My second book, Wither,
is a dystopia novel. It’s set in some sort of alternate future where all girls
die at the age of 20 and boys die at the age of 25 because of some unknown
disease. Then it goes through how the population would have dealt with it. It
could also be dabbling a bit in science fiction. Although they are unsure what
is happening to the young adults, they do know why. Apparently, there was an
attempt to make a generally healthier and longer-living population which succeeded
. . . at first. After the first generation of “advanced humans” their children
were only living to their twenties. The same with their children, then the
children after them and so on. This is an element of sci-fi having to do with
superhumans. Of course, since it is set in the future there are also many futuristic
innovations. We have our classic holograms and moving pictures as well as
alternate reality devices. There is a funky piano that projects lights and
designs in the air according to the mood of the piece that is being played.
Of course, in the main story the young female protagonist
falls in love which adds a romance quality to the book, although I wouldn’t categorize
it as a romance (much like Nicholas Sparks does with his books) because it is
not solely focused on the relationship. Instead, it is of how society has
evolved to deal with the dwindling maximum age.
Although Wither dips
into a few subgenres, overall it is speculative fiction. What if people only
lived to be in their twenties? What if there was no known cure? There are quite
a few “what if” questions that spurred the thought process for this story.
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