Words. Memory. Identity. They came. And they took away our story. And they rewrote everything: all minds, all lives, all history. Everyone forgot.
But in this now, Lolo must reclaim her stolen words-her stolen family-from the silent Caretakers. She must call out to all rapt children, "This world is hell. Let's run." When the words needed are forgotten, lying unknown, when memories flit like smoke, how can she recover what is lost? She must. To live in this nightmare without a story would be too much to bear.
NEVER NOW ALWAYS is a world where memory and family aren't taken for granted-even if they're only dreams. It explores how the stories we tell about ourselves shape us and those around us. It's a weird sci-fi search for meaning, an apocalyptic murder mystery, a chilling look at the thin line between memory and dream, and it's the drive to find family. It's a twisting mix of The Wizard of Oz, Dark City, and Jacob's Ladder.
It takes place in a future in which something's gone terribly wrong. But Lolo's memories aren't what they used to be. What's real? What's dream? She can't say, but she's sure there used to be more. Who are these Caretakers? Where's her family, her sister? What happened to the world? So many questions. Time to find answers.
FROM THE AUTHOR: "Our memories and our stories are our selves. They're also a kind of weapon: the tools our past gives us to navigate our future. When I think of what terrifies me, I think of losing my narrative. I think, without that weapon, how would I fight?
"My novella is about children trapped in a perpetual present. They don't know how or why they came to be in this labyrinth. To their alien Caretakers, the children are nothing more than lab rats: keys to a mystery about memory far larger than they could understand. As they undergo their captors' experiments, a few children begin to excavate fragments of their lost past. These stories might be the key to survival. Or they might just be another form of subterfuge.
"But through it all, one story remains, and it's the oldest one there is-our desperate human need to be together. To find a family. To be safe and touched and loved.
"I began this novella with a question: what scares me the most?"
