Frontier Forever Explores a Unique Dystopian Future

It’s like Mad Max and Dune, with a touch of The Matrix.

Frontier Forever is a sci-fi epic that, according to Ben Krieger the series creator, “will never stop expanding. It talks about some sensitive subjects that might make some people feel uncomfortable, like discrimination and neurodiversity, but it’s woven into an action-adventure that rewards you with vindicating violence. Plus, aside from the rad sci-fi, we have a team of 20 amazing artists who want to make even more great SciFi for you.”

With a novel and comic already out and another comic and a graphic novel on the way, the Frontier Forever universe is expanding rapidly but may be confusing for some. Each story stands alone, and occasionally the different books and stories spoil each other, but that depends on the order in which you read them. In the middle of all these stories is the driving force of the series, there is bad blood between humanity and thinking machines. After a long period of enslavement, people are still bitter about the way they were treated. The omnipotent AI freed all of its biological captives and even gave them unimaginable technology as reparations, but eons of captivity are hard to forget.

Earth has been turned into a reservation for the way life had once been, and a strict embargo protects the garden planet from the ravages of technology. Watching from space, everything seems fine. Native populations have varying access to amenities, like New York megacity citizens can access localized internet but members of the great Tribal Nations live without electricity. The planet’s impartial Board of Trustees have confidence in their bureaucratic prowess, but Earthside enforcement has been on the decline for millennia.

Eventually, the problems on the surface get so bad that they call in the world’s first Athena-class Marshal. She’s given the best body allowed under the embargo, extensive training through a pre-education program, and an AI sidekick housed inside robotic armor for her arm.

Krieger, says of the project, “Frontier Forever is my baby, so it all makes perfect sense to me, but I get that the release order is confusing. Under the Shadow of the Plateau is the first novel in the series, but that doesn’t mean you have to start reading there. Regenesis is an 8 issue limited series that is the prequel to UtSotP (don’t worry, no spoilers until issue 4). Both of them feature an Athena-class Marshal, but the rest you’ll have to read to find out. Tomorrow’s Yesterday is an anthology that tells some of the Frontier Forever universe’s massive backstory. There are 11 stories over 120 pages (or 12 stories over 132 if we hit our stretch goal, and trust me you want that final story by Dan Schmidt!!) They have very different characters spread out over hundreds of thousands of years, but all leading to the same ending. Confusing enough? I CANNOT tell you how fun and challenging this was to write, and the team of illustrators I’ve assembled over the last 6 months is insane. I’m really really excited.”

Regenesis #2 and Tomorrow’s Yesterday are currently funding on Kickstarter. Of the Kickstarter and the various reward options, Krieger adds, “The books themselves are my favorite part BUT I think the California Sunrise membership cards are a pretty close second. ‘Drawn In’ rewards sold out in 4 hours last time, and even though we have more of those with the increased page count, I wanted to make something with a similar appeal that people could keep in their pocket. One of the artists from the team will draw a headshot of the backer, and then we’ll put it on an ID. They’re gonna be laminated and everything. Amazing right? And I probably shouldn’t say this because I honestly want to keep them for myself, but the custom action figures by Daryl from Toybox Laboratory are looking freaking fantastic.”

Regenesis #2 and Tomorrow’s Yesterday are live on Kickstarter at the time of this writing. You can check the project out and pledge here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frontierforever/frontierforever

About Ben Krieger:

“I like science fiction a lot. Reading has always been hard for me, but the escapism I found in comics and movies as a kid saved my life. It wasn’t until I read Dune in high school that I realized how much the genre was capable of though. At the time I wanted to be a filmmaker, and I had let myself believe that my learning disabilities meant writing a book was impossible for me. This story brewed up inside of me for 10 years though, and it forced its way out. Now I have a 95k word novel published, the sequel is in edits, and a massive amount of comics are in the pipeline for 21-22. And my day job is working with kids who have behavioral problems for my public school system. And I love dogs.”