Tropic of Kansas
First edition, 2017
Tropic of Kansas is a dystopian novel by Christopher Brown set in a fractured United States that has broken apart into competing territories. At the center of the continent lies the “Tropic of Kansas,” a vast, loosely defined DMZ made up of abandoned towns, informal settlements, and long-neglected farmland. Once the country’s heartland, the region now functions as a buffer zone, monitored by drones and private militias and left in a state of permanent instability.
The novel follows two connected narratives. Sig, the orphaned child of political dissidents, is a fugitive moving across the interior of the country toward occupied New Orleans, navigating a landscape shaped by checkpoints, surveillance, and shifting local authority. His foster sister Tania, now working as a government investigator, is tasked with tracking him down. Her search leads her into underground networks that rely on obsolete and analog technology to move unnoticed through a system built on digital control.
Rather than focusing on the moment of collapse, Tropic of Kansas centers on movement through a fragmented country, where borders and surveillance shape daily life.
Published as a paperback original.
Tropic of Kansas (2017) by Christopher Brown is set in a fractured United States that has broken apart into competing territories. At the center of the continent lies the Tropic of Kansas, a vast DMZ of abandoned towns, informal settlements, and long-neglected farmland, monitored by drones and private militias. The novel follows two connected narratives. Sig, the orphaned child of political dissidents, is a fugitive moving across the interior toward occupied New Orleans. His foster sister Tania, now a government investigator, is tasked with tracking him down, a search that draws her into underground networks operating on analog technology to stay invisible to digital surveillance. The novel is less concerned with how the country collapsed than with what it feels like to move through what remains of it. Published as a paperback original.
Softcover. First Edition, First Printing. Octavo, wrappers. New York: HarperCollins, 2017. ISBN: 9780062563811. #10444.
Fine.
The novel follows two connected narratives. Sig, the orphaned child of political dissidents, is a fugitive moving across the interior of the country toward occupied New Orleans, navigating a landscape shaped by checkpoints, surveillance, and shifting local authority. His foster sister Tania, now working as a government investigator, is tasked with tracking him down. Her search leads her into underground networks that rely on obsolete and analog technology to move unnoticed through a system built on digital control.
Rather than focusing on the moment of collapse, Tropic of Kansas centers on movement through a fragmented country, where borders and surveillance shape daily life.
Published as a paperback original.
Tropic of Kansas (2017) by Christopher Brown is set in a fractured United States that has broken apart into competing territories. At the center of the continent lies the Tropic of Kansas, a vast DMZ of abandoned towns, informal settlements, and long-neglected farmland, monitored by drones and private militias. The novel follows two connected narratives. Sig, the orphaned child of political dissidents, is a fugitive moving across the interior toward occupied New Orleans. His foster sister Tania, now a government investigator, is tasked with tracking him down, a search that draws her into underground networks operating on analog technology to stay invisible to digital surveillance. The novel is less concerned with how the country collapsed than with what it feels like to move through what remains of it. Published as a paperback original.
Softcover. First Edition, First Printing. Octavo, wrappers. New York: HarperCollins, 2017. ISBN: 9780062563811. #10444.
Fine.