People ask me what genre my
new book is, and I tell them it’s dystopian. This often leads to raised
eyebrows and the inevitable question--what
the heck is dystopian?
I tell them this: Imagine a future setting in which
everything is technically perfect, a utopia.
Now, imagine that there is, in actual fact at least one, or many flaws in
this new imagined future, which have the opposite effect on the reality,
creating a dark mirror of a perfect world. This is an inversion of a utopia, a dystopia.
That may not clear the matter up for many people, but
it’s the closest I’ve ever come to explaining the idea satisfactorily.
So why write a dystopian? The dystopian genre seems to
be really popular at the moment, and there are scores of books coming out left,
right and center by some seriously talented authors. I’m sure a lot of writers
might take a look at the burgeoning sales figures in the genre and think,
‘People are gonna want to read that. Why not, I’ll give it a crack,’ but that’s
not actually how I came to write Raksha.
I’d had an idea.
There was a knife fighting scene in my first book that
I absolutely loved writing. Every time I thought about what my next series would
be based around, I knew it had to be knife fighting. The story developed of its
own accord, and I ended up writing down notes on scraps of paper everywhere I
went, and that’s how the world Raksha is based around came into life-- on the
backs of receipts and till roll and napkins and business cards. I’d dreamed up
this weird future where there were technological advances, but the feel to the
book was very much set in the past; a simpler existence in some respects, but
definitely more complex and dangerous in others. Gypsies and gladiators,
politicians and priestesses.
I’ve been asked to compare Raksha to other dystopian
novels, and that’s actually very tough for me to do because I haven’t read that
many. My love for the dystopian idea actually came from watching movies. 1984,
Death Race 2000 (the original from 1975! Classic!) Soylent Green, Total Recall
and Mad Max...all of these films were favourites of mine when I was a kid. I
remember watching Logan’s Run when I was tiny and being terrified. I used to
dream that I would wake up and there would be a flashing red crystal glowing in
my palm, and I would have to escape or be sacrificed. Terrifying stuff to an
eight year old.
The dystopian novels I have read, such as Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, or The Handmaid’s
Tale by Margaret Atwood (both amazing books) contain themes which Raksha
brushes over, too. In Atlas Shrugged, the greatest minds in America decide to
simply not participate in society because of the government’s increasingly
oppressive regulations. The Handmaid’s Tale is similar in that the government
is an oppressive force again, restricting the lives of fertile women when the
post-nuclear world contains very few people who can procreate. It’s the same in
the majority of dystopian stories. There will always be an oppressor, and a
society or individual who rebels against it. The Hunger Games is, of course,
the most common young adult book that people will recognise as dystopian. It
most definitely follows this rule. I’m sure I don’t need to give anyone a
head’s up on that storyline!
I wanted Raksha to be different than most of the
common YA dystopian novels out there and I went about that in a few ways. I
wanted there to be a dictatorial government aspect for a part of the book, but
then I wanted there to be another kind of oppression. I used the priestesses to
accomplish that. There is an element of religious fanaticism that powers
various characters in the story, and a very dark hidden side to the supposed
holy leaders.
Another dystopian rule that I tried to step away from
is the technological aspect of the stories. Typically, because dystopians are
set in a future environment, there’s always a lot of technology involved. There
are elements of technology in Raksha, i.e. Kit’s holostick, the betting screens
etc, but for the majority of the tale I wanted to portray a world that would be
more likely if society did collapse. No gadgets, no fancy vehicles or elaborate
buildings. Just people surviving.
Of course, Raksha’s a young adult novel, and while
I’ve explained some pretty political and religious underlying tones to the
book, it’s still the story of a girl finding herself in an unexpected,
complicated mess and trying to get out of it, while simultaneously falling in
love a boy she really shouldn’t! That’s
the backbone of most young adult novels, after all. ;)
I loved writing this book, and I have such epic plans
for the sequel, Radicals! I’m hoping to get the next installment out in
September, but that depends on the timing of other projects I’m working on, of
course. I’m going to be finishing up the third book in the Hope Series this
year and also releasing another dystopian novel, Stone, which is stepping well
and truly out of the box. I can’t wait to release that one!
Title: Raksha
Author: Frankie Rose
Genre: YA Dystopian
Release Date: April 30th 2013
______
She has no name.
She has her knives, her training, and
her halo.
The first and second give her the
ability to defeat the opponents she is pitted against each month. The third
frees her from pain and fear. From any kind of emotion at all. Everything is as
it should be. Everything is as it should be, until…
Fear… Pain… Anger… Happiness… Desire…
Guilt…
Love.
When a newly named Kit escapes the
Sanctuary after killing her best friend, the last thing she needs is another
knife in her hand. Or Ryka, the damaged, beautiful blond boy, whom she refuses
to let save her. The sights and sounds of Freetown are new, yet one thing is
familiar: the matches. The only difference? Where the blood in the Sanctuary
landed only on the Colosseum floor, Kit will quickly learn that a river of red
runs through Freetown’s very streets.
Without her halo, the inhabitants of
Kit’s new home consider her saved, but is that really the case? Would she be
better off free of the guilt associated with all the blood on her hands, or is
the love of one boy worth living through all the pain?
Raksha is the call of the dead. It is the rumbling chant for fresh blood
from the other side, the demand for sacrifice. The Colosseum is behind Kit. The
fighting pits await.
EXCERPT
I mmm doubtfully, scratching Jada behind her
ears. She seems to like that. Cai’s face is gone now, although who knows how
long the reprieve will be. When I look up, Ryka is watching me pet Jada.
“She likes you,” he says.
“You sound surprised.”
“I’m not. My sister’s a good judge of character. If
Liv likes you that pretty much means everyone else will. Including my fickle
dog.” He whistles softly and Jada pricks her ears at the sound.
“And you?” I ask.
He smiles. “Seriously?”
I nod, and Ryka’s mouth pulls up to one side in a way
that makes my heart race. He looks wicked.
“Well, we’re friends. In that weird way where you’re
eternally mad at me, and I’m eternally imagining what you look like naked.”
“What!” I go to slap his arm but he ducks out of
reach, grinning. From the way my insides react to his words, it feels like I’ve
swallowed something entirely too hot. Is this normal? Is this what liking
someone feels like? It’s confusing and frustrating and frankly—okay, I’ll admit
it—kind of wonderful. But what the hell am I supposed to do with that? How do I
change who I am, sixteen years of fighting, a life of blood? How do I trade in
all that confrontation for something a little sweeter? I think it’s probably
too late.
“I really didn’t do myself any favours when I met you,
did I? You still don’t trust me?” Ryka tips his head forward, smiling ruefully
at his feet when I shake my head. “In that case I suppose it’s pointless asking
if you’ve fallen in love with me yet?”
The boy is determined to make me die a death this
evening. It’s all I can do not to choke as I shake my head. “Sadly, no. I don’t
think I want to kill you anymore, though. So there’s that.”
In the moonlight, Ryka’s eyes bow as he smiles
broadly. “There is that. We’ll have to see what we can do to change your
mind, though. I’ve never been very good at waiting for anything I want.” He
shoves me gently with his shoulder and my heart stumbles.
“You want me?”
Ryka’s smile is devastatingly sharp. “You own me,
remember. And now, after the other night…well, I guess I kinda own you, too.”
Frankie Rose is a British expat, who is currently
enjoying the perks of living in Australia- her awesome husband, sunshine, and
vitamin D. She spends her time creating fictional universes in which the guy
sometimes gets the girl, the heroes occasionally die, and the endings aren't
always happy. But they usually are.
You can find out more about Frankie and her books by checking out all these links:
Twitter:
@byfrankierose
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