The Year When Stardust Fell

When a bright comet streaks across the sky over a quiet mountain college town, the fallout is more than a spectacular light show. A fine dust from the heavens settles over homes and fields, causing strange failures in the town’s power grid and unsettling the local wildlife. The community watches as their modern comforts crumble, and the first signs of a larger crisis begin to emerge.

Among the residents are a proud mayor, a diligent chemistry professor, a minister grappling with his flock’s fear, a stoic sheriff, and a high‑school boy eager to prove himself. As the dust spreads, they each must choose between trusting the scientists who understand the phenomenon and yielding to panic‑driven superstition. Their conflicting loyalties and personal doubts shape the town’s early response to the catastrophe.

The story explores how quickly civilization can turn inward when faced with an unknown threat, and whether knowledge can hold its ground against fear. It balances tense, hands‑on descriptions of the failing infrastructure with thoughtful examinations of human character, making it a compelling listen for fans of grounded science‑fiction.