About Citizen Second Class
Life’s not fair. It’s our job to make it that way.
In an eerily familiar near-future, America has fallen to fascism. Citizenship is attainable only through military service or immense wealth. The Resistance is broke and broken. Amid this dystopian landscape, New Atlanta has become a fortress reserved for the billionaire elite.
Hopes to save the nation have faded but Kismet Beatriz remains defiant. The intrepid young survivor embarks on a desperate mission to storm the castle of the Select Few. To win, she must face the future without flinching.
Don’t hope. Do.
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“The further a society drifts from the truth
the more it will hate those who speak it.”
~ George Orwell
If you’ve found yourself here from the Author’s Note at the back of my dystopian novel, Citizen Second Class, welcome and thank you for reading. (If you dug it, please do leave a review.)
Though the story is set in the near future, it was never meant to be predictive. I’m not a futurist. My first priority is always to tell a compelling story. I went to journalism school but I matured as a writer from reading all of William Goldman’s novels. That’s why I’m such a big fan of the sharp plot twist.
I’m in the brain tickle business, not in the prediction business. However, there are many current events that could be perceived as antecedents to the situations that unfold in Citizen Second Class. Like my other novels in a similar vein (e.g. This Plague of Days, AFTER Life, Amid Mortal Words) the threats share connective tissue with reality.
Citizen Second Class is a broken world where many people are broke, disenfranchised, homeless, desperate and oppressed. The climate crisis has a harsh impact and lack of empathy is rampant.
If you resonated with the themes that emerged from CSC, we’re probably of like mind about the state of the world. I won’t bore you with a list of my personal guiding principles. Most of those can easily be deduced from my writing.
People of a right-wing bent can go reread Ayn Rand. (Vaya con Dios!) As for the ideal reader in my demographic? We’ve got Nineteen Eighty-four, Brave New World, A Handmaid’s Tale, Animal Farm, Soylent Green and Fahrenheit 451. I would not presume to put my work above these excellent works of fiction, but I hope you found Citizen Second Class sufficiently satisfying to place it on the same continuum.
Acknowledgments
I used to believe in the myth of radical independence but abandoned that when I realized I couldn’t even do my own dentistry. So it is with publishing. No author is an island. From support and cheerleading to design and proofing, writers don’t simply require a single quill to succeed. I’m very grateful for my team, my friends, cherished readers and all the help I receive.
My editor, Gari Strawn of strawnediting.com, is invaluable in helping me to bring my work to the high standards we demand of ourselves. Beta Prime, Russ Sawatsky, is an excellent proofreader. You’re both aces. Thanks!
In addition to the great people who follow me on my Facebook fan page, a team of volunteers stepped up to get an early peek at Citizen Second Class for the Red Review Team. Peter, Laura, Philip, Steve, Fran: You all have my thanks, too. I especially appreciate your jumping in so close to the busy Christmas season.
To newcomers:
If you’d like to join the Facebook fan page to get daily updates, excerpts, behind-the-scenes peeks and a chance to lend your name to a character in a future book, click here.
To everyone:
If you’re here, you’re a reader. For that, I thank you. I have many more books to write so I hope you are not a dying breed! Keep reading. I love the way a novel can put a movie in our heads! It’s a great feeling, isn’t it?