The Starless Series started as a way for me, as a therapist and activist, to figure out some of my stuff and to process what has happened in my life. I never thought it would align with a year so much as it did with 2020.
Boy did it ever.
You see the series is based on what would happen if social and political order was turned upside down by a worldwide event––forever changing Earth as we know it.
Didn’t 2020 do that to us all?
2020 has been a wild year. And as few readers pointed out, there were similarities to today that has been featured in the series as a whole.
“It is very strange re-reading Dawn in 2020 (though I don’t remember much from my first read in 2018),” says one reader. “Yes, there are definitely similarities. Government failing us [from the US] for one, even when they had the information [to help stop the spread of Covid-19]. They kept us in the dark until it’s too late. Mass losses at such extreme rate that many were not able to properly put family members to rest or do so respectfully.”
“There is such high anxiety,” wrote another. “People not knowing how to cope with a lot of panic. People not understanding the actual problem/enemy. People not taking the situation seriously. It’s crazy how similar it is.”
It’s always odd to see the real world reflected back to you on the page.
“In The Starless Series, the characters are reacting to an unprecedented event: the existence of aliens. And not only that, but intergalactic war,” explains editor, Hannah Bauman. “2020 has made me think of a lot of books, and The Starless Series is on that list. The anxiety and uncertainty the characters feel, the separation from families who live far away, and an unhelpful government–need I go on?”
For me and many others, these books offer a message of hope and show how working together despite our different backgrounds and experiences can make a tough situation better for everyone. 2020 came in and shook things up, but it didn’t steal away our humanity.
Get your copies of the series here.