Rare glimpses of birds are the only reminder of the freedoms Rain Hawkins once had. Now segregated into a mixed-race zone within the United Zones of the Authority, under tyrannical rule of President Nicks, Rain is forced to endure the bleak conditions set upon her. The possibility of a way out arises when Rain discovers an organized resistance called The Freedom Front, and learns that she, along with many other multi-racial people, has special abilities. Determined to overcome her situation, Rain sets out on a mission with the resistance that will fill her life with wonder, romance, and the undying hope for a better world.
Could I survive a zombie apocalypse?
Guest post by Sarah Elle Emm, author of 'Prismatic'
With hits like
The Walking Dead on the rise and the worldwide
attention and growing fan base they’re receiving, I often find myself
wondering, do I have what it takes to survive a zombie apocalypse? Or what
about one of these dystopian novels dominating the charts? Could I survive
The
Hunger Games? Would I even make it through training?
Let’s be clear, I’ve thought about this long and hard, even discussed it
with a good friend or two, and the results are in…no. No, I am not cut out for
a dystopian future, an apocalypse of any kind, and I wouldn’t last a day of
training with Tris in
Divergent. But reading and writing in the genre
is another story.
Often times, people at book festivals approach my table, their eyes dart to
my banner, and then back to me. “What is dystopian fiction?” they ask. Don’t
get me wrong, lots of people are familiar with the genre. It’s been around for
a long time. Once I paint them a brief picture of what dystopian fiction is,
some even ask, why I would want to write in that genre. A sixth grade girl
asked me at a conference I attended recently, “Why can’t there be any stories
in the future that are just normal and happy?” Her question threw me off guard
for a moment. I mean, she had a point. But a dystopian can’t be a dystopian if
there isn’t an upside down world for the story to be set in. I pointed out that
some fiction portrays the future to be quite ordinary and happy, but to find
these stories, you obviously have to look outside of dystopian literature. (I
know, for example, that Nora Roberts has written romances that take place in a
seemingly happy future...) But dystopian worlds need something majorly
undesirable about them.
Later on her question lingered in my mind. Furthermore, it got me thinking
about all of the people who’ve asked me about why I’m writing in this genre
over the past few years. My first published novel, after all, was a chick lit
novel. It took place in modern day Atlanta during the planning of a wedding.
You can’t get much lighter than that, can you? My young adult series takes
place in a futuristic dystopian world, where people are segregated into walled
cities based on the color of their skin. It’s about as undesirable a place to
live as you can imagine.
So why am I into dystopian fiction? Is something wrong with me? Maybe my
parents dropped me on my head when I was a baby. Suddenly, it hit me. My
parents! That’s it. They aren’t your typical parents. And I think they helped
mold me into the abnormal, dystopian apocalyptic loving reader that I am today.
If it’s sci-fi, fantasy, dystopian, or apocalyptic, sign me up. I love movies,
books, and now writing in the genre myself. And my theory is that it all goes
back to Mom and Dad…
Many times, I’ve affectionately referred to them as Rambo and G.I. Jacque.
They earned the nicknames, believe me. From forcing me to jump in the choppy,
current filled brown water of the river when I was five and learning how to
ski, to taking me white water rafting at age ten, making me learn how to buddy
breathe underwater in a lake, to taking us on an boat with no power or running
water in the middle of a lake every summer for weeks on end, they have a keen
sense of adventure. Growing up, they liked to talk about conspiracy theories
and ‘what if’ scenarios. We’d be gathered around the dinner table, and Mom and
Dad wouldn’t enquire about our day at school like I imagined other families
did. They’d jump into discussions about which one of the kids, me, my brother,
or sister, they would take if they could only pick one kid to be stranded with
on a deserted island. Hello, Mom and Dad? Really? Yes, really.
My brother, Sam, always got picked because he has a certain MacGyver
quality, and they were sure he’d be useful on an island. He’d probably figure
out how to build a shelter out of sand and find food and build a water purification
system out of tree branches with his bare hands. And my sister, Coleen? Well,
she denies that they ever chose her, but trust me, they did. She has a built in
GPS system, one of the original models, and can navigate her way
anywhere. Mom always used to say, you could drop Coleen off
anywhere on the globe, where she didn’t speak a word of the language, or have a
clue where she was, and within minutes, she’d have the situation handled, be
headed back to civilization, and on her way home, unscathed by the experience.
And then there was me…
Why did they pick me for Survival Island? Who wanted to get stranded with
Sarah on an island? Oh, that’s right. Neither one of them. Mom and Dad always
picked Sam or Coleen. Never sweet, little Sarah. Oh, how injured I’ve been all
these years.
When our family would gather around for movie night, every Sunday night,
we’d watch movies like
Night of the Living Dead,
The Blob,
The
Terminator,
Dune,
Star Wars, and
Rambo. Mom may
have said Dad picked out the movies, but she’s not altogether innocent either.
Years ago, I found out Mom read Stephen King the entire time she was pregnant
with me. Now, I’m not a scientist or doctor or anything, and I’m not saying
she’s personally responsible for the explicit nightmares I still experience
today, wink, wink, but while majority says you should listen to classical music
while your little one is baking in the womb, my mom was reading
The Stand.
Uh huh. But forget the majority. At least that’s what GI Jacque and Rambo would
say…
What’s the quickest exit out of this room, Sarah? What could you turn
into a weapon in here if the bad guys were coming for you? How are you going to
survive the apocalypse, Sarah? Are you ready for the revolution? These are
the questions that have haunted me my entire life. These are the questions that
have molded me into the paranoid, but dystopian loving woman that I am today.
Yes, I love
Game of Thrones, and I look outside my window to check for
dragons on occasion. Yes, I love
The Walking Dead, and I
periodically check for zombies in my driveway and hall closets…
My husband thinks I have a problem. I won’t disagree. To be honest, I
probably couldn’t survive the dystopian world I’ve created in
Prismatic
and the
Harmony Run Series, but please don’t tell Rambo and
GI Jacque that. Since, I’m not sure when the apocalypse is coming, and I’m
still not sure how I’m going to handle it, in the meantime I’ll humbly thank
Mom and Dad for messing with my head.
I’ll keep on writing dystopian fiction, I’ll continue to check my driveway
for zombies, and I’ll leave you with these thoughts… What about you? Are you
ready for the zombie apocalypse?
About the author:
Sarah Elle Emm is the author of the
HARMONY RUN SERIES,
a young-adult fantasy and dystopian series, released in May 2012 by Winter Goose
Publishing. (
PRISMATIC, May
2012,
OPALESCENT,
February 2013,
CHATOYANT set for release August 2014,
NACREOUS
release TBD) Her debut fiction novel,
MARRYING MISSY, an
Amazon Best Seller in marriage, was published by Bird Brain Publishing in
October 2011. Sarah is a graduate of The University of Evansville, she has
lived and worked in Mexico, Germany, England, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and has
traveled extensively beyond. Her love of journal writing, travel, and
multicultural experience have all influenced her novels. Sarah lives in Naples,
Florida with her family. When she’s not walking the plank of her daughters’
imaginary pirate ship or snapping photos of Southwest Florida scenery, she is
writing.
Purchase Links:
Amazon |
Kindle |
B&N |
Nook
Author Links:
Website |
Blog |
Goodreads |
Facebook |
Harmony Run Series on Facebook|
Twitter |
Publisher's website |
Amazon Author page |
Books at Barnes and Noble |
LinkedIn |
Google+ |
Instagram
Click to enter the blog tour giveaway 6/26/14-7/14/14!
