Resources: Dystopian Divas Blog

I get a lot of comments that I should cover dystopian fiction all year round instead of just in February and August.  So for all you out there who need more dystopian in your lives than I can give you, there's a new blog in town: The Dystopian Divas run by Diva Schuyler and Diva Julie.

Not only did Diva Schuyler just post an interview with moi about LEVEL TWO, she also wrote the following intro to The Dystopian Divas with origins, highlights, and a call for contributors.  Read on ...

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Thank you so much for the opportunity to share the Dystopian Divas blog with your readers! Ours is a very new blog, begun just in May of this year. I’d wanted a book blog for a long time, and even started a couple, but after one or two posts my enthusiasm fizzled. Enter Diva Julie, who jokingly posted on my Facebook that, since we both read so much dystopian fiction, and are both so obviously FABULOUS, we should run a blog called Dystopian Divas! (She also came up with the title of our interview feature, “Dystopian Divas Dish.”) Though Diva Julie is unable to post right now due to her busy schedule as a library branch manager, she is the inspiration and main cheerleader behind the Divas. Several other writers have also contributed excellent posts to the blog, and at some point I hope we’ll have several Divas submitting regularly.

Our blog celebrates the dystopian genre with book reviews, essays, fan art, author interviews, and more. What it doesn’t do is cling to the pure, literary definition of dystopia. Instead, the Divas embrace all books with dystopian elements, such as dystopia’s literary cousin, the post-apocalyptic tale. Upcoming reviews will even feature contemporary realistic stories about child abuse and cults targeting teens—for what scarier world is there than one inhabited by frightened children ruled over by tyrannical adults?
The Dystopian Divas’ main focus is to get people excited about the literature. To this end, the books reviewed are ones we truly care about and hope others will read. There are no ratings on the blog—each book presented is one the author of the post finds intriguing, compelling, or otherwise excellent. Yes, we are fabulous Divas—who may or may not wear feather boas while writing our reviews!—but our goal is simple: to put dystopian books into the hands of readers. That’s our Utopia. 

The Dystopian Divas blog is looking for contributors. Anyone interested can tweet @ReadersInk or email Diva Schuyler at wholewidewords@yahoo.com

My Five (Okay, Six) Favorite Dystopian Reads:
Mockingbird by Walter Tevis
1984 by George Orwell
Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness
The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid’s Tale

Some of my favorite posts:
A Dystopia of Our Own: Defining Dystopia
Review: The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith
Review: Enclave by Ann Aguirre

Posts by/with other Divas:
Review: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Eight Reasons the World Is Not Ending Today

Dystopian Divas blog link: http://dystopiandivas.blogspot.com
Follow Diva Schuyler, Blog Manager, on Twitter: @ReadersInk