The Making of the World

One of the most important things that separates a dystopian novel from all the rest is simply: setting. While the setting of any novel is important, the setting for a dystopian novel is key. It is, after all, the changing world that makes a dystopian novel a dystopian.

Nathan Bransford said there were three important traits of setting in a novel:

1. Change Underway: the setting should be dynamic, something should be happening in the outside world, be it a storm (King Lear) or a world that responds to outside influence (Narnia)
2. Personality and Values: Setting doesn't just include the weather or the physical location of a place--it also include the society, and societal expectations. Does the world expect your character to be a slave, or a hero?
3. Unfamiliarity: A good setting should show the reader something new. Whether it be China or Mordor or even our own backyard, we need to discover something.

These are certainly excellent traits to consider in a setting, but since setting is so vital to a dystopian novel, I think there are a few more characteristics that need to be considered:

1. Antagonist: This is a dystopia, not a utopia. The setting in some way needs to stand against the character. This could be because the world situation is actively trying to kill the main character (The Hunger Games), or because the world is no longer quite habitable (The Road), but the setting itself needs to present a conflict to the characters.
2. History: Dystopias are reflections of our worlds that have gone wrong. There needs to be some element of our current world reflected in the new, darker one. It could simply be a reminder of what the world was like before the apocalypse (The Forest of Hands and Teeth), or it could be a driving force of the novel (Life as We Knew It) but this new world needs to reflect something of the old one.
3. A Stage for the Character: The most important thing about a dystopian setting is that it provides the main character with a chance to rise above the dark world and be a hero. Not only should it present conflict, but the setting also needs to be a vehicle for the hero to become better. In The Hunger Games, Katniss's world was against her--but it also provided her with the opportunity to change it. In The City of Ember, Lina and Doon see the world is wrong, and work together to change it. 

In short, it's not enough for a dystopian novel's setting to just be. The characters can't just stare out the window and notice what the world looks like. Instead, the setting of a dystopian novel must play a dynamic, interactive role within the book.


As Heather Zundel put it, the setting needs to be a character itself. She says:

Setting is a character, and must be given that same amount of attention as any "real" character, and not just act as the backdrop to everything else. Think of of it like the cardboard scenery from your elementary school days. It's there, but has no substance. A bad setting will feel the same way.  ...Because when your world comes alive, so do your characters.

So, what else makes a good dystopian setting? What are some good dystopian settings you know of? 

And the Winner is...

Thank you ALL for making our first contest here on The League a success! In the end, nearly 200 people threw their names in the hat, and with extra entry opportunities, there were almost 500 entries! I used Random Number Generator to randomly pick a person, and the number selected was...

The winner of our first ever prize pack, which includes signed swag and signed copies of Monstrumologist and The Forest of Hands and Teeth is...

KrysteyBelle!
Visit her blog, See the Stars, here!

Congratulations!

There's Nothing New Pretty Under the Sun

What does a man from Chicago in the early 20s, an old episode of The Twilight Zone, and best-selling YA author Scott Westerfeld all have in common?

They all tell stories about a world where, when you reach a certain age, you are expected--even covertly forced--to get extensive plastic surgery to make you beautiful.

Perhaps best known is Scott Westerfeld's series starting with the book Uglies. In it, Tally is about to get the surgery to make her pretty when she discovers that the surgery does more than change your outside.

But nerds dystopian scholars like me :) will know that the idea of being turned pretty is a story that was first told on The Twilight Zone. The episode is called "Number 12 Looks Just Like You," and in it, a young girl protests getting the surgery, saying "Is [getting a surgery to be beautiful and perfect] good? Being like everybody? I mean, isn't that the same as being nobody?"

(Also: HILARIOUS--Rod Sterling says in the beginning that we're supposed to imagine this in the future, "Say, in the year 2000." HAHAHA!)

Here's a short version of it (less than five minutes long), but there are longer whole versions available online, too.



And while The Twilight Zone is clearly old--this episode aired in 1964--the source of it is a short story by Charles Beaumont in 1952 called "Beautiful People."

