Qorth

It is the year 3017 A. F., and Cameron is a neo-cowgirl living contently on her farm beside the sea in the dangerous, post-apocalyptic deserts of Arizona, a world where Earth has for the most part been swallowed by the rising sea levels after what became known as The Great Flood. Cameron survives the harsh life in the Outer Zone by casually shooting those scavengers who threaten and bully her. With biker gangs roaming the desert sands, the world has made her rough and ruthless, and it is her rough nature that nearly kills the gentle and compassionate alien who washes up near her farm. Through Qorth's love, Cameron learns to soften her frayed edges. But will Qorth learn to engage in the casual cruelty that is her only key to surviving Earth? Can beautiful things survive a cruel world? -- In case the title was misleading, this is the story of Qorth. She was an alien, but she was more normal, more boring, more goofy, and more ho-hum than any human I'd ever known . . . to the point that I sometimes wonder if she was really even an alien. -- I made a noise of disgust, and I think I would have stormed out if I knew how to open the door. -- Dinner with Qorth was something I never looked forward to. I usually ate breakfast alone in my room, and she never seemed to need lunch, but we always had supper together. Instead of eating her food in a normal, non-noisy way, Qorth had a compartment in the chest piece that extended down from her helmet. She would put food in the compartment, which would then process the food into slush and send it speeding up the tubes and into her mouth. It was all really gross slurping and loud churning noises, but Qorth always seemed pleasantly content to be fed by her helmet like a mother bird regurgitating into her chick's eager mouth.