In the near future, women’s rights are eroding, and those who refuse their newly proscribed societal role are hunted as gender criminals, by the authorities when they’re lucky, and by militias when they’re not. This harrowing dystopia is seen through the eyes of a woman cast into a resistance group by circumstance, and a newly minted gender crimes detective tasked with bringing them to justice, as he grapples with whether or not that word still has meaning.
What are the main themes of your book?
Whores encompasses many themes pertaining to women’s rights, feminism, reproductive freedom, economic freedom, all contained in a very brutal action story. It’s sort of a paramilitary *Handmaiden’s Tale*, following contemporary issues. It contains some mature themes, and lots of adult language. I like to say I’m an artisan of obscenity.
Who or what inspired your story?
Whores emerged from the ramp up for the US presidential election last year. I found myself fascinated with a particular subset of conservative thought that was obsessed over women’s reproductive rights- particularly strange given that at this point the only right at issue is to for a woman to have basically the same relationship with her sex life as a man has.
But the conversation wasn’t about whether or not it’s proper for a lady to have a gentleman’s sex life- very quickly the discussion turned ominous. I felt Orwellian vibrations on the margins. And I saw a tremendous potential for damage, particularly since this is the tip of a fairly sinister form of thought you can see on the fringes of, say, the Men’s Rights movement. And having politicians go on TV and talk about these things threatens to legitimize and normalize the kinds of ideas we wouldn’t stomach in polite company today.
So I wanted to look at a world in which that happened. The title itself comes from the old Churchill quote, you know the one about the victors writing the history books? Once you cut away the violence and paramilitary warfare, the actions of my “gender criminals” are things that would today be considered perfectly normal: planning for their families, working ambitious jobs, protecting their health. But with even a few variables changed, suddenly these people, mostly women, are degenerates, threats to the state, unfit parents, murderous people. They are often quite *literally* branded as whores by the ‘victors’.
What do you like best about your primary characters?
Whores features an ensemble cast, and I think what I enjoyed best was letting them ensemble- the group dynamic playing out. Whores features a lot of interaction between characters, who I think fiercely love and respect one another- even if sometimes they might disagree on some of the particulars, so in between action sequences, it’s fun just watching them interact and try to live as normally as they can in a fairly abnormal circumstance. The novel moves along at a brisk pace, so most of the characters’ idiosyncrasies are explored as they retell their stories; I wanted the novel to be about their stories, how they came to where each of them are in that world. So it’s about where they came from, but also how they came to be a group of friends- violent, paranoid, persecuted, traumatized friends.
What are their worst peculiarities?
Well, I follow people on both sides of this particular fight, and their peculiarities vary pretty wildly. Probably the most virulent peculiarity is that some are closed-minded, basically fanatical zealots no longer questioning their own role in the world or the things they do.
How does your main character evolve?
One of my main characters is a Gender Crimes Detective tasked with enforcing the restrictions placed on women’s freedoms. He sees his co-workers overrun with corruption, violence, misogyny, and has to figure out where he fits, as a person and as an officer of the law. He has to figure out if he’s wrong for enforcing a law that he’s not sure is right.
Another main character is an innocent woman who is nearly murdered in a fire set by activists, to “punish” the women around her for harboring an underground clinic. She’s ‘rescued’ by an underground feminist group, and finds herself suddenly questioning everything she’d taken for granted, like her safety and her place in an increasingly misogynistic world.
What’s the principal message you want to send to your audience?
The need to be open. To ideas, and criticism. Whores discusses some difficult topics; they were difficult to write about. They’re difficult to think about. But they’re also necessary, and important. And the proscriptions we hurl have real impacts on real human beings. I don’t care if people disagree with my personal politics, and I’ve had reviewers tell me the book challenged them because they felt so strongly about the premise of it for political or religious reasons. I hope people begin to consider this issue on a more personal level- and I don’t just mean for themselves, because there are larger societal questions at play, here, too, it’s about crafting the kind of world we want to live in, and not the kinds of worlds I usually write about.
What’s the nicest thing anyone has said about your book?
You know, I’m not sure. So far, reviews have been pretty positive for Whores. I’m honestly as proud of some of the lukewarm reviews as I am of the glowing ones. One of the less positive reviewers noted that it was well written, even though she initially could not enjoy it, barely made it through it, because of her own social views. The nicest thing, though? Well, it wasn’t actually in a review. It was in a conversation with a reviewer who asked if I’d had my wife’s help with the characters. They said they had hesitated to post it in the review, lest it chase away male readers, but they particularly enjoyed the “different and unique” women’s voices. After years of listening to my wife (an avid fantasy/sci-fi reader) rant about authors “writing women like guys with v*******s,”(Excuse the language. It can’t be said in the Michigan legislature, it probably shouldn’t be said here.) I was pretty pleased that the women in Whores had passed muster.
The most expansive collection of reviews for Whores is at GoodReads. I encourage potential readers to poke around there, read reviews, and to look at the blog for interviews and background information. Whores isn’t a story for the faint of heart, and it can be challenging, but I hope and feel that it will be as rewarding for readers as it was writing it.
Where can we purchase it?
Whores is available on Smashwords (and the stores they stock), Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
Whores will be free on Smashwords, March 8th-10th, in honor of International Women’s Day. No coupon needed.
Nicolas Wilson lives with a newly-wife, a dog and two cats, in the rain soaked wastes of Portland, Oregon. He is a published journalist and graphic novelist, who has recently begun publishing his full length novels. His debut novel, Whores, is a dystopian look at gender warfare, and his second novel, Dag, along with a short story collection, will be available for purchase April 22nd. More information about his writing can be found at NicolasWilson.com . You can also view updates and interact with Nic on Facebook.
