Review: In a dystopian future...is anyone ever safe?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 5, 2012
In a current world government that has its hands in everyone's business, I love to read stories where the government has gone even further. It's realistic to me and portrays a world I can imagine easily. 1984 by George Orwell, Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, these have always been fodder for my imagination. So it was with great pleasure that I was given the opportunity to read a short story by Becca J. Campbell called "Not The Norm." the planet has become a dystopian planet, one where everyone thinks that genetic enhancement makes one normal. Eden is a woman who has been genetically enhanced, but the enhancement has a glitch in the genetic code. This cold cause great danger for her if it is ever revealed. Unfortunately, she is forced to fight back with the very power that has revealed itself to be flawed. She is danger and on the run.I loved this story. Campbell has succeeded again in populating her world with characters that I care about. I have read a lot of really bad writing recently, so it was with great pleasure that I read this story and was swept up in Eden's story. Part 1 of the story even has some humor, in a relatively humorless situation. I was impressed with the character of Eden who understands intimately what it could mean to be "sub-norm" and what the consequences can be for her and others.The world was real to me. I liked that Campbell was able to give me a world that has turned the corner, not becoming the utopia that it thought it was, but a prison for people. It reminded me of the many ways that we hate people and destroy people now. This story was a reminder to me that we need to quit messing with the natural order of things. It could have dire consequences for freedom in the world.Thanks again Ms. Campbell! This was a great story!