byMichael Kötter via Compfight
by Timothy Deal
August 16, 2013
Post-apocalyptic stories are big right now. As fellow CotW blogger and avid YA reader Natasha Hayden could tell you, the genre’s been big in YA fiction for years. Cultural commentators have recently pointed out that two of this year’s top-rated TV shows, Revolution and Under the Dome, both have post-apocalyptic themes. And of course, zombie apocalypses are still all the rage across virtually every form of media today.
It’d be silly to try to pin down one reason for the genre’s popularity since several valid possibilities spring readily to mind: general anxiety about our turbulent times; dissatisfaction with our technological state; a sense of moral decay visualized in decaying flesh; yearning to simplify things and revert to an earlier, perhaps even primeval, mode of civilization; or simply the enjoyment of a dark, dramatic setting for tense and suspenseful action stories.
But personally, one of the things I most enjoy about reading the post-apocalyptic stories coming from our wonderful Children of the Wells writers is their sense of hope. Even as the world of Lomara crumbles around our heroes, even as the citizens of Jalseion, Thyrion, and Averieom begin to grasp the extent of how their lives have changed, the characters find reasons to hope in their darkest hour. Bron wakes to find Calea miraculously alive. Calea miraculously doesn’t mind. Jaysynn realizes he has a new opportunity to help the citizens of Thyrion. Nyasha finds new purpose amidst the loss of her parents.
There will be plenty of struggles and dark times for our characters in the chapters and novellas to come. But hope will also continue to be one of the important features of Children of the Wells. Hope is the difference — especially in this genre — between an empty, nihilistic tale of despair and an uplifting, if bittersweet, tale of promise. We will work to provide many more of the latter stories in the months and years to come. At least, such is our hope.