It's clear where Scott Westerfeld got his inspiration from. Although by no means did he copy The Twilight Zone, it certainly sparked the idea for Uglies--a fact attested to in the book Mind-Rain. As reviewer RJ Carter says, "There are two special shorts in this collection that are actually pre-Uglies publications, and Westerfeld explains how both impacted his writing of the series. The first is Charles Beaumont's "The Beautiful People," a short story about a society where, at a certain age, everyone gets the operation that makes them beautiful. Society is thrown for a loop, however, when a young girl discovers ancient texts -- actually printed on paper, if you can believe that! -- and decides she wants to keep her natural appearance. Sound familiar? Maybe you saw it on television: Beaumont's 1952 story was turned into an episode of The Twilight Zone, a story titled "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" which aired in 1964."

I love that Westerfeld embraces the sources of his inspiration, and that we, as readers, can see how these differences play out. To me, it's interesting to compare how in 1964, the story ended with the girl falling to the surgery and coming out, as Rod Sterling says it, "A girl in love...with herself." But in Westerfeld's story--which progresses through four volumes--the heroine becomes a true heroine fighting back against the establishment and the idea of being pretty.

While the differences in the outcomes of the girls isn't the only thing that distinguishes these three works from each other, it is the one I find most intriguing. Is the difference one based on time? Were we expecting the worst in 1964, but expecting to fight in 2005? Or is it more a matter of telling different stories?

Recently, I was at a talk and book-signing of Robert Goolrick, author of The Reliable Wife. (Photo from Fireside Books, my local indie.) He mentioned that authors really only have two or three or maybe six things to say--but no more. Every writer has a basic thing to say--Does true love exist? Does good triumph over evil? Is God real?--and every book is the writer's attempt to answer that question.

So, what was the difference between Charles Beaumont, The Twilight Zone, and Scott Westerfeld? What different thing were they saying--and what similar things were they saying? What do you think? Why would these authors take the same concept--a "pretty world"--and have such drastically different endings? And which ending do you prefer?

Let Me Countdown the Ways

Creating a dystopia is all about the question: what if things go horribly wrong? What if a new plague wipes out half of humanity? What if a group of greedy corporations secretly take over the world? What if our creations rise up against us? It’s a fun exercise, but we (as writers and readers) don’t want the world to go that way. Just the opposite. Usually, we’re playing around with these ideas with the hope of it all not going tragically wrong.

But, what would it take for things to go really, really wrong? Like end-o’-the-world wrong. Over the past few years, experts (and the media) have compiled all sorts of happy lists.

• Last Days of Earth on ABC and the History Channel.
• 10 Ways the Earth Could End on the Discovery Science Channel
• "10 ways the world could end", a TED Talk by Stephen Petranek, former editor-in-chief of Discovery magazine.
• “20 Ways the World Could End” in Discover Magazine
• “How will the World Really End?” at BigThink.com

Most of these lists share at least these causes of mass destruction in common (in no particular order):

1. Killer asteroid
2. Rogue black hole
3. Global pandemic
4. Nanotechnology/biotechnology disaster
5. Nuclear war
6. Super volcano
7. Climate change
8. Robots taking over
9. Solar flare
10. Supernova

Some of the experts throw in potential causes like alien invasion, killer mutants, and mass depression/insanity—with some sincerity.

Looking at this list, I can see that Earth getting swallowed by a rogue black hole or getting hit by a big enough asteroid (or flare) would bring the world to an abrupt halt. We’d go out with a bang. However, we could probably limp along as a species after a global pandemic or robot uprising and go forth and rebuild our civilization in some form or another. It ain’t going to be pretty, but that’s the stuff of good dystopian fiction. (Of course, dystopias don't need a world meltdown to happen.)

Here's one of my favorite doomsday scenarios. (It may have more to do with the goofy edge to this Science Channel video than the actual method of world destruction.)



And what kind of dystopia might this disaster create (if we indeed survive)? How 'bout this little cult-classic?



What’s your “favorite” way to go? What kind of dystopia might it produce? Discuss.

A Playlist for the Apocalypse

Hi everybody,

Ok, so you wake up one morning and find that the first wave of the zombie apocalypse is about to turn your world into a blasted hellscape. What should be your #1 priority? Thematically appropriate music!  Of Course!

Here are my picks for ten songs that will play you into the apocalypse in style.

Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult - If my reading of this song is correct it's about death generally, but for me it's the sound of it that really evokes the end. It's that guitar mostly, how those repetitive notes sound like they're just flying out into nothingness. It all sounds sad and resigned but still incredibly romantic.



