In a fictional and decaying American industrial city named Montbray, once a thriving defense manufacturing powerhouse that produced nearly half the nation's military equipment during the twentieth century, decades of urban decline, population flight, and economic collapse have left behind a desperate, impoverished populace. As a brutal, unyielding heatwave engulfs the city, residents face an agonizing struggle against exorbitant residential electricity rates soaring up to forty cents per kilowatt hour, charged by Montbray Metro Electrics, a privatized utility company that simultaneously offers corporate rates as low as six cents. While citizens sweat through the summer heat unable to afford basic cooling, the aging nineteen forty eight coal fired power plant finally suffers a catastrophic total shutdown, plunging the entire city into darkness and chaos.

Thousands of furious citizens flood the streets in protest, demanding power restoration and fair rates, only to be met with brazen excuses and apathy from Mayor Randy Hoffman and the utility's chief executive officer, Roger Schultz. Instead of taking accountability, Schultz insults the community by baselessly blaming the blackout and crumbling infrastructure on local copper wire thieves, while brazenly continuing to ride to work in his luxury limousine. Amid the escalating civil unrest and the hospitalization of local activist Joss Wilson, twenty eight year old activist Destiny steps forward to rally the outraged public and expose the systemic greed, tax evasion, and institutional neglect behind the crisis. Turning to a local pastor who has long operated a church cooling shelter for heatstroke victims under a heavily discounted religious electricity rate, Destiny urges him to use his voice to bear witness to the profound injustice and suffering inflicted upon the people of Montbray.

You can find the complete Montbray series via the link below 🔗📚

• Montbray Universe