Countering Resistance - A Look At Counteract by Tracy S. Lawson.

I'm always up for a compelling dystopian tale - especially one that is frighteningly possible. From the outrageous Mad Max series to the seminal cyberpunk classic Blade Runner to the oppressive The Handmaids Tale, visions of the future that play on our fears of what we see happening in the present a ripe for great storytelling. A series of books from Ohio native Tracy S. Lawson have really captured my attention this past month. Titled the Resistance series, this collection of four books follow a group of freedom fighters in a near future America that is straining under the yoke of a totalitarian regime who seek to control the population through fear and oppression.

Having completed the opening salvo in the series, "Counteract", I've moved onto book two, titled "Resist" and I am completely in thrall with Lawson's storytelling, characters and world building. For today, I'd like to showcase "Counteract" in the hopes it will whet your appetite for the series. 

Two teens discover the government is staging terrorist attacks to exploit and control the public in Tracy Lawson's eerily believable YA debut novel.

In an alternate reality version of 2034, terrorist attacks on American soil continue after the events of 9/11. The Office of Civilian Safety and Defense, created in 2019 to oversee domestic security, rises to unprecedented heights of power by exploiting the people's overriding fear of terrorism.

When Tommy Bailey and Careen Catecher meet during one of the bogus terrorist attacks, they discover the OCSD's darkest secret: an antidote distributed by the government to "protect" people from the effects of imaginary toxins in the air is really being used to lull them into a state of submission.

Tommy and Careen face a difficult choice: stay quiet about what they know--or risk their safety and anonymity to join an underground rebel group that's determined to break the OCSD's grip on the nation.

Counteract explores the nature of power and the consequences and difficulties created when government attempts to control minute details of citizens' daily existence.

I found Counteract to be a taut, engaging & thrilling first entry in Lawson's Resistance series. Its alternative future setting remains anchored in our own real world so, visually, it wasn't a stretch to see it in my minds eye. 

Our post 9/11 paranoia around terrorism has reached a fever pitch, and Lawson explores this and the lengths to which some will go to take advantage of a nations collective fear. Lawson's cast of characters led by the appealing, earnest and resourceful Careen and the enigmatic Tommy - a young man beset by tragedy that is intertwined in the politics of the time, Counteract moves at a crisp pace. 

Its unfolding drama is rife with tension, great character moments and occasional levity that see saws effortlessly with the action. Lawson's writing style is at once accessible and she balances this with an intelligent plot and a fully realized future world that is scarily possible.

As a first entry, Counteract set me up for the subsequent entries and I'm eager to see where the series heads in Lawson's capable hands.

               
Once upon a time, Tracy Lawson was a little girl with a big imagination who was obsessed with telling stories. Her interests in dance, theatre, and other forms of make-believe led to a twenty-year career in the performing arts, where “work” meant she got to do things like tap dance and choreograph musicals.

Tracy S. Lawson (image credit: the author).

Her greatest adventures in musical theatre included creating disco choreography for forty middle schoolers on roller skates in Xanadu, building cast members’ endurance during an extremely aerobic jump rope number in Legally Blonde, and wrangling a cast of amazingly enthusiastic teenaged tap dancers in Crazy For You. She can also spin plates on sticks while she tap dances. Just ask her. She’ll be happy to demonstrate!

Though teaching dance and choreographing shows was a great outlet for her creativity and boundless energy, Tracy never lost her desire to write. Faced with her only child leaving for college and her husband’s simultaneous cross-country job relocation, it seemed she’d found the perfect time to switch her focus. But fear not—she has maintained her ties to educational theatre by returning to choreograph a few shows a year at Bexley City Schools in Columbus, Ohio, so she can continue to nurture students and share her passion for putting on a great show. 

The Cincinnati native now has to her credit an award-winning nonfiction history book, Fips, Bots, Doggeries, and More: Explorations of Henry Rogers’ 1838 Journal of Travel from Southwestern Ohio to New York City (McDonald & Woodward, 2012), based on the writings of her great-great-great grandfather. Pride of the Valley, a companion volume to Fips, Bots, Doggeries, and More, followed in 2017.

With the release of Revolt on July 18, 2017, Tracy's award winning YA dystopian Resistance Series is now complete. Counteract, Resist, Ignite, and Revolt chronicle the adventures of Tommy and Careen, two teens who meet during a terrorist attack and discover a conspiracy that could destroy their country.

In her spare time, she blogs about YA and classic dystopian books and hosts Between the Covers with Tracy Lawson, an author interview program on the Liberty.Me network.

Tracy, who is married with one grown daughter and two spoiled cats, splits her time between Dallas, Texas and Columbus, Ohio.

Purchase the Resistance series here.

Visit Tracy S. Lawson here. 

Tweet Tracy S. Lawson here.

DFA.

Phoenix Rising - A Look At New World Rising by Jennifer Wilson.

There has been a consistent "kicked up a notch" evolution in young adult fiction occurring ever since the advent of the Twilight series (the books - not the films) back in 2005. Where it began with a focus on the paranormal - vampires and werewolves, angels and demons, zombies and the undead; all of which borrowing heavily from classic mythology - this evolution has steadily moved towards much grittier and original style of story telling with a decidedly more dystopian take on the world. Hence we've seen the like of The Hunger Games, The Divergent series and, more recently The 100.

I've long been drawn to these dystopian visions of a near future world that have their roots in the psychedelic fiction of authors like Phillip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, A Scanner Darkly) Cormac McCarthy (The Road) and their celluloid counterparts George Miller (Mad Max) and Ridley Scott (Bladerunner). I think I have an attraction to anarchy and the resourcefulness of ordinary people who are given the chance to prevail when orthodox society fails.