It's the End of the World as We Know It - REM - A fairly joyous look at the end of the world. Yes, the world is random and confusing and overstuffed, but isn't it all just a glorious mess?



London Calling - The Clash -  Spare and dark and paranoid. A classic. Is that a laugh you're hearing or a scream? Is it both?



1999 - Prince - Ah Prince, god bless your freakiness. You are a national treasure. If this is the apocalypse--lingerie and overcoat clad multiracial polymorphous perversity--I'll take it.



Anarchy in The UK - Sex Pistols -  Johnny Rotten is like some kind of feral post-apocalyptic child. Man, this dude is so nuts he sings behind the drumkit. Once the government collapses you'll be seeing alot of people like him so get used to it!




Burn Up - Siouxsie and the Banshees - Listen to how this song just slides completely out of control at the end. That's the sound of a very sexy end of the world.



Nothing But Flowers - Talking Heads - Sonically it's a nice break from the gloom, but i's still pretty dark in it's way. One man's utopia is another man's dystopia. "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower!"




Earth Died Screaming - Tom Waits - I could have made this entire list comprised of nothing but Tom Waits songs, but this one is probably the most apt.  This guy is a huge hero of mine.



God's Gonna Cut you Down - Johnny Cash - Those who know me know I get a little emotional when it comes to The Man in Black. There's something about his approach to religion that just moves me. Yes, there's something dark and old testament about it, but you don't feel like Johnny would ever use religion to control anyone or judge anyone. He stumbled alot but he seems genuinely full of mercy and love and hope. I don't know that I consider myself a Christian exactly but when I think of who really walked the Christian walk I think of Johnny Cash.



Under The Milky Way - The Church - This makes a nice bookend with Don't Fear the Reaper. Like that song, it's the sound of this one that evokes the end of the world more than the lyrics. Again, it's that guitar, so surrounded by emptiness and how the singer seems exhausted and sorrowful as he looks back over something that's gone.




I know. I know. I missed like a million good end of the world songs. There isn't even any Metallica on this list! Feel free to set me straight.

How about you all? How would you like to go bopping into the apocalypse?

The flip side of dystopia is...

...of course, utopia. And, like most things life - you can't appreciate one without the other.  So, here's a bit of a history lesson on utopian societies in - of all places - Indiana.

I was born and raised in Indiana. A rather unlikely spot for a Utopia, you might think. However, not just one, but two of America's great utopian communities were resident in a town a mere 150 miles from where I grew up and also from where I currently live.

In 1814, Johann Georg Rapp and his followers, known as the Harmony Society - Separatists from the German Lutheran Church - purchased land in southwestern Indiana on the Wabash River. For ten years they lived and worked in what was considered to be one of the most prosperous and beautiful towns in the area. Then, they decided to move back to Pennsylvania, so they sold the town to Robert Owen.

The Rapp version of utopia was founded on the ethic of work & save (from the Swabian area of Germany) and work & pray (from the Benedictine's rule.) Owen, however, had a different utopian dream. His was based on complete equality (there aren't even markers on their graves), free education, the abolition of social classes and no personal wealth.

Although Owen's "utopia" lasted only for two years, many scientists and educators came to New Harmony during that time and following the end of the communal era (1827) Owen turned to geology. The area became one of the most important geological training centers in the United States.

I can personally say, that visiting New Harmony is a fabulous adventure - especially when one keeps in mind what was going on there at one time. There are a couple of labyrinths to walk and a very cool river to watch and Indian mounds and all kinds of "feelings" to absorb and have come out at some later date in a novel.

I find places like New Harmony fascinating. And, I love going back in history to see what people were thinking and doing - especially in relationship to future things. I plan on doing some reading of "old" science/dystopian/speculative fiction & will report back here on what I discover!

Bio: League Member Elana Johnson

Name: Elana Johnson

YA dystopian title: Possession (Simon Pulse, Summer 2011)

Short Plot: In a world where Thinkers control the population and Rules aren't meant to be broken, fifteen-year-old Violet Schoenfeld does a hell of a job shattering them to pieces. When secrets about her "dead" sister and not-so-missing father hit the fan, Vi must make a choice: control or be controlled.

Favorite dystopian/sci fi works: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. Candor by Pam Bachorz. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Scott Westerfeld's Uglies. And The Giver by Lois Lowry. Oh! And pretty much anything by Ursula LeGuin. I mean, she's like a genius, right? Right. As far as movies go, The Terminator is at the top of my list.

