16-year-old Cassie is the best water thief in Los Angeles, but her luck is about to run dry.
Born as water finally ran out in the American West, Cassie doesn’t remember the brutal civil war that followed—only that her parents died in it. Now the tyrannical Judges rule, and their Dowser henchmen would execute Cassie if they caught her.
Just when Cassie’s about to leave that dangerous underworld behind forever, she fills in for an injured (boy)friend on one last job. It goes sideways. Cassie flees for her life.
She finds shelter with a band of nomadic revolutionaries who call themselves the Transcendents. They’re a ragtag bunch: squabbling twin boys, a kindly doctor, a brooding water raider, his bristling lover, and a host of other outcasts who have joined forces on a secret mission to reclaim their world.
As the Transcendent caravan winds across the desert, Cassie is torn between joining their cause and finding a way back home. But her disappearance had a ripple effect she could never have imagined, and larger plots are afoot that will change the country—and her own life—forever.
Cassie’s post-apocalyptic world is one today’s young adults may live to know. What does climate science predict it really could be like—and how far would you go to survive it? Told from diverse viewpoints with women leading the way, WATERSHED takes you on a dystopian adventure across a parched land, and will leave you thirsty for more…
“It’s an impressive world he’s built. A cool Hunger Games vibe.” – Julie Plec, creator of The Vampire Diaries, The Originals & Legacies
“Such a fantastic story with sharp, smart female protagonists, an incredibly well-crafted adventure, and cutting political commentary. Highly recommend this book, y’all – it has something to say.” – Carina MacKenzie, creator of Roswell, New Mexico
More praise for WATERSHED
“Narrative and storytelling are essential tools in communicating the reality and threat of human-caused climate change. In Watershed, HN Deeb tells an engaging story—about a girl accidentally taken up in a larger cause to save our world—while communicating in a realistic way the dystopian future our children and grandchildren will inherit if we fail now to act on the climate crisis.”
– Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science, Penn State University and author of The Madhouse Effect
“WATERSHED takes an all-too-real issue, the preciousness and scarcity of water, and dives deep into the dystopian future that may await us. The book’s setting is both intriguing and terrifying, and author H.N. Deeb does an amazing job portraying it—not only through striking imagery and well-written prose, but also by respecting the reader’s intelligence and letting them infer much of what is going on. Against this backdrop, strong female characters take center stage.” – IndieReader
Check out HN Deeb’s interview on the Inspirational Indie Authors podcast: https://selfpublishingadvice.org/young-adult-climate-fiction/
About me
When he’s not writing novels, HN Deeb writes scripts. His television credits include The Recruit, How To Get Away With Murder, See, FBI, and Blindspot. His big break came when he was selected for the prestigious Warner Bros. Television Writers’ Workshop. Before that, he was a linguistic anthropologist and an international lawyer, and brings his love of language, culture, and law to bear on his stories. He lives with his partner and two rambunctious golden retriever puppies in southern California, where the long-term water crisis is real and growing.
Photo: David Carlson
Why I Wrote WATERSHED
Water gives life. Lack of water, a quick death. That simple fact drives humanity to do anything for it: build enormous aqueducts, migrate thousands of miles—and go to war. Water is just beneath the surface of so many conflicts, even in seemingly peaceful places. Remember Chinatown? Los Angeles as we know it only exists because the city wrested control over far-flung sources a hundred years ago. Those “California Water Wars” won’t be the last, there or anywhere, as a changing climate disrupts old wells and waterways (in some places bringing too much water).
That scary thought inspired me to imagine Cassie and her world, one that young adults who are her age today may live to know. Will we innovate and adapt? Or adapt by getting used to a new—for many a harsher—reality? Will we find solutions in a mix of old and new ideas? Or will the stress break our societies?
Questions like that put the fiction in climate fiction, but they’re also very real ones many people are tackling head on right now. I wrote WATERSHED for everyone who’s asking them, and especially those of you striving for the right answers.