Here's the proposal for my next book:
A hundred or so years in the future, humanity has colonized the solar system and largely abandoned Earth, after a series of devastating wars. We turned it into a sort of garbage dump, which was later cleaned up by environmentalists and scientists. Almost too late, we saw the lush abundance of species on our planet as being unique in the universe. After decades of cleanup and re-terraforming, Earth became a planetary wildlife preserve for the remainder of the world's species. But rather than a tourist attraction or some kind of "zoo in space,"we decided to leave it alone and only observe the planet from afar, using satellites to track animal migrations across land and sea. Human interaction after this point was expressly forbidden, and these same scientists dedicated the recovered planet to studying how ecosystems develop without intrusion by man, to better understand how to make other planets support life. No ships are allowed to land on it anymore, only observe from orbit.
An interplanetary "wildlife photographer" is studying Earth from space. During a freak meteor shower, his small ship collides with a chunk of space debris. Disabled, his ship is forced to make a crash landing in a secluded area of what was once North America. His ship is also out of fuel in addition to being damaged, and does not have enough power to escape Earth's gravity again.
Well-equipped to survive in hostile environments, but still alone and unarmed, he must trek across the surface of a primitive planet "in a time before man," fending off attacks by wild animals. He knows he must try to locate the ruins of a major city in the "Forbidden Zone", where it is supposed he can find the technological means to repair and refuel his spacecraft. Once he finds a power source and means to repair his ship--if such a thing exists--he will have to backtrack his adventure and find a way to transport the parts, tools, and power source all the way back to his ship. But he does not have to do it alone.
During his journeys through the Forbidden Zone, he comes across isolated pockets of human survivors called Primitives, who have no society and no rules, no system of government and little understanding of the technology they once built and used. Some cling to barely functional technology from the 20th century, and others have lost all grasp of it and deteriorated into a state of prehistoric or aboriginal ways of life. Some have even learned how to communicate and coexist with animals completely, blurring the lines between humanity and nature.
These Primitives have formed tribes, and some are peaceful and others are more warlike. They must fight daily for survival; simply eke out an existence among the derelict ruins of their civilization on an otherwise wild planet. Most of the tribal warfare is over fresh water and food.
The protagonist of the story comes to be known as "The Interloper." He is worshiped as a god by some tribes, and scorned as an evil sorcerer demon by others, who no longer believe in science or technology (because their stories remember an evil race of men who nearly destroyed their planet with war and industry). He is mostly feared and respected by these natives, and he tries to involve himself in this tribal warfare only as much as necessary to buy him a ticket off the planet.
This story will be less futuristic, and more grounded in this world. Ever watch the TV show "Life After People?" I want to imagine after human society has collapsed and all our technology is old, decaying and broken. The planet's ruled by wild animals, and there are only scattered groups of human survivors in various stages of societal decay.
….From people clinging to the vestiges of the 20th century, all the way down the evolutionary ladder to Iron age savages who hunt with spears. There's people who try to fix machines and use them, and others who fear technology and think it's black magic. And those people are at war constantly. Some live in fortresses, others in stone castles, and then you got nomadic tribes who live in huts. Every epoch in human history sort of comes together.
The Amish are still around on this planet, for example. Agrarian farming communities, no electricity or motorized machines. Then in a different place you have a culture that reverted back to the medieval times, with horsemen and swords and archers, primitive siege machines, etc. And on the East coast, a group of militaristic nut jobs who live in the ruined cities (Forbidden Zones) and have electricity, all terrain vehicles and guns, fighting an imaginary and never-ending war against everyone else. Sort of like the NRA meets the the North Koreans meets those crazy Japanese commandos in the Pacific islands who thought World War II never ended.
The main character spends a chapter or two staying with each of these groups, trying to learn their ways and co-exist with them long enough to get help in escaping the planet. He's a renegade or vigilante type, not really a bad guy but not a good guy either. He takes nobody's side, and fights on all sides against everyone, with his own agenda. All that matters to him is getting off this rock, because he remembers why his race left it in the first place. To escape the endless wars.
Possible book titles:
"Interloper"
"The Pathfinder"
"The Explorer"
"The Survivor"
"Exile of the Gods"
"The Man Who Fell From Heaven"
"Exile from the Stars"
Influences and inspirations for this story are mainly from Pierre Boulle's Planet of the Apes series and 20th century sci-fi art by Frank Frazetta.
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