Why Write Dystopian? Dude, this could go anywhere -- which is exactly why I write dystopian! You can do anything! The world can be anything. The possibilities are limitless, and I kinda like that. Plus, I don't like to research, so anything I can do to just make stuff up brings me happiness.

Whimper or a Bang? Uh...I guess a whimper. I've never really thought about it much. I sorta think it's neither. It's like dirty laundry. The end of the world just sort of edges closer, ever closer. And no one really sees it, you know? Like all of a sudden you'll wake up and realize that you're living in a post-apocalyptic world. Like you walk by the hamper and realize there's this mountain of laundry. Yeah, I think the end of the world is gonna be sneaky like that. Like dirty laundry.

Online @
Elana's Blog
Elana Tweets!
Elana on Facebook
Elana at Goodreads
Email Elana

Friday's Fun: I will BLOW YOUR MIND

So, I have to admit, I didn't stumble across today's Friday's Fun through my labor-intensive super-scientific research.

But first, a confession: I'm a Nerd Fighter.

And recently, while skimming through the super-amazing awesome Vlogs of Nerd Fighter founders Hank and John Green, I found Hank's video about how very very very tiny we all are. 

Hank talked about the Hubble Deep Field telescope, and how the latest images show thousands--millions--of galaxies as far as the eye can see.

Dystopian works are irrevocably linked to science fiction, and science fiction, of course, is irrevocably linked to science. Think about how vast the universe is...how many possibilities there are for the future...and how far away (for now) we all are.


And if you want your MIND BLOWN? Check the video out below:

Warning us About the Bad Place: an Interview with Jim Gunn

James Gunn has literally written the book—actually many, many of them—on science fiction. He’s the Director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. (Yes, you can study science fiction in college!) Every summer, he leads the Intensive English Institute on the Teaching of Science Fiction as well as the Writer’s Workshop in Science Fiction. His books about the genre include: Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction, The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, the six-volume anthology The Road to Science Fiction, The Science of Science-Fiction Writing, Speculations on Speculation: Theories of Science Fiction, Inside Science Fiction, and his most recent, Reading Science Fiction. His best-known novels are The Immortals, The Dreamers, The Listeners, Kampus, and The Joy Makers. (Kampus, by the way, is a dystopian tale about college.) So, who would be better to ask about the history of dystopian science fiction?

---

Jim, how would you define dystopia and/or dystopian science fiction?

The dystopia is the reverse side of the utopia—the bad place instead of “the good place that is no place.” Science fiction always has been of two minds about the future—either science is going to make the world a better place, or the universe—or humanity’s perversity—is going to make the future worse. In the case of humanity’s role we can do something now that will prevent the bad place from happening or something that will help the good place from happening. So science fiction has its cautioning aspect. The utopia holds out the prospect of the wonderful world we could have if we do things right; the dystopia warns us about the bad place we will have if we do things wrong, or don’t do things right.


When did it first become popular in science fiction?

The utopia was more popular before World War I. The idea of “progress”—the gradual but steady improvement in humanity’s condition--prevailed (look up the concept of “progress”), and the benefits of science and technology (look up the Industrial Revolution and the Scientific Enlightenment) and the spread of democracy and the rising middle class and the gradual reduction in poverty seemed to suggest that eventually all humanity’s problems would be solved. Then the savagery and destruction of two World Wars changed people’s minds and supported the notion that science and technology merely increased the destructive powers available to us and released the evil that, according to traditional beliefs, resides within each human. Writers began abandoning utopias and producing dystopias. Up to that time, most dystopias were created by natural phenomena, liked human plagues or volcanic eruptions of poison gas.


Why do dystopic visions appeal to us—as readers and storytellers?

As storytellers, dystopias offer better material than utopias. In Edward Bellamy’s LOOKING BACKWARD, for instance, nothing happens but a lot of interesting talk and the possibility that this utopian future of the year 2,000 might be only a dream. The prospect was so appealing that it produced a worldwide movement centered around Bellamy Societies, but stories in which evil must be fought makes for far better stories and gives the author an opportunity to attack trends the author deplores. For the readers, that is true as well, and there is the additional value of seeing evils fought and maybe thwarted and to enjoy the portrayal of trends that the reader dislikes as well.

Does the type of dystopia we envision vary from generation to generation?

