, with many unanswered questions: was Dr. Q able to find him a suitable partner, and did she send her to the future? If so, where is she?

And while The Afterlife Project often reads like an adventure story, it’s so much more. Weed has done lots of research on his subject matter and it shows. From scientific details about the hyperpandemic (and you thought COVID was bad!) to Nick’s ability to identify hundreds of mushroom varieties in the future, to the sad realities of global warming and the slow destruction of the planet, the story is infused with hard data to give it more heft. Weed also imagines what might happen to the planet if humans became extinct. His version is a lush world filled with diverse animals, birds, sealife and insects, an almost “Garden of Eden” scenario. 

Along with this vision of a possible future comes lots of food for thought. I was not able to stop thinking about some of the author’s more sobering ideas, although there are glimmers of hope. Mostly, I found it to be an honest, realistic story about humanity’s future. Weed doesn’t sugarcoat anything, and not everything goes to plan—or even comes close, in some cases. There are some heartbreaking moments in this story that brought tears to my eyes, but there are also wondrous scenes that show humankind’s tenacity and grit.

I haven’t talked much about the characters, but each one is nicely developed. In flashbacks we learn how the members of the Centauri Project came together, how the pandemic started, and how Nick was chosen to be the guinea pig to possibly save humanity’s future. There’s also a wonderful love story between Natalie and Nick, which unfolds over the years in some surprising ways. One of the book’s themes is memory and the poignant ways we remember or forget important times in our lives. Nick works hard to remember all the little things he used to love: the bitter taste of coffee, the feel of Natalie in his arms, etc, all of which are evaporating with each day he’s alone.

It’s amazing how much Tim Weed has packed into less than 300 pages, and I have so much more I can talk about in this review—but I won’t. Please do yourself a favor and consider reading The Afterlife Project, which deserves every bit of praise it's received and is one of the best books I've read so far this year.

Big thanks to the publisher and Page One Media for a review copy.

[Alleyymarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super thought provoking.

[Eleanor]

A two-strand postapocalyptic novel. In one storyline, Dr Nick Marchand wakes up in a pod that has harnessed quantum time (in a way I didn’t entirely grok) to deposit him ten thousand years into the future. Humanity was on its last legs when he entered the pod, literally decimated by a super-pandemic, most of the survivors of which were rendered infertile. Nick’s mission is to find out if anyone at all survived, reproduced, and founded even the tiniest of civilisations to last this long. The second strand follows the increasingly frantic efforts of the research team he left behind in 2068, led by his lover Dr Natalie Quist, to find a woman or girl who can still reproduce. Their secondary mission generally goes unspoken: to capture or coerce said woman or girl into the second pod, and send her into the deep future for repopulative purposes with Nick, who happens to have retained his fertility. Setting aside that this is a totally useless task if you only have one fertile couple—your new civilisation will fall to inbreeding within a few generations—I like Weed’s idea here, at least on paper. What would it be like to wake up in a pristine world alone? What would it be like to mourn not only the loss of world culture, but also of small personal comforts: fresh coffee, blueberry scones, hot showers? There’s a paragraph near the start where this really comes home (it’s where the blueberry scones are mentioned), and the descriptions of the deep-future wilderness that was once New Hampshire are uniformly absolutely stunning. But to pull it off for the whole novel, Weed’s characters would need to feel more complex and the narrative would need to be more interested in their subjectivities. There’s an effort in that direction, but the main characters don’t feel specific enough; Quist in particular is someone we’re told is the greatest mind of her generation, but we never see her behaving in ways that signal anything other than “generically pleasant older woman”. I found the ideas and questions that this sparked really rich, but it’d be great to see this premise built upon with stronger character work. Free e-copy from publisher Podium—thank you!

[Join the Penguin Resistance! · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've not been stirred to this extent by a long-range novel in this category since Stephen Baxter's EVOLUTION (still unforgettable years later, as will be THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT). Author Tim Weed has an incredible capacity to imagine the distant past, the far-flung future, and all that lies between. Also I was struck by his combined compassion and admiration for both the environment, its biodiversity, but also for Humanity: the single most dangerous species on Earth and the only species most likely to and capable of eradicating all other species and the Environment itself.

Indelibly imagined
Thoroughly researched
Deeply imaginative
Incredibly thought-provoking
Reaching far into the distant past, flinging humanity (a scion of humanity) into the far-flung future, through Extinction to Beyond

As a child, I grew up under the cloud of "imminent" nuclear war, or if one adhered to Senator Joe McCarthy, imminent Communist invasion and the complete destruction of the American Way of Life. (For the John Birch Society, the threat was the terror of blue-helmeted UN troops.) The point here is, that any potential world destruction would be sudden and catastrophic, and that would be it, folks. Goodbye, Humanity. (Yes, there was also the suggestion of invasion of the Earth by Evil Aliens. Same result.)
But this is not Mr. Weed's hypothesis, although his is just as destructive for Humanity [and I think the subtle implication is "we brought it on ourselves."] Author Weed's hypothesis is, startlingly, aligned with the famous prophetic declaration from T. S. Eliot's 1925 "The Hollow Men":

"This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.'

