Dystopian - Lynette M. Burrows

Do You Want to Read More?

First Line Friday is a series of blog articles posted on the first Friday of every month. The first line of a story, we’re told, must hook the reader. Implied is that the reader will not buy the book if the first line isn’t great. These entries are from Amazon, my personal library, or other online booksellers. Do these first lines hook you? Do you want to read more?

John Allerton sucked in another painful breath and struggled not to cough it out.

Image of the book, Unprepared, The Scourge Series Book 1. Do You want to read more?

Tom Abrahams, Unprepared (The Scourge Book 1)

Papa fell down and he didn’t stand up again.

Ramona Finn, The Culling (The Culling Trilogy Book 1)

Harvey Watson didn’t want to admit it, but he was lost.

Ryan Casey, Outbreak: A Post Apocalyptic Survival Thriller

I had my recurring dream last night.

Image of the book cover for Parable of the Sower. Do you want to read more?

Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower

Alex Hawk looked from one corner of his basement to the other.

Shawn Inmon, A Door Into Time: An Alex Hawk Time Travel Adventure

Let’s start with the end of the world, why don’t we?

N.K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth Book 1)

It feels like we’re running away…

S. M. Anderson, A Bright Shore (The Eden Chronicles Book 1)

I sometimes wonder what was disappeared first—among all the things that have vanished from the island.

Yoko Ogawa, Translated from Japanese by StephenSnyder, The Memory Police

The librarians never asked why their patrons needed to check out a baby.

Gay, Roxane Graceful Burdens Short Read (Out of Line collection)

Florian Parks was sitting in the Gantry watchtower, whittling a wooden doll for his little sister, when he first spotted the travelers over the pointed tips of the palisade.

Image of the book cover for Strange Fire. Do you want to read more?

Wallach, Tommy Strange Fire (The Anchor & Sophia Book 1)

The end of the old world surprised few.

Harber, J. R., The Future Was Now

Still hours of dark to go when I left the house that morning.

Donoghue, Emma The Pull of the Stars

How did we get here?

Image of the book cover for Rosemary and Rue. Do You want to read more?

McGuire, Seanan Rosemary and Rue (October Daye Book 1)

Clarification

There are no affiliate links in this post. I don’t make a cent off of the books listed on this page. These titles are here for your enjoyment. And to entice you to buy more books.

Now, if you buy one of my books… that will put a little money in my pocket. And a gigantic smile on my face. I love my readers.

Do You Want to Read More?

Did you enjoy this list? Check out previous First Line Friday posts for July and August. And you’ll put another enormous smile on my face if you tell me in the comments below—do you want to read more? Seriously, I need to know. Do you? Which ones?

Do You Discuss Dystopias In The Making

Sometimes the well goes dry. When this happens to a creative, she must refill the well. This creative turns to informational podcasts (among other things). Recently I discovered a podcast of absolute golden inspiration for lovers of dystopian stories. The Good Code discusses dystopias in the making.

image of lines of green code on a black screen--digital dystopias in the making

Chine Labbe is the host of the Good Code in collaboration with DLI at Cornell Tech. It’s a weekly podcast on ways in which our increasingly digital societies could go terribly wrong. (Yes! Story fodder.) You may subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, GooglePlay, and other sites.

On Net-States

This week’s episode is Alexis Wichowski on Net States Chine and her guest, Alexis, discussed Wichowski’s recently released book The Information Trade: How Big Tech Conquers Countries, Challenges Our Rights, and Transforms Our World.

The premise of the book is that big tech companies like Google and Facebook act like national governments. She implies that this is dystopias in the making. Our world is no longer divided by nation-states (like the United States, Canada, Italy, etc.) and non-states (ISIS, al Qaeda). And she proposes a new term for the era, net-state.

What is a Net State?

image of the google sign taken at a close angle

A net-state is a digital, big tech company that expands its role to include protective or supportive services to citizens. These companies exist primarily online. They have millions of international followers (like Google and Facebook). And they pursue agendas separate from the law. Out of necessity, some big tech companies created huge departments or companies to deal cyber threats.

Google has an anti-censorship initiative called Project Shield, an online safe-haven for news sites censored by their national governments. They laud this project in some countries but other countries (China, Iran, etc) could see this as illegal and a disruption of their government.

Other actions appear humanitarian. After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, they had no power and no internet. FEMA sent fifty representatives with mediocre results. Wichowski stated that as a nation-state any government attempts to respond with fairness.

Big tech doesn’t care about being fair to all states or all situations. Google and Tesla quickly and efficiently provided Puerto Rico with temporary power and internet access.

