Before author Brandon Ying Kit Boey settled in Maine, he worked as a child actor, intern at Marvel, investment banker, and lawyer, with the one constant occupation being writing.

Boey decided to write his debut novel, “Karma of the Sun,” because he had never seen a novel about the end of the world written from an Asian perspective, despite a richness of Eastern cosmological and eschatological traditions.

“Karma of the Sun” follows a young Tibetan Sherpa, in an imagined future of the earth’s last days, who hunts for his missing father in the ruined nuclear winterland of the Himalayas, racing against a final calamity that threatens to destroy all humanity.

“This book came about at a time when there was a sense of pessimism and darkness in the world,” says Boey.

“Many people I knew had an understandably fatalistic view of the future. As a parent of young children, I wanted to test that conclusion in an extreme setting, to try taking a belief held by much of the world, i.e., that the world is going to end, and ask: If the end was really around the corner and everyone knew it, could people still have hope?”

The book has already received praise from other authors. “A hero's journey for the end of the world, ‘Karma of the Sun’ is a must-read for anyone reckoning with where we are now and where we will go next.” says Erin Swan, author of “Walk the Vanished Earth.” Angela Mi Young Hur, author of “Folklorn,” New York Times Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novel of 2021, goes on to say “With silken prose and atmospheric grandeur, Boey’s elegantly assured debut weaves in fascinating interpretations of Asian cosmology and concepts of the afterlife and end-times to haunting, resounding effect.”

Maine author Brandon Ying Kit Boey will join us in the Great Room at Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library for a fun and informal lunch gathering on Friday, March 3 at noon. Seating registration is free (bring your own lunch) or choose a delicious specialty lunch catered by Eventide for $12.