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to the publishers, netgalley, and the author for giving me an advanced copy of this book!

The afterlife project follows two timelines one where the world is basically inhabitable due to climate change and a virus and one more than 10,000 years in the future where now the earth is an uninhabited wilderness. As someone who doesn’t read a lot of sci-fi I was absolutely hooked by the book. It was such a unique concept that left me with a sinking feeling in my stomach knowing that if things don’t chance we could see a future like this. While it was not intended to be a horror book, to me it did read as one at times. Not in the traditional sense, but in the sense of being alone in a world that you no longer recognize.

I’m so excited for this book to be published and for more people to get to read The Afterlife Project!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved everything about this dystopian, post-apocalyptic, survival-of-the-human-race quest.

Set in two connected timelines, the plot follows a team led by a scientist in 2068 looking for a way to save the human race from extinction, and jumps back and forth to their friend, who has been sent 10,000 years into the future to find any remainders of the human race as he survives in the untamed wilderness.

Despite its dark themes centered on isolation and the brink of human extinction, I felt comforted and awed by the incredible descriptions of nature and the reminder of resilience of our planet, rather than despair over how climate change is permanently affecting our current world.

Reminiscent of Wendell Berry, I appreciated Weed’s reminder that as humans we are all a part of nature, and share an interconnectedness with the environment and beings around us. This novel does convey a sense of urgency to act as faithful stewards of our planet now, but I found a kernel of peace in the message that nature prevails despite humans’ best efforts to control it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Podium Publishing for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

*some of the below may be considered light spoilers*

This was an intriguing novel that kept my attention all the way through. The ideas it explored - how humanity might doom itself or try to save itself, what the world might look like in the future or the far future, and what responsibilities we have to our planet - drew me to this book in the first place and were, in my opinion, explored well. Based on the acknowledgments page, it seems the author and I have read some of the same books!

My favorite aspect was the quality of the writing. A journal that gives us the context of the distant past is written in a strong and recognizable voice, while the more neutral 3rd-person narration of the far future is incredibly descriptive and immersive. The language and level of detail really drove home the beauty of the natural world and allowed me to visualize the main character’s surroundings better than any book I’ve read for a while.

The protagonists’ efforts to save humanity made the book quite engaging and well-paced. However, there were some worldbuilding and plot aspects that I found a bit distracting or disappointing. For example, I thought that the totally chaotic and broken-down nature of society at even the most basic level seemed unrealistic just a decade or so after a major disaster. This is at odds with how ordinary people often behave in disaster areas or even war zones, trying to maintain life as usual. I also found some of developments in the last few chapters a bit too fantastical for my suspension of disbelief, at least in a sci-fi novel. I absolutely loved the ending chapter though!

Finally, I felt like Natalie was characterized as perfect and all-knowing. Throughout the book, I can’t really remember her having a flaw, so she didn’t seem like a fleshed-out person. This was a minor complaint though, as I admittedly enjoyed reading about her.

Overall, I thought this book was a good entry into the climate fiction genre, well-researched and well-written. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an evocative and creative take on time travel and how humans might leave their footprint on our planet.

Thank you to Netgalley and Science Fiction Writers of America for giving me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

[annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

note: this is ARC review - I would like to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to obtain and read this advance copy.

The Afterlife Project was my first sci-fi book of this year for me and let me tell you it give me some food for thought (i would put it as "heavy in my tummy" but it actually gave me shaking hands and eco-anxiety).
mind blowing book is beautiful and neat package of two POVs (one present and one future), interesting characters and emotional resonance, the little bow on top is awareness to the danger of climate change and i guess the little note is filled with kind words full of hope and love.

for me to describe the amazing storytelling and colourful description of the environment - please imagine meme "Poetic cinema," i'm afraid i can't do better than that.

when the book is published, i will definitely read it again and recommend it for purchase at my local library.

bonus: since i find out this genre of books is called "ecofiction" i did some digging and i have whole list of books i want to read now. but i need to wait little bit - my eco-anxiety is extremely high right now, so i need at least 7 working days and a few walks to the garbage cans with sorted waste to get better.

[Erin Crane · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was 3 stars til that last bit. What the hell. Lol.