Is This a Problem?

Wichowski says it is. She points out that no one votes for the leadership at a big tech company. That means there is very little oversight. And she points out that there is little transparency in these companies. Who has your personal information? What are they doing to protect it? What are they doing with it?

Not everyone thinks this is a situation of dystopias in the making. According to Wired, the world needs net-states. They occupy the same territory as the non-states: the digital sphere. And they understand their norms and tactics far more than a land-war, Cold-War era strategist ever could.

How Do We Fix it?

People need to be more aware of who owns the tech they buy. An example is that Amazon owns the home security system Ring. And Amazon has had data breaches where personal information is at risk. Wichowski says people need to bring pressure on big tech companies to be more transparent and police themselves better.

Wichowski also suggested we establish something like the Geneva Convention for the digital world. She says we should create some basic ethical rules for big tech companies to follow. In this short podcast, she did not go into how this might work.

If she could change one thing, she says she’d choose for companies to be transparent. She said that somewhere in the world someone knew more about her personal information, browsing history, and shopping habits than she does. She wants to know what all that information is.

Net-Nations in Fiction

While the term net-nations is new, the idea isn’t. Big bad corporations create dystopian societies in many novels. The tech in 1984 by Aldous Huxley isn’t as advanced, but the idea is similar.

The Warehouse by Rob Hart, The Circle by David Eggers, Orbital Decay by Allen Steele, and Immortality by Robert Sheckley are a few dystopian novels with tech-ruled societies.

What novels can you think of with this tech-dystopia set up?

What Is the Worst That Could Happen?

Do you play dystopian mind games? I do, endlessly. For more fun dystopian discussion material, read why we love reading dystopias.

Do you agree that big tech or net-states are a bad idea? Do you think a Geneva-like set of rules can stave off severe abuses? Is discussing dystopias in the making inspiration for dystopian authors and readers? Or is it the stuff of nightmares?

A Novel Announcement

And the Story Behind the Story

Recently I realized I’ve never made the official novel announcement here. News I shared several weeks ago on Facebook and Twitter, but not here. (For those of you who’ve seen Facebook or Twitter you’ll like the story behind the story.) My novel, My Soul to Keep, went live as an ebook on August 21st. It is now also available as a paperback book on Amazon. Other retailers can order it from Ingram.

A novel announcement for My Soul to Keep by Lynette M. Burrows — Click on the image for more about My Soul to Keep and see the new cover

What’s the Story?

This dystopian tale takes place in 1961, but America is not the nation you know. It’s an insular land of righteousness, repression, and fear.

Drawn into a maelstrom of political intrigue, familial deception, and social upheaval two women, one peaceful and the other violent, seek truth and justice. To find the truth they will have to make sacrifices.

Triumph will free them and the nation.

Failure will mean a face-off with the angel-assassin, Azrael.

How A Nice Girl Wrote A Dystopian Novel

You might wonder how “a nice girl like” me came to write a dystopian novel.

I moved seventeen times before I graduated from high school. No, neither parent was in any armed service. Seventeen different homes, seventeen different schools. Can you imagine a more hostile environment? Neither can I which is why I am uniquely qualified to write a dystopian novel.

The Real Story

When I was struggling to find the right vehicle for the story, My Soul to Keep. I knew early on that incest would be a big part of the novel. I tried writing a fantasy with dragons. I tried writing a realistic, contemporary novel. I even tried to write it with aliens in the story. But the truth is, I cannot imagine a more dystopian society than the one with family units where a child is abused. When I created the dystopian alternate history and wrote the story, Miranda came alive.

If you’ve been reading this blog from it’s beginning you know that I once had nightmares like my character. My nightmares were far less clear than Miranda’s. I believe that I was sexually abused but I have no actual memory to support that and I have no proof. So having Miranda search for her truth was a natural extension of the story. But, that also mired the story in too much of my own fears and uncertainties. It took a while to get clarity personally and in the story.

I credit my mentor, William F. Wu, for a lot of that clarity. He indulged me in long rambling emails. He encouraged me to think about this or that in reference to a particular scene or theme. But he never tried to shape my story or my characters. He helped me realize the structure that existed in the mess of words I’d written. Encouraged me to trim the fat and expose my truths. That kind of mentor is worth so much more than a thank you.

When I decided to create a religious tyranny I drew on my past (granddaughter of a Baptist minister on one side and of a Nazarene Deacon on the other). And I researched many other religious traditions, choosing this bit and that. The hardest part was trying to decide how such a tyranny came about in America. I decided to expand on a dark time in American history, the isolationist period. At the time I was developing the novel this darker America seemed a far stretch. I had no idea that in the real world, America was going to take another dark turn. I should have guessed. Ideas, good and bad, cycle through history again and again.

