We are all the Cooperative
Activism matters.
This was constantly on my mind as I wrote
Warped State and its sequels. In sci-fi and fantasy, we have tons of stories about heroes: princes and princesses, generals and war heroes, important people having big
world-saving adventures. When we get stories about ordinary people, the farm boys of the genre, they're often secret Chosen Ones. Not always. We've got the Frodos and Sams (and even Pippins) who--in counterpart to Aragorn with his destiny and Gandalf with his powers and wisdom--do the hard thing because someone has to and no one else has stepped up, even though they'd rather be home eating second breakfast.
We need all kinds of stories. But in real life, none of us--none of us--are chosen ones. Change rarely comes from heroes or single, decisive, evil-crushing victories. It comes slowly, in waves. Often it seems like it comes from leaders, but nearly every leader you can think of succeeded because of thousands of ordinary people supporting them, doing their own small pieces of the work.
If we wait for a Chosen One to save us from, say, fascism, we're out of luck. And if we wait to take action until we can get that big, dramatic, decisive victory, it will never come. I wanted to tell a story about activists, doing the hard work of chipping away at evil one piece at a time, knowing that when enough people come together, and work for long enough, it adds up to something
bigger.
In Warped State, Jasper and Havoc have two very different paths to activism. Jasper has seen the harm that corporate states like Ravel can do, and he doesn't want that to happen to other people. His idealism (and a hefty dose of survivor's guilt), drives him to join the Cooperative activist organization. As a community organizer, he mobilizes
people to make change together. I've worked with enough organizers to know that this is both a real skill and a full-time job, paid or not. They're amazing. We need them.
Most of us aren't Jasper, though. Most of us are more like Havoc, who sees injustice in his community and wants to do something about it. He's frustrated that a place he genuinely
loves is so far from perfect, and wants to make it better. He fumbles into his activism, feeling his way with no real guide to follow, and makes mistakes, and gets discouraged. It's hard. Sometimes it feels like progress is impossible, and everyone wants him to be quiet and just go back to work.
Spoiler-not-spoiler, he doesn't give up, and doesn't get
quiet--but it isn't until Jasper and Havoc team up that either of them can really accomplish what they want.
I wrote these characters, and Havoc in particular, wanting to capture that sense that the small actions we take as individuals matter. This is a space opera, so those ordinary acts like waving signs at a protest come along with plenty of subterfuge,
heists, chase scenes, and explosions! (Real-life activism is not without its excitement, for what it's worth, more than you'd expect.) But I wanted heroes who couldn't do it alone. Who needed to lift each other up. Who would keep fighting the good fight and feel the importance of each victory and how all the tiny pieces add up to... well, you'll see where the trilogy goes.
It's important to remember, when the problems of the world feel overwhelming, that it's not on any of us to solve them. Not alone. But it is on us to help. When each of us does whatever small pieces of the work are within our power, that's the only way change happens.
In times like these, there's inspiration and comfort to be found in stories. They remind us that things can get better. I hope
that Warped State and the rest of the trilogy make you feel a little more hopeful about the future.
