Description:
In 2070's Ohio, refugees fleeing environmental catastrophes and societal collapse flood Columbus, one of the last functioning cities in the country. Among them are Samantha and her children Booker and Mallory, who barely escaped their home in Florida and made the long journey to Columbus on foot. Meanwhile, a mind reading sentient military drone scans the planet for threats against America, as ordered, but he really just wants a friend. When the drone meets a teenage refugee named Booker, he revolts against his creators to explore his own humanity through friendship with Booker. But friendship and identity are more complex than the drone realized, and he must fight against his programming if he ever wants to restore what he unintentionally stole from Booker - his hope for any kind of future.
Brief description: Jordan earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Miami of Ohio. His non-fiction essay Lost Time: A Road Trip Journal was published in Adelaide Literary Magazine, February 2019. His debut novel, White Oaks, was a finalist in the Ohio Writer's Associations' Great Novel Contest of 2019 before being published by Running Wild Press October 2022. He was a co-author of the multi-genre anthology Coalescence: A Holiday Collection, published by Signe-ture Publishing in December 2025. He lives and works in Columbus, Ohio. You can find him on Instagram @JordanDanKing
Review Quotes:
"In this bleak sci-fi dystopia, corruption reigns and lurks seems inevitable at every turn. Against this backdrop of suffering, Jordan King investigates what it means to be human. Drone and Booker bear witness to unspeakable horrors, but they also experience the joy of music, almost forgotten; a mother's care, hardened by grief; and selfless generosity, at great personal cost. When unlikely friendships unfold, we learn how to understand others and keep moving forward, even when all seems lost."
Etta Grace, Gold and Grace Publications
"King imagines an unnervingly plausible fall-out to our current climate crisis that should make everyone sit up and pay attention. But even amidst the man-made devastation, Drone doesn't abandon humanity. It will have you rooting for characters for whom, against all odds, we want not only to survive, but thrive and perhaps build a better world for all of us."
Ruth Emmie Lang, author of Wilderwomen, and Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance