Bookalicious

According to the Mayan calendar one of two things are going to happen this year. Either the world will end fiery, or a new brave age will begin. As I have always been one that leans towards the dramatics, I am putting my money on a fiery death. I think we should have fun until we all burn like the fires of Pompeii. Intro Apocalypse Imminent: A 12 month celebration with today’s hottest dystopia/post apocalyptic authors. These transmedia interviews/stories will appear here on the website the first day of every month. I hope you enjoy them.

January- Elana Johnson

Short bio: Elana Johnson’s debut novel, Possession, published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster), is available now everywhere books are sold. Her second novel, Surrender, is due out on June 5, 2012. Her short story, Insider Information, follows POSSESSION character Zenn as he struggles to find his place in the world. Her popular ebook, From the Query to the Call, is also available for free download. School teacher by day, Query Ninja by night, you can find her online at her personal blog or Twitter. She also co-founded the Query Tracker blog, the League of Extraordinary Writers, and helps to organize WriteOnCon.

Purchase links:
Amazon – Hardcover
Kindle
Barnes and Noble

Apocalyptic Fun

Pam: What was your apocalypse, and how did those who survived rebuild?

Elana: This is a hard question, because I don’t really go into a whole lot of detail about the apocalyptic event in POSSESSION. (There is a LOT more in the second book, SURRENDER, which is coming out on June 5.)

Basically, there was a paranormal shift in power, where those gifted with talents thought they should be in charge. They forced people to comply using those talents, and that led to war on a devastating level. Fires followed, and a nuclear winter type of thing, and gradually as the human population began to rebuild, the people with talents were better able to subdue those without mind control talents. Those people, the Thinkers, are in charge now, hundreds of years later.

Pam: Now that you are on the mend, what is responsible for taking the most lives? What is the biggest hardship?

Elana: Disease has been eradicated. People don’t really get sick. So the only thing that takes lives is old age – oh, and if you break the rules, it’s possible for you to be killed. That’s probably the biggest danger.

As for hardships, those who are brainwashed have no hardships. They also have no freedom of choice, or freedom of anything really. So for the people who are in the Resistance, who are trying to bring more balance to the government, their biggest hardship is maintaining a low profile while still trying to fight the system. With that comes the typical hardships of lack of adequate food, clothing, and shelter.

Pam: What do people do for fun?

Elana: Whatever the Thinkers tell them. Each person has “mandatory free time” hours where they can pick from a list of approved activities. Things like walking along the beach (with proper protective gear, of course) or watching projections or playing games on their projection-screens. There’s not a lot of fun going on in POSSESSION. Because fun requires free choice, and well, the people don’t really have that.

Pam: Who is in power?

Elana: The Thinkers control the population through various talents, including telepathy, voice influence through brainwashing transmissions, and fear.

Pam: Are there oppositions to the new system?

Elana: Heck, yes! There’s a Resistance that’s been quite active for about 5 years, and more underground in the years before that. Every city has some level of Resistance, some with very high support in reorganizing the government and some not so high.

Pam: Do you have a plan to further your cause?

Elana: Well, I don’t really have a plan, but I know the leader of the Resistance Jag Barque does. I’ll let him answer. Oh, wait. He’s a little… incapacitated right now. I guess I’ll answer.

Jag definitely has planz. A lot of planz. The problem is he doesn’t let anyone close enough to him for them to find out the plans. He has left behind some notebooks that he thinks are adequate for the second-in-command to carry out his plans.

Whether they can do it or not remains to be seen…

Pam: Any previous plans that have failed or succeeded?

Elana: Absolutely! Since Jag’s not here I can tell you that his middle name is FAILURE. He never plans on getting caught (maybe one of his greatest faults) and in POSSESSION, we first see Jag in prison. So that’s a failure right there.

As for Vi, she feels like her whole life has been one big epic fail. She doesn’t really have any plans beyond sticking it to the Thinkers and making her own choices. The problem with that is, she’ll have to live with the consequences of those choices… But it’s a price she’s willing to pay.

Pam: Do you remember the world before the apocalypse?

Elana: The people in POSSESSION are taught (Vi would say brainwashed) specific things about the past. They’re shown projections of starving people and dirty water and smoke-filled skies. They’re told that the people were saved by the Thinkers, and now they have clean air and food for all. So only certain aspects of life before the apocalypse are shared with the general population.

Pam: What is the most coveted resource, why is it rare?

Elana: Tech. And it’s not necessarily rare, but the more advanced tech you have, the better things are. And not everyone can work with the tech, so it’s definitely the most coveted resource.

Pam: How do you want your society to end up?

Elana: Vi wants nothing more than to choose for herself. Who she will marry, what she will do with her life, what she’ll have for dinner. Even the most basic things as to what color of shirt she’ll wear. She doesn’t want people in her head telling her what to do, or what to believe. She wants to experience life and choose for herself. She’s not sure how far she’s willing to go to get it.

But Jag is.

He wants complete governmental reform, with a new system that doesn’t include brainwashing whatsoever. Naturally, the Thinkers don’t like that kind of thinking, and they want to remain in power. Thus, the battle rages on.

I don’t know about you guys but I am looking forward to Surrender! One lucky comment will win their choice of Possession or a pre-order of Surrender.