I’m sure it does. What is evil for one generation is often acceptable, or, at least, not offensive to another. And evils themselves tend to lose their threat or to be outmoded by events. It is often true, as well, that the generation of writers tends to disapprove of tendencies in the younger generation and portray how they will lead to bad ends. One can imagine, for instance, a dystopia in which people no longer come into contact with each other because they have become addicted to digital communication. Or the reverse, a future in which the use of digital communication makes the whole world brothers. A dystopia or a utopia.

Why do you think dystopia is gaining in popularity among young adult readers today?

We’re in one of those periods when events seem to moving beyond our control—the economy, terrorism, politics. Passions have been raised. Moderation seems out of date, or, at least, out of reach. In times like these, conditions getting worse seems far more likely, and a voice that says “this too will pass” or “we’ll solve our problems in this way or that” seems out of touch with reality.

What are some dystopian classics—book or film—that you think our readers would like?

My favorite dystopias came out of the late 1960s and 1970s, typified by four John Brunner novels: STAND ON ZANIBAR (overpopulation), THE SHEEP LOOK UP (pollution), THE JAGGED ORBIT (racism), and THE SHOCKWAVE RIDER (computer viruses—worms, Brunner called them). I wrote my own dystopia about this time—KAMPUS—about the world the student rebels of the 1960s might have made if they’d been successful. Readers might be interested in William Gibson’s NEUROMANCER, about a world of the near future controlled by international corporations and massive computers achieving sentience.

Thanks, Jim, for taking the time to talk to us today.

BTW, If you're interested in learning to write or teach science fiction, check out some of the classes, workshops, and scholarships the Center for the Study of Science Fiction offers.

---

Now, I have a question(s) for you guys. What are some of your favorite dystopian books? If you're into the classics--check out the Dystopian Literature list on Wikipedia--how has our collective vision of "the bad place" changed over the years?

Every Day is the End of the World

So here we are. Four writers that have all written books focusing on a dystopian or post-apocalyptic world. We're not alone either. Look at any list of upcoming YA novels and you'll see that the market seems to be starving for books with the words post-apocalyptic or dystopian in their descriptions.

Now, assuming we're not just trend followers (And honestly, it's not really possible. It just takes way to long to write, edit and get a book published) what's going on? Why are so many writers like us, independent of each other, writing stories like this and why are people so interested in reading them? Specifically why are kids interested in reading them?

Well I can only theorize why kids are reading them (which I'll do in a minute) but here's what led me to write mine....

I was thinking about the Gordian Knot. You know the story. Alexander the Great comes to Gordium and finds a knot so complex he can't untie it. His solution? Chop it in half with his sword. Knot undone. Problem solved. I think our world right now  feels alot like that knot--mind bogglingly complex and so tangled with competing ideologies and interests that the whole thing has ground to a halt and become completely useless. Sometimes it feels like the only solution, the only way we'll ever be able to move forward again, is to tear it down and start all over. I mean, who doesn't have a fantasy of a simpler and quieter time? A time when we lived closer to nature, closer to each other, closer to our own necessity. I think that idea, the idea of being able to hit the reset button on a too complicated world, is what drew me to writing a book like this.

Now, why do kids want to read this stuff? Well partially I think for the reasons above. They live in the same world that we do; they're not blind. But I also think that when you're moving through your teens years your life is a constant upending of everything you know. Like many writers, I spent my early teen years as an impenetrably shy loner. I ate alone. I had no friends. I had no direction. But then one day I wandered into my High School's theater when auditions were going on and for some reason I got up on that stage and BAM! For the first time in my life I was good at something! And so much followed that: friends, a workable sense of humor, better grades, girls that were actually willing to talk to me. If this wasn't the end of one world and the beginning of a new one I don't know what was.

And it seems like when you're a teen so many events in your life are like that, right? Relatively small moments that somehow produce huge transformations. You go from Junior High to High School. You fall in love. You get dumped. You get your driver's license. You have sex. You discover The Clash. One little adjustment and everything changes. Over and over you're saying goodbye to one world and hello to another.  Didn't it feel like that? So monumental? We laugh at it now, all the drama, but add years of near constant transformative change to a set of raging hormones and a evolving sense of self and no wonder every little thing felt like the end of the world. Of course our teens years felt monumental. They were monumental.

So I think when teens read a story about the end of the world maybe they connect to it because they live their lives on the precipice of one radical transformation or another. They get the grandeur of it, the angst and fear and possibility of it. I think maybe teens read this stuff simply because the end of the world makes sense to them. To them it's something that happens every day. I know it did to me.

So what do you all think? Why is this a trend now and what do you think of it?

Why do I write dystopian novels?

Hi there! I'm Julia Karr (bio on the right) and today's my day on the blog!

I'd like to look at the question of "why I write dystopia"  through the lens of this Lewis Carroll quote, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."

It would be pretty amazing if governments and people had any idea where they were going - but, for the most part, they don't. That's not to say that many individuals don't have a perfectly good idea where they are headed - at least career-wise. And, goal-setting gurus have tapped into an incredibly lucrative market filled with seminars, books, cds, dvds, and so on to help people achieve their dreams. But, the truth is - if you look at the big picture - most peoples and countries are just living day to day. There may be some set agenda (as with political parties in the United States - each with their set agendas and when they get into power they try to implement them, which usually means spending 4 to 8 years of battling the other party to get even a quarter of their campaign promises through congress) but, for the most part - we just muddle along, following the status quo and living our lives, occasionally jarred out of our singular path by outward or personal events.

So, what does that have to do with writing dystopian novels? Well, while the majority of us are cruising along on auto pilot, things are happening. Some of those things seem good and some have a bit of a sinister undertone if, like me, one takes works such as George Orwell's 1984 to heart. I wonder at how easy it is for people to accept that Chicago has 10,000 cameras taking constant pictures of residents...  and not to think beyond how "safe" that might make Chicagoans feel and how easy it will be for the city to add even more surveillance as they deem it necessary.

And, that is just one small example of what fascinates me about how we come to accept certain things as "just the way things are."

When I write speculative/dystopian fiction - I'm exploring those "any roads" that will get humankind where they are going - whether they really want to be there - or not.

Now you know why I write what I do. So, the logical next question is... why do you read dystopian novels?

Don't forget to follow The League of Extraordinary Writers to be entered in the fabulous giveaway!  Here's the link to the entry post! 

Introducing The League of Extraordinary Writers (and our first PRIZE PACK)!

Hello and welcome to the League of Extraordinary Writers! We are a group of dystopian and sci fi writers who are debuting our first novels next year. You can read all about us in our bios: Julia, Angie, Jeff, and Beth. Our works run the gamut of murder mysteries in space to near future dystopias to far future speculation to a post-apocalyptic world.

But there's one thing we all have in common: the futures we're writing about are all after the world takes a turn for the worst.

Dystopias are among the most popular genres in YA literature today, and we're all honored to be exploring the vast world of dark futures.

This blog is dedicated to highlighting the best of the best in the dystopian field. To read about the inception and plans for the blog, click here. We'll be exploring books, movies, and television; interviewing authors; reviewing dystopian works; and introducing you to our own new works. With a new blog post by a different author every weekday, you're sure to find something you enjoy!

Are you new to dystopian works? I recently blogged about dystopia and why it's popular in society today.

But....we all know why you're here. For prizes! This month, we're giving away SIGNED SWAG!

This month, we're giving away a SIGNED copy of Rick Yancey's MONTRUMOLOGIST (did I mention it won the Printz Honor?) and a SIGNED copy of Carrie Ryan's THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH and signed bookmarks by PJ Hoover and Maria Snyder and a signed magnet by Stacey Jay! Monsters and magic and zombies, oh my!

To enter, just click to the right---> and become a follower of our blog and fill out the form below!

Welcome Book Bloggers and Dystopia Fans!

First of all: thank you! We've decided to open the League blog up a little early to book bloggers and dystopian fans that we knew liked the genre...and that we're fans of ourselves.

Please feel free to look around the site. We'll obviously be growing it as we go, but one thing we'll definitely be adding before the debut on Monday is a contest featuring books signed by authors and other swag.

We'd love it if you share this blog with other readers and writers--but please wait until our official launch on Monday, May 17th.

We plan on blogging one day a week, with each of us featuring on a different day. A fifth member has already been selected and we'll be adding her as soon as we can.

We plan on blogging about dystopian genre, including both our debut works and other works. We've already got contests, reviews, interviews, and other features lined up and ready for you!

Thank you again for your devotion to the genre, and we hope you like the site!