#tankborn

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▶ tankborn ◀

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In Karen Sander's dystopian young adult book /Tankborn [1], /the world is a stringent caste system where race and origins determine all status. /Tankborn /was a hit and the sequel, /Awakening [2]/, just came out this April, which means now is a great time to discuss the race and gender ...

In Karen Sander's dystopian young adult book Tankborn, the world is a stringent caste system where race and origins determine all status. Tankborn was a hit and the sequel, Awakening, just came out this April, which means now is a great time to discuss the race and gender angle of the book. 

[tubooks]

by Karen Sandler As a cis white author who’s inching ever closer to old lady status, I experienced a couple fortunate circumstances in my youth that shaped me as a writer. First, when I transferred...

As a cis white author who’s inching ever closer to old lady status, I experienced a couple fortunate circumstances in my youth that shaped me as a writer. First, when I transferred to a new high school in 1970, the circle of friends who drew me in were largely gay, lesbian, and transgender. Second, when I started writing more seriously in my early 20s, several of the members of my critique group—which included luminaries Katherine Forrest and Montserrat Fontes—were gay or lesbian.

I don’t mention this to brag that I’m “all that and more” or to burnish my ally credentials. I point it out and describe it as fortunate because my high school friends and critique group members diversified the tapestry of my experience and gave me a wider palette to draw on as an author. Not to mention they were great friends who enriched my life, accepting me when I felt like such an outcast.

My process as a writer is very left brain when I’m first getting started. I’m a plotter, not a pantser during the initial planning stages. I write out detailed outlines for my characters, including not just physical qualities, but also intricate backstories that have made them the person that they are at the start of the story.

I have yet to write a “gay character” during that initial process. Why not? Because I don’t know them that well. Most people don’t walk up to total strangers and blurt out, “So, are you gay, or straight?” I have to get to know my characters as I write my book just as I become acquainted with an actual person in real life.

[Read More]

Learn more about TANKBORN here. 

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FIVE WRONG-HEADED REASONS FOR NOT WRITING DIVERSE CHARACTERS IN SCIENCE FICTION

A wonderful post by Karen Sandler, author of the Tankborn trilogy, addressing some excuses people give to avoid including a diverse cast of characters. Specifically intended for scifi, but it’s applicable to all genres.

[weneeddiversebooks]

"What is it about you, and me, that makes you human and me not?"

#DiverseVoices presents karensandler's TANKBORN from tubooks.

[tubooks]

Click here to win a signed copy of the TANKBORN trilogy by Karen Sandler! 

[sffya]

Tankborn!

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[tubooks]

This month, the final book in Karen Sandler's dystopian young adult sci-fi series Tankborn hits the shelves. I profiled the series last year on Bitch as part of a series on portrayals of girls of color in dystopia and eagerly awaited the series' third-and-final title, Rebellion. In Sandler's series, Earth's climate has collapsed, rendering it uninhabitable. Some people have escaped to the planet Loka, creating the new society's strict caste system in the process. The “trueborns” are the most affluent class; they paid for the ships that brought everyone to Loka. Those who could not afford passage  bought their way with servitude and, in the new world, become “lowborns.” Then there are the GENs. As “Genetically Engineered Non-Humans” bred in tanks and raised to be poorly paid workers, GENs are the most-despised underclass. The story centers on Kayla, a fifteen-year-old GEN who is assigned to be a caretaker in the house of an influential trueborn family. But her assignment sets into motion a series of events that threaten to topple the entire hierarchy. The book was influenced in part by India’s caste system and we see traces of Indian culture throughout—from the curry and saffron used to spice futuristic foods to names like Devak, Ved and Pitamah. Karen Sandler answered a few questions about her trilogy and the social issues she references in the world she's built in the far-off future. [Read more]