A Happy Author

It’s an odd and exciting feeling to finally have a published book. There are so many firsts that it’s somewhat overwhelming. And it’s not the last. Watch for a new look to this website and sample chapters will be available. In my soon-to-be-released Burrows Insiders newsletter, there will be more announcements and some sneak peeks at a couple of new works-in-progress.

My undying thanks to the people who have read My Soul to Keep and posted reviews. I’m delighted that the book has received 5 stars from all who’ve reviewed or rated it so far. If you have read it, please take the time to leave your honest review. Every review helps get the book noticed, even if you didn’t enjoy the novel. It’s “make an author happy day.” If you haven’t bought your copy—help a girl out, won’t you?

Buy My Soul to Keep by Lynette M. Burrows from Walmart

My Soul to Keep is, in a way, an intensely personal story and yet, it isn’t my story at all. Miranda grew to be her own kind of character doing things I’d never attempt. The world is one I wouldn’t want to live in, yet it helped me explore ideas that I needed to explore. One of my readers said, “The growth Miranda achieves in her journeys empowers her to take action to change the world around her and do things she never would have thought herself capable of in the beginning of the book – a message I hope I can take to heart.” I couldn’t ask for more.

Nearing The End

I am nearing THE END of this eternal re-write. This novel was first attempted years ago, that’s many, many years ago. Earlier drafts got me two different agents and almost sold twice. Yet, it didn’t sell. And it’s a heart novel, meaning it’s near and dear to my heart. Someone once called it my therapy novel. Truth? Some of it has been therapy. Not in the way implied by my critic, but it has had therapeutic moments. It’s been a slow, difficult re-write with lots of angst, tons of learning, and more than a few tears shed. But, The End is in sight. And yet—

The words come slowly to me on a good day. On bad days—words come slower than a slow snail’s slowest slog. Whew! Which situation do you think I’m in now? Yup. S-L-O-W. You’d think the words would be coming faster, wouldn’t you? And yet—

I sit at the computer and type a few words then come to a section that must be a blend of the old draft and the new one. The words drip out of my fingers and nearly dry up then, something comes along to spur me forward. This blog post, for one. I’m using it to spur me onward to the end.

I’m going to share a snippet of my dystopian story with the working title: My Soul to Keep. It’s the story of two mothers and two daughters, though primarily it’s Miranda’s story. First, a short description:

Miranda Clarke, daughter of America’s premier preacher-politician, leads a charmed life—until she breaks the rules. Haunted by family secrets and hunted by cloned assassins, Miranda must destroy the government controlled by her own family before the Angels of Death destroy her and all of democracy.

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My Soul To Keep

A work-in-progress

Lynette M Burrows

Chapter One

The giant bronze statue of the angel of death loomed over Miranda Clarke’s shoulder. Was it the statue or was it the tiny flare of rebellion that made her not want to enter the Fellowship Center’s crowded foyer? The statue, Shield of Mercy, Hand of Justice, stood at the grand entrance as it had for all Miranda’s life. With Uncle Sam sheltered in her great black wings, the angel hovered over the fallen body of president-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt and pointed to the pile of ash where the assassin had stood.

“Is something wrong?” Tom, her bodyguard, came to stand too close.

What could be wrong with becoming a Guardian? She hid her fears behind her angelic-daughter-of-the-councilor smile. “I need to powder my nose.”

“They’ll be seating your family in five minutes. Tell me what you need, I’ll have someone fetch it.”

I need to not be the councilor’s daughter. “There are some things a girl must do on her own.” She dove into a sea of elbows and padded shoulders, big purses, and bigger hats. Her bodyguard followed. He always did.

Hundreds of men in sharkskin suits and women in taffeta dresses filled the foyer waiting for the auditorium doors to open. Clusters of them here and there held onto their hats, an assortment of felt, feathers, netting and ruffles, and peered up at the mural-painted dome five stories above. They reeked of aftershave lotions, cheap colognes, and forbidden cigarette smoke.

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Thanks to hubpages.com and DowntownLynchburg.com for the images. These images are part of my inspirations board on Pinterest. If you’re curious, take a look here.

I’ll be posting stories about my mentors, my process, and some of the history that inspired different scenes and themes of this book over the next few months. And of course, you’re all invited to the party when I finally type THE END!

I hope you enjoyed this taste of things to come. As always, I deeply appreciate the time you give to read and comment on this blog. Thank You!