Tim Weed's Blog

I LOVED this conversation with The Inner Game‘s Gwen Garcelon about THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT, spiritual evolution, animism, and the need for a new mythology to help us fulfill our destiny as a species to become the stewards rather than the exploiters of sacred nature. Listen to our 28 minute interview here – you won’t regret it! Also available on NPR podcasts.

Such an honor to see this essay published at The Revelator, a beautiful and well-edited publication of the Center for Biological Diversity. I’ve been working on these ideas for quite some time; the essay gets at some ground truths for me about trees in fiction and also in the real world. I hope you enjoy it! Here’s a quick excerpt, and the full essay is here.

“Tolkien’s forests, similarly — where many of his most dramatic and evocative chapters take place — are gripping embodiments of this urgent wrestling match between darkness and light. The Old Forest, just beyond the borders of the bucolic Shire, is host not only to terrifying ring-wraiths but to uncanny and sometimes ravenously hostile ancient trees — and things get even worse in Mirkwood. But amid these forests of terror and danger there are also glades of joyous poetry and light, such as the alluring waystation of Rivendell and magical Lothlórien, where the cathedral-like spaces between the trees are filled with dappled golden light and the celestial music of elves.”

Just getting back from the inspiring whirlwind of The Afterlife Project book tour and almost missed a few things:

The Burlington Free Press featured The Afterlife Project in their “Summer Reading Guide of Books By Vermonters.” Needless to say, it’s an honor to be included!

Also an honor, and a conversation I very much enjoyed having, is this interview with Andrea Caswell, editor of the well-known Philadelphia-based literary magazine, Cleaver.

We discuss climate fiction, deep time, research, the novelist as archaeologist, weaving together multiple timelines, the inspirations for The Afterlife Project, and more. Check it out, I think you’ll enjoy it!

Very much enjoyed this interview on The Colorado Sun’s daily podcast, The Daily Sun-Up. You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

The Colorado Sun has also published this excerpt of THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT and an extended on-line interview about the origins of the novel, the challenges of writing it, the author’s Colorado roots, and more.

All this media attention was perfectly timed to coincide with THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT’s Colorado book tour, which has been a smashing success. My gratitude to Kevin Simpson and everyone at The Colorado Sun!

This one goes into the category of truly fantastic news: In a fascinating weekend book round-up headlined “Waiting on the End of the World,” one of Canada’s premier newspapers, the Toronto Star, published an overwhelmingly positive review of THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT!

Quick excerpt: “It’s a relatively simple idea, but Tim Weed makes it into something special with first rate nature writing and a story that underlines how connected we all are to our human and physical environment—which can be a source of resilience even as everything falls apart together.”

Read the rest of the review & round-up here.

This interview with LA-based journalist, gamer, and film buff Paul Semel was especially fun because the conversation ranged into questions of film influences, including my ideal casting choices for the main characters of THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT. Read the whole interview here.

Quick excerpt: “In terms of influence, film and TV weren’t as important as other books, but my guess is that movies like Interstellar, Contact, and Arrival sort of gave me permission to pursue a story foregrounding the kind of “big” ambitious topics I was interested in, like space-time, general relativity, and the future of humanity, while TV series like Battlestar Galactica reminded me that when the survival of the human species is an open question, it can generate high stakes and robust dramatic tension. And the popularity of the great nature documentaries, like Planet Earth, showed that the awesome spectacles of life on Earth could be intrinsically riveting for mass audiences.”

Very cool: THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT was featured in a new scifi books roundup at Transfer Orbit, a newsletter run by Vermont writer Andrew Liptak that provides regular look at the latest news within the science fiction community, featuring analysis and commentary and updates about fiction, writing, and the future of reading.

Also very cool: THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT was featured in a best beach reads roundup by The Cullman Times in Cullman, Alabama—with the article also syndicated by the Rome News-Tribune in Rome, Georgia. Making inroads in the American south!

I also loved this notably glowing review from Shannon at It Starts at Midnight.

Quick excerpt: “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 . . . 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.” Read the whole review here.

I enjoyed reading this thoughtful and generally positive (if at times slightly grudging ;)) review from the Washington Independent Review of Books.

Finally, I very much appreciated this review of the audiobook on Instagram from @bookboundblogger.

Quick excerpt: “I am very picky about my sci-fi books. This one hit the mark! It didn’t feel like reading a novel. It felt like witnessing a slow‑motion disaster unfold with stunning imagery and quiet heartbreak. The science felt authentic. The emotion was raw. The tension never let up. It gave geography class, climate awareness, and gut‑punch storytelling all in one, but never preachy or feeling like an info-dump. Just deeply human.” Read the whole review here.

Very much enjoyed this in-depth interview with Francesca Rheannon for her popular radio show and podcast, Writer’s Voice. Francesca is a close reader and an excellent interviewer, so this one is definitely worth a listen if you have half an hour free in the coming weeks. Topics include the inspirations for The Afterlife Project, geo-engineering, geological time, the future of Earth, and much more. This a two-segment show and Francesca’s first segment is with Ray Nayler, author of another fascinating new scifi novel, Where the Axe is Buried. My segment begins at 33:18.

You can listen on Apple Podcasts or using TuneIn.

What a fun and interesting conversation with Mitch Wertlieb on Vermont Public’s Vermont Edition! We talked about the inspirations and scientific research behind THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT, time travel, post-apocalyptic fiction, paleo-climatology, novel research in the great outdoors, whether stories can move the needle on the climate debate, and much more.

I drove up to VPR’s Colchester studios to record the show, and although we’ve spoken in the past this is my first time meeting Mitch in person. He’s a truly wonderful guy and a GREAT interviewer. If you’re remotely interested in any of these topics, listen to the whole interview here. (As an added bonus, the second half of the segment has beta on some great uncrowded hiking trails in Vermont!)

My thanks to Vermont Public, Mitch Wertlieb, Jon Ehrens, Andrea Laurion, Isabella Nugent, Page One Media, Podium Publishing, and the talented, lovely, and indefatigable Julia Jensen.

What an incredibly fun and interesting live conversation with Mitch Wertlieb on Vermont Public’s Vermont Edition! We talked about the inspirations and scientific research behind THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT, time travel, post-apocalyptic fiction, paleo-climatology, novel research in the great outdoors, whether stories can move the needle on the climate debate, and much more. I drove up to VPR’s Colchester studios to record the show, and although we’ve spoken in the past this is my first time meeting Mitch in person. He’s a truly wonderful guy and a GREAT interviewer. If you’re remotely interested in any of these topics, listen to the whole interview here. (As an added bonus, the second half of the segment has beta on some great uncrowded hiking trails in Vermont!)

My thanks to Vermont Public, Mitch Wertlieb, Jon Ehrens, Andrea Laurion, Isabella Nugent, Page One Media, Podium Publishing, and the talented, lovely, and indefatigable Julia Jensen.

Such an honor to see that THE AFTERLIFE PROJECT has made this list in New Scientist, one of my favorite weekly popular science magazines.

In these troubling times, good communication about the latest trends and discoveries in science and technology is more important than ever, and New Scientist is among the very best. The fact that they also cover the latest fiction is an added bonus!