August 4, 2022

Our story so far: I've got an idea revolving around a son witnessing his father commit an extreme act of violence. This incident occurs when a group of white supremacists invade their home because the boy's stepmother is Black. She has two daughters of her own as well.

The father, generally a passive individual, snaps at the threat of harm coming to his wife and children. In blind rage, he fights back, killing three of the five home invaders. The remaining two, one of which is badly injured, escape.

This book was intended to be an examination/commentary on a number of dysfunctions in our current society. (Far too many to list here.) But what it really boils down to is a story of a relationship between a father and his son. A timeless theme with many manifestations. One I think about a lot in my own life.

So, how have I decided to clothe this idea with the genre-dressings of Speculative Fiction?

The popular go-to societal setting right now is dystopian. As much as I like such tales, I feel we've been inundated enough by that topic, and I prefer to not add to it. (I did my part already with Gospel for the Damned.) So, then, what would be the flipside?

Why utopian, of course! What would such a society look like? How would it effect the family dynamic? With all our human failings, is a utopic world even possible - without it being forced upon us? Isn't one person's heaven another person's hell? (I hope you see the irony here.) And what happens when that seemingly perfect world is disrupted by horrific violence?

These are the just a few of the many questions I've been processing the past few months on the creative path to a first draft of my next novel.

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Gordon Gravley

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