Orwell and Vonnegut

Michael's Story has a feel of the true dystopia, not the trendy dystopia fiction we've been seeing. This novel is satirical, cautionary, and reminded me of George Orwell's "1984" and Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron." In that regard I found the writing brilliant!

It's a good story, deep, dark, and full of twists and turns.

Well, hard not to like that. It's from a recent review of my book Michael's Story. Comparisons to 1984 and Harrison Bergeron?  Thank you very much. I've read both and must wonder whether my own efforts deserve to be mentioned along with those classics of modern literature. Yet it's gratifying to hear.

But the reviewer makes a point which I think calls for a bit more reflection. He uses the term 'trendy dystopia' as a criticism, presumably anyway, of what often passes for dystopian. I think he's on to something.

An awful lot of the futuristic worlds we see or read about fail to get at the root of what dystopian actually represents. They merely seek to frighten the audience without a true understanding of where and why the fear may gestate. They're no better than horror movies. To be sure, there are some good movies and books in that genre. And that's okay. But they aren't dystopian. Dystopias examine the causes of evil rather than just try to scare the bejeezus out of us. I think that's what makes them more scary than monsters in the mirror.

Anyway, thank you, dear reviewer, for the good words! BTW Michael's Story can be found  here and here. Thank you for your support!