Inventing a Post-Apocalyptic Sport

In the book I’m writing now, the story kicks off with something a little unexpected: a rutball tournament.

So… what’s rutball?

It’s a sport I invented for the world of Earth Medieval—the world of my novel, Angel from the Rust. The story takes place after a global war and the collapse of civilization, which made me wonder—what happens to sports after the end of the world? Would they vanish…or evolve?

History tells us that games survive even when civilizations don’t (i.e. wrestling and boxing). So I imagined survivors blending bits of old-world sports into something new. Rutball was born—a gritty mix of soccer, football, and bowling. It’s meant to entertain those tough enough to survive the apocalypse, so it’s a face-in-the-dirt and teeth-knocked-out kind of game.

To make sure it felt real, I pitched the rules to the PE teacher at my school where I teach. He got hooked. So hooked, in fact, that we set up a real-life game with our high school students during Wednesday homeroom.

It was mayhem in the best way. (Of course, we had to tone down the roughness a bit—don’t want to send kids to Algebra with sprained wrists and cracked ribs!)

Kids were kicking, catching, laughing, shouting. Other homerooms crowded the sidelines to cheer. And afterward, the PE teacher said to me, “This is a solid game. I think I’m going to teach it to the 6th graders.”

I can’t wait to finish this book and let you experience rutball for yourself—along with everything else the world of Earth Medieval has to offer.

I’m plugging along with 26,000 words written so far. My goal is to finish the book by the end of 2025—but with work and family life in full swing, I’m holding that goal with an open hand.

Still, you can count on this: I’m writing as much as I can, as well as I can, to deliver a story worth your time. Or, to put it in rutball terms—I’m sprinting downfield, ball in hand, aiming for the boundary line and striking the score box.

Thanks for being part of the journey.