Hello everyone,
I thought the concept of this series was so unique as Dystopia go that I had to ask the author how she came up with it. I am so grateful that L.A Weatherly take the time to write back and tell us how it all started. I am happily able to share it all with you. And if you don’t pick up this book after reading this, I don’t know what will.
The Broken series, set in an alternate 1940s America, loosely parallels World War Two. And so I needed for John Gunnison, my fictional dictator, to have a group of people to blame for society’s ills.
But who? I wanted to stay away from things like religion, race and nationality. Then it hit me: there’s an unsubstantiated historical claim that Hitler was obsessed by the occult.
I decided Gunnison would be obsessed by astrology. Those with the ‘wrong’ birth chart in his regime could be arrested and sent to a correction camp. It struck me as terrifyingly random – and a fascinating way to examine how a totalitarian regime might control its populace.
But astrology also has a comforting familiarity to me. My mother and sister were firm believers. As a young teenager, I read everything I could find about it. (I felt quite smug about being a sarcastic Scorpio, until I got hold of an ephemeris – a book of planetary charts – and realised I was merely an indecisive Libra born on the cusp. Sigh.)
Even with a greater-than-average knowledge of astrology, I had to do a lot of research to make the references in the Broken Trilogy feel accurate. Astrology is much more complex than most people realise. Ironically, I probably believe in it more than either of my heroines, Amity and Kay, who both think it’s bollocks. Also ironically, although astrology isn’t meant to be ‘true’ in the story, I took care to give each of the characters charts that reflected their personalities. (Amity could only be Aries with Sagittarius rising!)
Is there anything to it? Personally, I don’t think that the stars decide our fates; we have free will. But I do think that the personality traits described by birth charts are often strangely accurate. Anyway, it’s fun to read up on!
Just don’t let Gunnison know if you have Virgo rising…
Thank you Lee
You can follow Lee on Twitter at @LA_Weatherly
If you fancy reading the “Broken Sky”, there is a competition for a giveway.
I am sure you will know what to do :).
Woop Woop 😁! #giveaway part 1! Follow+RT for the chance to WIN a signed copy of #brokensky by @LA_Weatherly via @Usborne (16/11- 🇬🇧 only) pic.twitter.com/29ZbB6KUE8
— LaChouett ✨ 💎 💕📖 (@ChouettBlog) November 14, 2016