Apocalypse and Hope – #SciFi #Dystopian #GiveAway

Lisabet: Greetings, Lauren! Welcome to Beyond Romance. I’m delighted you’re stopping here as part of your tour.

So, I have a question for you. How do you write dystopian sci fi without feeling hopeless... and making the reader feel the same way? I struggle with this question in my own work.

Lauren: Writing dystopian sci-fi can feel overwhelming- sometimes even emotionally suffocating. I know that feeling well. You start with a “what if,” and before you know it, you’re building a world where everything’s broken: the climate, the government, the social fabric. Sometimes it feels like you’re just cataloging all the ways we could fall apart. Piece by piece, it’s like pulling blocks from a Jenga tower—one slight shift at a time. At first, things seem stable, but eventually the structure gives way, and everything collapses, leaving us with nothing but the wreckage.

But here’s what keeps me going: I’m not writing about the end of the world. I’m writing about what comes after. What people do with the pieces. Because in a dystopian world, it's not just the pieces that matter. It's about characters that pick up the pieces. It’s the ones who don’t give up—the people who keep going, even when everything’s falling apart. The ones who still choose love, even when the world around them feels like it's full of hate. They choose hope and they choose tomorrow. And even on the darkest night- they still try. Not because they’re brave or heroic in some big, cinematic way, but because something inside them refuses to stop hoping.

And honestly? I hope that’s a little bit of me, too. That’s how I want to hold on when things get hard—by writing people who remind me what it means to be human. Flawed, fragile, stubborn, and still choosing to care. When things feel overwhelming, in the world I'm writing or even in my own life, if I can imagine a future where things go horribly wrong… then I can imagine a future where we find our way back—even if it's slow, even if it’s hard.

That’s where I find hope—what I try to leave on the page.

Blurb

Following a catastrophic nuclear war, Sara lives in a town where the government controls every drop of water. Strict rationing tightly regulates residents’ lives, and to fall sick is to be executed. Sara’s life becomes more dangerous and complicated when she first hides and cares for a small boy who has fallen sick, then takes him in when his parents are taken by the authorities.

Determined to care for the helpless child while struggling to keep alive the memory of her long-dead best friend, Sara leans on her friend’s older brother, Josh, an employee of the domineering water company that controls the water rationing. But Josh is under suspicion, and the city’s enforcement unit begins to observe their daily activities. Despite knowing that she’d be executed if her actions were known, Sara finds herself deeply and distressingly attracted to the lead investigator, navigating a complicated romance and finding a glimmer of hope in a world long dominated by fear and control.

Excerpt

United Region Water Laws: Established May 2167

Water restoration and conservation laws formed with the intent to restore and maintain the physical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters are our nation’s highest priority. Any ill citizens will be removed from government-proclaimed safety zones for the public’s well-being.

Black SUVs line the street, their dark tinted windows and their sparkling silver rims reflecting impending doom. But the windows cannot keep out the screams. Not the cries, nor the banging from inside the vehicles. It’s random health inspection day, and dozens of citizens have already failed, by the count of SUVs.

Josh stands to greet me with a kiss on the cheek, his silence speaking louder than words. I smile back and try to ignore the ominous SUV’s and to ignore what is happening.

“Sit down. Don’t draw any more attention to yourself than necessary,” Josh says.

My pulse is pounding, and my chest rises and falls quicker than I can control. Sweat drips from my brow. My stomach is tied in knots. I assess my body for early signs of illness. No sore throat. No muscle aches. No nausea. All I can do is wait in silence. Our words would be lost anyway, so I sit down at the table.

About the Author

 Lauren Wagner’s love for reading started as a young adult after discovering her town’s public library. After carrying out piles of books at a time, and re-reading them over and over again, she discovered her love for writing. She writes fantasy and science fiction as well as post-it notes about her future stories.

She grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago where she presently resides with her husband and two children. She currently teaches upper elementary students to love and obsess over written works of art.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LoloWags

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Misguided-Trust-Lauren-Wagner/dp/1962308340

Lauren Wagner will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner.

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