No introduction needed.
Warning: Get ready to chuckle.
Kellee, in
her excellent intro to this blog series, points out the difference between
post-apocalyptic and dystopian works. I want to expand on that and illustrate
the differences with three short stories. You ready? Here goes:
Apocalyptic Fiction:
Fred: Hey, everything’s peachy keen.
Joe: Yep, sure is. Who says peachy
keen anymore, anyway?
Fred: OMG, it’s an
asteroid/supervolcano/rapture/giant snuggee knitted by aliens to warm the
earth!
Joe: Run! We’re all going to die!
The rest of the book: Fred and Joe
struggle to survive while falling in love.
Post-Apocalyptic Fiction
Fred: Everything sucks since the
aliens wrapped the earth in a giant snuggee.
Joe: Yep.
Fred: Let’s rebuild civilization.
Joe: Why?
Fred: We could brew beer.
Joe: Right-on!
The rest of the book: Fred and Joe
rebuild civilization for the same reason we built it the first time: to brew
beer. (Note to students: This is a historical fact, not an endorsement of beer.
Your teachers and parents would be very upset with me if I endorsed beer. Although
it did probably create civilization. And presumably your teachers and parents
are pro-civilization. Here’s a good overview of the role of beer in civilization,
for those who are interested.)
Dystopian Fiction
Fred: Everything sucks.
Joe: Shh, they’re listening.
Fred: Let’s overthrow the government.
Joe: Why?
Fred: I heard they’re going to ban
beer next week.
Joe: Where’s my gun?
The rest of the book: Fred and Joe
overthrow the evil dystopian government while falling in love and preserving
their favorite beer recipe for future generations. (Note to students: This is
also not an endorsement of beer. Except by Fred, who is a fictional character. If you follow directions from fictional characters, beer
is the least of your problems.)
And there
you have it, the difference between Apocalyptic, Post-Apocalyptic, and
Dystopian stories according to Mike Mullin. And their similarities: they’re all
about beer.
Mike Mullin’s first job was scraping the gum off the
undersides of desks at his high school. From there, things went steadily
downhill. He almost got fired by the owner of a bookstore due to his poor taste
in earrings. He worked at a place that showed slides of poopy diapers during
lunch (it did cut down on the cafeteria budget). The hazing process at the next
company included eating live termites raised by the resident entomologist, so
that didn’t last long either. For a while Mike juggled bottles at a wine shop,
sometimes to disastrous effect. Oh, and then there was the job where swarms of
wasps occasionally tried to chase him off ladders. So he’s really hoping this
writing thing works out. Mike holds a black belt in Songahm Taekwondo. He lives in
Indianapolis, Indiana with his wife and her three cats.
Ashfall is his first
novel. The first two chapters are available on his website: www.mikemullinauthor.com. You may
reprint the first two chapters in whole or in part on your website so long as
you do not charge anyone anything to access them.
You can access Jen and my review of Ashfall by clicking on the cover photo above.
Also, remember on 3/31 Jen and I will be hosting a Dystopian vs. Post-Apocalyptic blog hop where you can write your own post about the topic and link back here. Hope you can join us!!
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