Following our recent interview with William, we’re very pleased to read what he has to say about that SF trope, dystopias. Why do we find them so attractive?
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A dystopian world offers the perfect stage for a science fiction novel. Because it is, according to the Free Dictionary by FARLEX , “… often characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian governments, environmental disaster, or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society.”
But, you may ask, does that differ from our everyday world? Some people like presidential candidate and billionaire Donald Trump believe that it doesn’t. According to The Telegraph News, Mr. Trump stood in front of thousands of people at the Republican convention and, “described the United States as a blood-drenched lawless place riven with violence, that only he could save.” Thereby casting himself as a fascist superman.
But society is not in danger of collapsing. Yet, what if things did get bad? Really bad. What would happen then?
Most, if not all, science fiction novels are “what if” thought experiments. What if there was life on other planets? What if aliens landed on Earth? What if meteors struck yet again… I say “again” since many scientists believe that a single meteor strike was enough to kill off the dinosaurs. And that’s where dystopian fiction comes in. Because we know what may seem far-fetched can actually happen.
I chose to imagine what might occur if a swarm of meteors hit Earth, threw a large amount of particulate matter into the air, and thereby reduced the amount of sunlight that reached the surface of the planet. Crops would fail, people would starve, and those who survived would battle each other for scarce resources. That I figured, would trigger chaos, and open the way for some very bad people to seize control of the United States.
But standing in their way is Secretary of Energy, Samuel T. Sloan, who was the Secretary of Energy until a meteor scores a direct hit on Washington D.C. and kills the president–along with thousands of government officials.
Meanwhile army lieutenant Robin Macintyre is in the thick of things, attempting to escort a convoy of civilians to safety, when a secondary disaster cuts her unit off from the command structure–and forces her soldiers to survive on their own. Eventually the two characters will come together—but you’ll have to read Into The Guns to find out when and how!
So Into The Guns is an example of dystopian fiction. But why write it? For me the answer is the opportunity to look at what people do once the trappings of civility are torn away. As in the real world that’s when we’re likely to see bravery, cowardice, selflessness and unalloyed greed. Into The Guns deals with all of those things. But it’s also an adventure story, the first installment of a unique love story, and yes—a thought experiment.
Into The Guns is the first novel in the America Rising trilogy.
For more about me and my fiction please visit williamcdietz.com. You can find me on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/williamcdietz and you can follow me on Twitter: William C. Dietz @wcdietz
William’s recent interview with SFFWorld is HERE. His latest book, Into the Guns, is out now from Titan Books UK. Many thanks to Philippa for sorting out this one.