Non spoilery:

Very standard speculative lit fic fare. Not sure how much genre fiction the author has read in this vein because this reads very basic. Or like it thinks it’s profound but it isn’t really adding anything to this space. Now - if you haven’t read a lot like this, it could be more impactful. It just wasn’t very fresh to me and in fact annoying in a couple ways:

1. The goal. This is specific to me, or I at least recognize that this is just one point of view. I have no interest in legacy, and I don’t care if humankind goes extinct. I would never want any woman to feel the responsibility to have children for the sake of continuing humankind, especially in a potentially very dangerous context. That was all very icky to me and barely explored as an ethical dilemma.
2. Natalie and what’s his face: Why was she with this man? I see why *he* loves *her*, sure, but it’s never clear why she’s into him. I’m baffled. There’s a bit of a trend for male authors to write these amazingly smart and capable women (trying to be feminist?) but they neglect to create compelling men for these amazing women. Like a gender swap of the Bella phenomenon in YA books. How is this dull as rocks person attracting anyone? And if he talks about how tiny she is one more time I’m gonna lose my mind.

I found the guy’s timeline quite dull - he wanders around and feels sad. The past timeline was often predictable but at least had some plot and interest for me.

Spoilery:
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Who dies of a broken foot in one day?? Excuse me?? Maybe there’s some explanation for it, but I sure don’t know what it is. I’m just left like uhh why is she fading away right now..?

Why did his astral projections *work*? Mystical things are real in this story? It felt so out of place and nothing is really done with it.

Not for me! 😛

[Timothy Deer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a ride. This changed the way I think about our planet. An absolute page-turner.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Carter Bullock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, it made me think of the world in a completely different way. The idea I liked the most out of it all is the idea that the earth will move on with or without us, and it is up to us as the human species to decide whether or not we will be apart of it. I also really loved the back and forth between 10,000 years into the future and the “current” time presented in the book, it made it very engaging to find out both the ongoing story and what had happened to lead up to it.

[Clifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Faced with a likely doomsday scenario, the characters in Tim Weed's novel THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT work mightily to ensure the survival of the human race. In dual timelines--the near future and the distant future--the endeavor is tested in a brilliantly imagined earth that has undergone drastic changes. I am reminded of PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir, another great science fiction novel that incorporates an ambitious invention of scientific capability that is both plausible and beyond my comprehension.

Here, the science blends with human emotions and the relationships and bonds that form as dedicated scientists work toward a common purpose. Weed has created a fantastic book that is both cautionary tale and a very human drama. I highly recommend this book.

I am grateful to have received an ARC of the book for review purposes.

[Thomas F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great adventure story complete with danger, romance, vivid descriptions of earth, wildlife, and people in the near future and in the distant future, as the few surviving members of the Centauri Project confront a new reality. Author Tim Weed takes situations that are familiar to us now and projects which could be, as he takes us on journeys across oceans and across time with colorful, characters as they learn to cope with the aftermath of a hyper pandemic and great changes to the environment. The reader will get to know the characters and root for them. The Afterlife Project will grab your attention and the wise will take heed.

[William Lindau · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be one of the best books I’ve ever read

“Respect the reality that despite your intelligence you are inseparable from the great web of life, a species to whom much has been given and of whom much is expected in return, namely a firm commitment to stewardship as opposed to thoughtless exploitation.”

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ohhh this is one that will stick with me for a long time (and it made me cry so it is 5 stars). This was a really beautiful, epic book. I love time jumps and multiple POVs (be warned if those aren't for you!) and this centers on two different storylines in two very different times.

The first takes place in the 2060s, during the collapse of global civilization a few years after multiple climate disasters, a catastrophic geoengineering experiement, and a global hyperpandemic that leaves (nearly) every human being on earth unable to reproduce. You follow a team of scientists who are trying to save the human race by finding the last remaining people able to reproduce. They have built a sort of quantum stasis machine capable of holding someone alive for ten thousand years, and their goal is to send a few of these fertile humans to the distant future so they can begin humanity anew. This storyline is full of the particulars of societal collapse and an epic adventure across the world in a time when airplane travel is not possible anymore, medical care is hard to come by, and the world is a much more violent place. This arc will really make you think about the possibility of similar things occurring in our not too distant future.

The second storyline was my favorite, and centers on the life of one man, Nick, who was sent ten thousand years into the future. You follow his daily life as he struggles to forage and build shelter and find meaning in a world entirely devoid of human life but full to bursting with ecological diversity. I won't spoil anything, but his goal is to find any potential signs of human life and wait for the other pods to open up with the other people sent to the future (there can be a mismatch of about 18 years between them so it is not sure exactly when it will happen). If you like stories about survival in the wilderness like I do, then you will also enjoy this. The author also used some cool books that he mentioned in the afterword to get inspiration on how exactly nature will reclaim the landscapes (for example The World Without Us which I also would recommend!). It was so hauntingly beautiful to walk an earth with Nick that is completely full of animal and plant life. The forests are huge and animals are everywhere, flocks of birds blotting out the sky, insects swarming in the summer evenings, large predators living again in habitats where humans long ago extirpated them, etc. etc. It almost makes you cry with the longing of what our world could have been.

The ending of this book will make you cry like a baby as the two timelines begin to intertwine and some existential sadness and a deep love for this planet come creeping into your heart. I would wholeheartedly recommend this one, and will keep my eye out for this author in the future because this is one of those really special books that say so much more than what is written.