Girl Talk

When a sarcastic, non-conformist, ex-digital security engineer, with a chip on both shoulders is forcibly relocated from Australia to dystopian Houston, Texas, because of a system technicality, what could possibly go wrong? Well, that’s where we meet, Vivia, the main protagonist of my short story ‘Over and Out’, from the recently released Crossed Spaces Anthology.

This story plays out against a landscape of intense government scrutiny and citizen monitoring, where high tech ease and trust in the global government has become the anaesthetic of the new world order. Control of information, harsh public punishments and fear is a means of managing world populations, and hard borders based on global government whims has become Vivia’s norm. Although there are eerie commonalities between this invented world and the rapid changes we’ve witnessed in our society over the past 14 months, this idea started percolating before these changes became full-blown reality. As I was fleshing out the plot and our real-world situation continued to develop, I decided a global pandemic would be a fitting historical justification for the environment Vivia has grown up in—but as the story reveals, not everything is as it seems.

While creating Vivia’s character, it occurred to me that I seldom write a female protagonist. It’s not that I can’t write girl characters, for I do, I’ve just never had any of my female heroes published. Once Blaine (of the Blaine Colton Trilogy) was published, I kind of went with the flow. So when I finally got a chance to ‘write like a girl’ (ha ha), I decided to have a bit of fun.

Now don’t get me wrong, Blaine’s an awesome character to write and I was rather sad when the trilogy was done, but with ‘Over and Out’ being a short story, I really wanted Vivia to pack a punch. Instead of contrary, I made her downright resistant. (In a world of constant government surveillance and control, that’s no mean feat.) Instead of being mildly abrasive and a little bossy, I gave her minimal filters and a caustic ‘I don’t care what you think’ attitude. To top this off, she’s fiercely independent and irritatingly intelligent. Sounds delightful, right?

But below this prickly exterior is an ordinary Aussie girl who just wants to get home to her family—and make the controlling government pay for every minute they deny her this request. Being in her line of business helps when you want to thwart an over-reaching electronic monitoring agency, but when that agency decides to take her out, her problems escalate as she’s thrown into the path of local rebel leader, smoulder-worthy hunk, Nathan. Again, what could possibly go wrong?

I’ll leave that to your imagination ... but if you want to find out the gritty details, make sure you join Vivia on her full throttle adventure in Crossed Spaces. While you’re there, don’t forget to check out the other stories written by a bunch of great authors featured in this out-of-this-world collection.

Bio:

Queensland author Adele Jones writes young adult and historical novels, poems, inspirational non-fiction and short fictional works. Her writing explores issues of social justice, humanity, faith, natural beauty and meaning in life’s journey, and her first YA novel Integrate (book one of the Blaine Colton Trilogy) was awarded the 2013 CALEB Prize for unpublished manuscript. As a speaker she seeks to present a practical and encouraging message by drawing on themes from her writing. For more visit www.adelejonesauthor.com or contact@adelejonesauthor.com

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