OUTLANDS, THE: blanket term for any North American region outside the jurisdiction of the New-East American Bloc and, therefore, not subject to its laws, regulations, and, in many cases, technological conveniences. As such, many Bloc citizens consider them barbaric lands fallen into a neo-Dark Age (a decidedly insular assessment).

— from Terminology  of Post-Rift America, 3rd Ed., Y64, DE

THE SWALLOWED WORLD, BOOK TWO – Coming 2018