Fuck that “keep calm” shit.

The cat’s name is Pinochet.

This is for Claudia, protagonist of Fait Accompli. She has a Master’s in Social Work and a Doctorate in Ass-Kicking.

“Getting yourself attacked is a public service?”

Here is a snippet from near the beginning of Fait Accompli.

***

Why do these guys keep hitting themselves?

One of my WIPs is a dystopian LGBT novel called Fait Accompli. The setting is the District of Columbia in the not-too-distant future, in which, due to the unforeseen environmental effects of a poorly planned geo-engineering project, the U.S. has an 18-year span of population whose birthrate is only 12% female. This makes life especially difficult for a wide range of people, particularly single women.

The protagonist is Claudia Bowen, a social worker and TKD champion who is recognized as the best martial artist in the city. She was born into fabulous wealth and is rather embarrassed about her old-money roots, but not embarrassed enough not to let her parents pay her rent. She has two brothers, whom she adores, but isn’t interested in having other men in her life.

The project is currently on the back burner while I work on Suicide is for Mortals, partly because the latter is so much more fun to write. Maybe I’m just wired to write fantasy more than dystopian. I’ve had some insight into where the book needs to go since I put it aside, so when I’m ready to get into it again, I’ll be more prepared. In the meantime, I do have some snippets posted at The Monster’s Ink. I will begin cross-posting them over here shortly.

 

Sunday Storytime: “That’s your story and you’re sticking to it?”

It’s been months since I wrote anything on Fait Accompli. I’m having way too much fun writing Book 4, aka Suicide is for Mortals. It seems that the plan for Fait Accompli is not as solid as I thought. I haven’t really found the “soul” of Fait Accompli. It’s not often that I use the term “soul” without irony, but in the case of a novel in progress, it makes sense. I’ve figured out Book 4 to such an extent that I know what I’m doing, and it’s actually enjoyable to write. Fait Accompli, not so much. Given the choice between the story that’s a ball and a half to write and the story that’s a struggle to put on paper, I’m taking the first option.

However, I’ve written enough of Fait Accompli already that I can still afford to post bits of it for Storytimes. This one is from Nadia’s POV. She’s having one of her counseling sessions with Claudia.

Sunday Storytime: “Hoping for someone else to have an accident.”

Fait Accompli today! Tasha Morgan explains to us why adoption is a relatively rare phenomenon in the Broken Generation. In a previous Storytime, Claudia showed us how the BG makes life difficult for lesbians. In another, we heard from Claudia and her neighbor, Dr. Epstein, about what happened to reproductive freedom under DOALA, the Defense of American Life Act. In this one, Tasha will also show us how the BG is rough on straight men and women. In fact it’s hard on pretty much everyone except for gay men who don’t want children. DO means Dual Opportunities, an immigration program for young women. BG means Broken Generation, the age group which is only 12% female due to the environmental effects of a poorly-designed geo-engineering project. ARC refers to a rash of particularly vicious crimes against women that have been happening in recent months.

In case you’re wondering, I don’t think homeschooling is a bad thing, but I do think there are good reasons to do it and shitty reasons to do it.

 

Sunday Storytime: “Is that why you left home?”

We are picking up where we left off with Fait Accompli. Still in Nadia’s POV.

Sunday Storytime: “Blameless Parasites.”

Here is another snippet from Fait Accompli. This one is from Nadia’s POV, set after she’s discharged from the hospital and placed in the charge of DC’s Department of Social Services.

If you’re unclear about the language or politics in play here, I encourage you to visit the “fait accompli” tag for more info.

Sunday Storytime: “Of course I know it’s illegal, that’s why I’m asking you.”

For this week’s Storytime, Claudia will ask her neighbor, Dr. Epstein, about her new client, Nadia. Dystopian vocabulary this week is DOALA: Defense of American Life Act. Dr. Epstein is a gynecologist, and by that, of course I mean “part-time abortionist,” which in this story means he’s breaking the law every day. See “fait accompli” tag for other excerpts in this novel.

Sunday Storytime: “She ran away from home to come here, you know…”

I will show you a little bit of Fait Accompli this week, in which Claudia and Tasha pay a visit to Nadia’s former landlady, Gail Lovejoy, and ask her some questions. I’m pretty sure there are no new Broken Generation vocabulary terms popping up in this excerpt. To see other excerpts from the same novel-in-progress, visit the “fait accompli” tag.

Sunday Storytime: “I went to Trauma first, but for some reason, my client wasn’t there.”

Storytime has returned, this week with a scene from Fait Accompli. At an earlier Storytime taken from this WIP, we met Nadia through Tasha’s POV. This scene follows immediately after, from Claudia’s POV. DOALA is the acronym for the Defense of American Life Act, which, giving a forthright middle finger to Constitutionality, outlaws all abortions with a few tightly defined exceptions, none of which apply to an adult rape victim. DO means Dual Opportunities, which is an immigration program for educated young women.

As usual, warnings apply for nasty language and references to sexual violence and general unpleasantness.