Silence in the Library, the publishing company who put out my last two books (“Operation: Montauk” and “A Children’s Illustrated History of Presidential Assassination“), has picked up a new dystopian YA fiction novel from Rori Shay. Rori has an incredibly bright personality and I’m glad to see her book got picked up. You see, another publisher was putting the book out, but the publisher created literally fled the country with all the money from the company under an assumed name.
Rori’s book, “Elected,” was too good to pass up, so Silence in the Library picked it up.
Rori asked me if she could use our Indie Books space here to talk about her book, and I thought that was a great idea. So, without further ado, here’s Rori:
My name is Rori Shay, and I’m an author living in the Washington, DC area with my husband, daughters, 90 lb black lab Gerry, and long-haired cat Misch-misch that I was able to convince my husband was “just medium-haired” so we could get him. I like running (really slowly), gardening (really good with house plants/terribly bad with outdoor plans, but I try), reading (I eat books up like they’re nourishment), doing yoga (probably not so gracefully), traveling (Brugge, Belgium is my favorite place in the world), and snow-shoeing (it’s not as sexy a winter sport as skiing, but I feel like it’s safer for me who keeps breaking legs skiing). I’m also a proud member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).
Why do I hope people will like “Elected?”
“Elected” is about a girl who has to masquerade as a boy to take her country’s elected role in the year 2185. It’s set in Washington, D.C. after a global eco-crisis forced world leaders to take drastic action to preserve what’s left of Earth. There are a set of Accords these leaders enacted, and it’s up to the readers to decide which ones will still be in place by the end of the series and which ones will be struck down as unfair or unviable.
Aloy, the main character, is grappling with the same decision throughout the novels–whether to uphold her ancestors’ strict rules or find the gray areas. She battles with duty versus desire and the sacrifices required of a leadership position. Two other themes are environmental preservation and tolerance. The book is an atypical dystopian novel in that it doesn’t just say there was an apocalypse and go from there.
“Elected” tells its readers what exactly happened when global warming destroyed the environment and how world leaders reacted. The tolerance aspect comes in because of the Accords and their need to increase the population. Whereas in the future people are allowed to love who they like without regard to gender, after the eco-crisis population growth becomes a major factor and that limits people’s freedom. There’s a love triangle, which stems from Aloy having to maintain her cover as a man by marrying a woman, Vienne. It’s not a typical love triange where two men are chasing one girl. In “Elected” it’s a guy (Griffin) and a girl (Vienne) who are both in love with Aloy.
I was given a copy of the book to read and it’s a completely fascinating book. I think it’s definitely worth your time to check out. It’s currently for sale on Kickstarter, or digitally on Amazon.