WRITE WITH US
ONE COLLAPSE.
A WORLD OF STORIES.
The cyberweapon didn’t stop at state lines. It spread across the globe. The founding trilogy told what happened in the Rocky Mountains—we want you to tell what happened everywhere else.
THE WORLD IS THE STORY
It doesn’t begin with mushroom clouds—it begins with systemic failure.
A traffic network goes blind. Electronic payments halt. A regional substation overloads. Then planes fall, communication towers go dead, and supply lines freeze.
A military-grade AI cyberweapon targeted at strategic systems escaped containment, spreading like a digital wildfire into every interconnected system on Earth.
This isn’t just an outage. It’s Gridfall.
NO MAGIC, ALIENS OR SUPERNATURAL
No zombies, no aliens, no EMP miracles, no convenient reset switches.
IRREVERSIBLE
REALISM
The collapse cannot be undone overnight. The systems that made modern life possible are gone.
CHARACTERS
OVER CALAMITY
The disaster is only the catalyst—the story is who we are when survival = terrible choices.
WHEN DOES YOUR STORY TAKE PLACE?
Gridfall is not locked to a single moment in time. Authors can anchor their stories anywhere across the cascade.
01//PHASE 1: BEFORE
DAYS TO HOURS BEFORE ZERO
The shadow world. Cybersecurity analysts spotting anomalies, operatives chasing rogue cells, and defense contractors activating covert protocols while the world remains unaware.
02//PHASE 2: DURING
DAY ZERO TO DAY 30
The immediate shock. Urban gridlock, stranded travelers, comms going dark, and ordinary people realizing that nobody is coming to save them.
03//PHASE 3: AFTER
MONTHS TO YEARS OUT
The rebuilding. Emerging settlements, new warlords, fragile trade networks, contested resources, and the deep-seated conspiracies rising from the ashes.
FIND YOUR CORNER OF THE FALL
You don’t need our characters; you need our world. Where were your characters when the screens went black?
CANON & CREATIVE FREEDOM
To ensure every book fits into an interconnected, high-stakes universe, we maintain clear universe boundaries.
WHAT’S ENCOURAGED
✓ Original Worlds Within the World
Original characters, settlements, factions, towns and communities.
✓ Local Consequences
Conflicts, trade routes, black markets, survivor laws and emerging power structures.
✓ Genre Flavor
Crime, espionage, romance, tactical fiction, family drama and other grounded approaches.
✓ Canon Connections
Reference established events, broadcasts and shared elements with editorial coordination.
✓ Permanent Consequences
If a town burns, it stays burned. What happens in Gridfall matters.
WHAT BREAKS CANON
✕ Rewriting the Fall
Core timeline events cannot be retconned and the collapse cannot simply be cured.
✕ The Supernatural
No zombies, aliens, psychic abilities, magic or supernatural explanations.
✕ Miracle Technology
No instant grid repair, impossible nanotechnology or technology beyond grounded near-future plausibility.
✕ Changing Established Characters
Existing characters cannot be killed, rewritten or fundamentally altered without collaboration.
✕ The Reset Button
Global telecommunications, internet and national power infrastructure do not simply come back online.
CANON CREATES THE BOUNDARIES. YOUR CHARACTERS CREATE THE STORY.
WHAT WE OFFER CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS
You bring the story. We provide the publishing infrastructure to help it reach readers.
📖
PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATION & DISTRIBUTION
Gridfall titles are professionally produced and distributed as part of the larger shared-world catalog.
✎
EDITING & PROOFING
Professional editing and proofreading are provided at no cost to participating authors.
AT ZERO COST TO THE AUTHOR
◈
CUSTOM SERIES BRANDING
Every title receives professional cover design and cohesive Gridfall branding while retaining its own story identity.
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MASTER STORY BIBLE
Authors receive access to the evolving Gridfall story bible, including canon, timeline, technology, and shared-world continuity.
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CROSS-PROMOTIONAL ENGINE
Your book becomes part of a growing catalog promoted alongside other Gridfall authors, releases and shared-world events.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Every Gridfall title must work as a complete standalone story—a reader picking up your book should never have to read ten other novels to understand it.
What to submit
01
About Author
Pen name, Publishing History, and links
02
Logline
1-2 sentence hook for your story.
03
Details
Word count, structure, and timeline placement.
04
Location
City, state, country, region
05
Synopsis
2-3 paragraphs about your story.
06
Sample
First 2,500-5,000 words (docx or link).
SEND YOUR PITCH TO:
✉ Admin@gridfallbooks.com
Subject Line:
Gridfall Author Pitch—[Your Name]—[Project Title]
The systems failed. The people remain
Tell us where you were when the world disconnected.