Bermuda takes centre stage in a work of fiction by a former local journalist who placed as a finalist in the largest international independent book awards.

Scott Neil, who moved to Scotland in 2021 after 16 years in Bermuda, was a finalist in the Novella category of the 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

Mr Neil, a former journalist at The Royal Gazette, told The Northern Timesthat the awards were the literary equivalent of the Sundance Film Festival.

The novella, Bird at the End of Time, was published in December.

He described it as set in a post-apocalyptic world, largely in Bermuda.

Mr Neil is also the author of a nonfiction book, Bermuda Lennon, published in 2012, detailing the former Beatle’s 1980 sojourn in Bermuda — during which he refined the songs that would become his final work.

It garnered him a Crystal Butterfly Literary Award for outstanding contribution to Bermuda literature.

His novella, meaning it is 40,000 words, has been selected as one of eight finalists in the indie awards.

Mr Neil told the Gazette that the story had been based on a three-page, 950-word short story that he drew up during the winter of 2021.

“During summer last year, I wanted to get back into the swing of writing creatively, and so I turned that story into a more substantial read,” he said.

“It took shape over a period of six months and ended up at more than 20,000 words.

“It is largely set in a post-apocalyptic Bermuda of the near future. The entire world has been rendered mostly uninhabitable by wars, climate destruction and rogue AIs.”

He said he had set the story in Bermuda “because of my fondness for the island”.

“It was a ready-made world that I could navigate in my mind.”

Many of the chapter titles use Bermudian place names.

“As for what comes next, I'm writing a full-length novel set in the present-day real world,” Mr Neil said.

“I've been working on and modifying it for seven years now. I've set 2024 as the finish line for that novel.”