Verity, Pash, and Jeorj are among the inmates of a remote prison camp where misfits with promising genetic characteristics are held in reserve, away from a Society that the government doesn't want contaminated either with persons not meeting breed standards, or with unsanctioned thought - but on hand should scientists want to add some new blood to their human breeding programs. Until now, life has been one of general indignities and close scrutiny, but not quite close enough to keep them from secretly keeping several people hidden and alive despite government orders that they should be killed. But, thanks to some officials who want to try a radical new social experiment, everything is just about to change.

This is the slightly revised 2025 edition of a book originally released in 2015.

Novels set in the Smolder Era, following different characters in different places, are The Smolder, The Birdwatcher, The Unexpecteds, The Hidden, Notes From Hiding, The Historian, The Forgotten Ways, and The Lowly.

The Smolder and The Birdwatcher are written primarily from the perspective of people who want to fight other people to obtain freedom. The Unexpecteds is mostly about people picking up and moving on after a war-related calamity. The rest are increasingly from the perspective of Christians who have decided to lay down their worldly weapons out of obedience to Christ, who are dedicated to overcoming evil His way.