This vision of a possible future is no better illustrated in a 2014 dystopian young adult thriller called New World: Rising by author Jennifer Wilson.

(image credit: JK Wilson.)

From the liner notes:

Since witnessing her parents' murders at the age of eleven, Phoenix's only purpose in life has been to uphold her mother's dying words- to be strong and survive. But surviving outside of The Walls- outside of The Sanctuary- is more like a drawn-out death sentence. A cruel and ruthless city, Tartarus is run by the Tribes whose motto is simple, "Join or die." 

Refusing to join and determined to live, Phoenix fights to survive in this savage world. But who can she trust, when no one can be trusted? Not even herself.

With an atmosphere that calls back to those classic works of dystopian fiction, Wilson's New World: Rising is an electrifying first salvo in what promises to be a series that exemplifies all the great things about the genre. From the get go, we are introduced to a broken world in an undefined period of the near future. Society has broken down and reorganized itself into a set of Tribes - each of which possesses a different view of humanity from the virtuous to the animalistic. For the majority of these Tribes, the object of survival is merely to exist, rather than to advance or recapture the notion of enlightened society and, as such, the New World exists in a state of chaos. 

We enter this New World through the eyes of Phoenix, a enigmatic young woman who deliberately isolates herself and moves through the world a loner. While her background is unclear from the outset, she clings to the notion of a civilization that once was that was impressed upon her by her long dead parents. She is a voracious reader, gathering the discarded books of a long forgotten city library - partly for use as currency as she moves through the shattered city known only as Tartarus - and partly for her own education. She is also resourceful, intelligent and nimble - essential ingredients for survival in the chaos. She is a survivor and while it seems that Phoenix sees the world as hopeless, she does hold within her a spark of hope. 

When Phoenix intervenes to save an 10 year old girl from a band of animalistic Ravegers, she is captured by agents of a mysterious underground conclave. Known as The Subversive, Phoenix finds herself introduced to a Tribe whose existence owes itself to being a splinter of the only remaining 'enlightened' society - known as The Sanctuary. The Subversive have a vendetta against The Sanctuary and Phoenix quickly finds herself propelled into a conflict where her family legacy will become a bargaining chip in a full scale battle for survival. 

Wilson's novel crackles with energy and atmosphere from the get go and her skill with world building is among the best I've read. The world of the future is a devastated, gritty and depressing morass that totally sucks you in. When you find yourself presented with fragments of our civilized past, they evoke an emotional response that keeps you invested. 

Wilson's use of the first person narrative is absorbing, allowing for a immediate psychological experience of a young woman who is trying to survive in a post apocalyptic wasteland. When we are introduced to the conclave of The Subversive, Wilson presents a complex Tribe trying to retain a semblance of organized society that values nurturing, education and advancement while offsetting that with a dangerous sense of justice that does not tolerate infractions of any kind. The Subversive can be as brutal as it is enlightened.

The supporting cast that Phoenix encounters are as equally appealing. Triven, the nominal leader of The Subversive, acts as guide to Phoenix in her initiation into the Tribe as well as a romantic interest who awakens in her feelings and a humanity that she thought she didn't possess, There is the outwardly cold and unfeeling Arstid, who is a much more complex character than we are lead to see, driven by an agenda couched in tragedy and a desire for absolution. And there is Mouse, the mute child Phoenix rescues at the outset, who awakens a maternal sense in Phoenix that adds further weight to her nascent humanity. Mouse's importance to the story is satisfyingly obscure in this first entry but Wilson hints that her importance will be explored further in subsequent entries. 

The efficiency of Jennifer Wilson's writing is outstanding and she does not labor too long in anyone place before moving the narrative forward. Her action scenes are cinematic, breathtaking and surgical in their precision and I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in Wilson's study as she was mapping these out. Her grasp of post apocalyptic politics is a joy to read and to ponder upon and I found myself thinking about this aspect of the story long after I had finished.

And New World: Rising is as entertaining as hell, keeping the reader locked into their seat for a thrilling ride that culminates in crackling climax, leaving the door open for a highly anticipated follow up. 

A thoroughly deserved 5 Stars. 

(image credit: JK Wilson.)

As a child Jennifer loved getting lost in the stories of others, but struggled greatly with reading. A notoriously slow reader who stumbled with words and spelling, Jennifer shied away from books, leaning heavily on musical theater and movies to get her inspirational fix.

It was not until in her mid-teens, when a persistent friend convinced her to read the Harry Potter series, that Jennifer found her love for the written word. J.K. Rowling’s books opened doors not only to the fascinating world of a young wizard, but to a life filled with a multitude of literary friends and fantastical worlds. Once a timid reader, Jennifer now devours books and loves getting lost in a new series.

Jennifer had wanted to write her own novel since her early twenties, but unfortunately inspiration doesn’t always strike on command. Her first book, The Chosen, was completed in 2013. But as most first attempts go, it was a flop. While looking through a multitude of rejection letters, inspiration struck again, putting Grace’s story got on hold as Phoenix’s began.

New World: Rising began to fill Jennifer’s brain, flowing like a fully opened valve from her fingertips. What was once such a struggle in her early years suddenly became a passion.

When Jennifer is not writing, she is enjoying life in Colorado, rock climbing, camping, exploring new foods, playing with her golden retriever, Duke, and sharing her life with her handsome and wonderful husband.

Purchase New World: Rising here.

Visit Jennifer Wilson here.

Connect with Jennifer Wilson here.

Tweet with Jennifer Wilson here. 

DFA.

On May 1st - You Will Meet The Recipient.