Rae Kelliher is an organizer of rituals and dance parties, a veteran environmental activist, and pioneer in the ' death with dignity' movement. Her husband Reggie calls her a ' instant party in a box.' In 2023, facing down a diagnosis of terminal illness, Rae engages in a shocking suicide murder, taking the life of an oil company CEO for his role in delaying responses to climate disruption. Seven years later, Rae' s friends and family gather at their Vermont farm to make sense of her violent exit. They reflect on the negative political blowback, but also the ways that Rae' s action unleashed a transition movement that is reshaping the face of New England. Altar to an Erupting Sun  is  a near future story that addresses how we respond to climate disruption in  the ' critical decade' that we are living in. This is the  debut novel of researcher and writer Chuck Collins whose previous books include  Born on Third Base, The Wealth Hoarders, Wealth and Our Commonwealth,  Economic Apartheid in America, and  Robin Hood Was Right.  Collins directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies where he co-edits  Inequality.org.