Semi Finalist
Assessment:
Plot/Idea: This stinging, post-apocalyptic novel shreds expectations and offers up a jagged but disarming hero in the singular Beamo Roamer, a scavenger in possession of a treasure map and more enemies than he can count. The terrain is prickly, the danger sky-high, and the monsters Beamo faces along the way gnarly—but the plot is a stunning, violent tinderbox that entices just as much as it devastates.
Prose: Wow writes nimbly, with prose that balances on a knife-edge of suspense and lacerates the routine.
Originality: Ride the Snake Road is unarguably a behemoth of invention, with a fickle storyline that teases, satiates, and staggers readers over and over again.
Character/Execution: Beamo—cunning, desperate, and strangely appealing—is the undisputed man of the hour in Wow’s harsh world, though he’s bolstered by a cast of ne’er do wells and the hopeful elect trying to carve out an existence, of sorts, in a world that’s given up on them.
Date Submitted: May 16, 2024
Beamo Roamer scavenges a post-apocalyptic America one thousand years into the future in Wow’s gritty debut. When Beamo discovers a military map leading to the location of the Lost Fort Knox Gold—rumored to be the last treasure of the fallen “Merican Government”—he’s immediately captured by a gang of ruthless bikers, led by his once-friend Tee Sal and Tee’s sister Little Bit, prompting Beamo to quickly ingest the map. Rather than give up what he knows, Beamo shrewdly contracts with Tee to navigate them through the waste land known as Merica, bypassing once-thriving cities decimated by nuclear waste and fighting outlaws clothed in the literal skins of their enemies on a no-holds-barred treasure hunt.Wow immerses readers in this jaggy, apocalyptic no-man’s-land, writing convincing characters that vibrate with appeal as they collide with all manner of monsters—both natural and human. Their tenuous hold on life is palpable throughout, and Wow bewitches with their stories before dashing hope in spectacular endings. The terrain here is deadly, no bones about it: take Roofy, who abandons her children to hunt for a better life, only to suffer a shocking attack when she’s at the cusp of controlling her own destiny. Beamo is a force to be reckoned with, winning over Tee with his cunning intellect and street-smart survival know-how, all while romancing Little Bit in an intensely passionate crescendo destined to upset the fragile balance of their alliance.
The characters here are explosive—and their interactions can be blistering even during the best of times—but that’s to be expected in a story where death breathes around every corner and “phantasms [stroll] along the edge of the grave plots in the bright daylight.” Wow draws eerie similarities to the problems plaguing contemporary American society, and the ending smashes expectations while delivering a sliver of hope for a more palatable future.
Takeaway: Brutal, no-holds-barred romp through post-apocalyptic America.
Comparable Titles: G. Michael Hopf’s Seven Days, C. Robert Cargill’s Sea of Rust.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: B
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-
