City on the Edge of Nowhere
is Fiona van Dahl's first free online web serial, released through her website, to serve as a recap of the Gothic Disaster (her scifi/horror novel Eden Green).
Note that this serial, and the following list of tropes, contain spoilers for Eden Green.
Contains examples of:
- Alien Invasion: The city of Gothic, Arkansas, is overrun with alien needle monsters.
- Aliens in Cardiff: Takes place in the fictional small college town of Gothic, Arkansas, an expy of the author's home city of Fayetteville.
- Apocalyptic Log: Written from the perspective of a reporter who was evacuated due to the Disaster.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: The author has included doodle-sketches of the monsters and speculation about their biology.
- Herbivores Are Friendly: The 'bestiary' section in Part 1 warns that herbivores will attack if threatened.
- Inscrutable Aliens: No one can figure out where the monsters are coming from.
- Lamprey Mouth: The 'giraffes' and giant worms each have these.
- Literary Allusion Title: Averted. The author is often asked if the title is a reference to the Star Trek: The Original Series episode 'City on the Edge of Forever' but says she was only reminded of its existence later.
- Lock Down: Since the origin of the monsters is unknown, the entire city of Gothic is fenced off and quarantined.
- No FEMA Response: Averted, as FEMA finds shelter for evacuees as quickly and efficiently as possible.
