Young adult dystopian fiction is a genre that has gained significant fame and acclaim throughout the last two decades. With beloved series like The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, and Divergent hitting the big screen, the popularity of the genre has skyrocketed, encouraging young people to read and spreading empowering messages to audiences. Rebecca Lemke’s complex dystopian series with shape-shifting main characters is inspiring readers of all ages. We’re sitting down with her to discuss Haven, the latest book in her Geneshifters series.
Trigger Warning: This article contains brief mentions of 9/11 and PTSD. Please exercise personal care while reading.
About Rebecca Lemke
Rebecca Lemke is a dystopian writer and author of the Geneshifters series. She spends her days dreaming of mythological shifters and scientific madmen. Rebecca loves exploring crises of identity, love, and morality in her books. When she’s not writing or cosplaying her main character, she can be found sketching, hanging out with her loved ones, and playing music on piano or guitar.
Thank you, Rebecca. Let’s get started.
For any readers unfamiliar with it, can you briefly introduce the main characters of the Geneshifters series, and what they’ve faced up to this point?
Of course! Titania, James, Luna, and Adam are the main characters of Geneshifters. They are all Titans, which is what modified humans are called in this series. Most of the Titans are spliced with animal DNA, but some are spliced with mythological creature DNA. Quite a few of them have no idea what they’ve been spliced with!
Titania is a phoenix hybrid and can shift between human and animal. James is a bird and lion hybrid and can shift, but because he has two sets of extra DNA, there can be complications. Luna is a wolf hybrid. And Adam is a secret, for now! Each of them has faced unique challenges ranging from identity crises, moral and ethical dilemmas, the darker side of human exploration, and PTSD.
In book one, Titania struggles with not knowing what she is and not being fully human. In book two, James wrestles with the possibility of an antidote that could turn them all human. And in book three, they are all faced with having to confront a lack of real safety.
Can you tell us a bit about what inspired the world of Geneshifters? Were there any elements pulled from your own experiences?
Geneshifters was inspired by a recurring dream that I had for many months. The same specific scene played out over and over again, so I finally wrote it down. That scene is now chapter thirty-nine of Blood of Beasts, which is book one in the series. After I wrote it down, more dreams started attaching themselves to that particular recurring dream.
Titania, one of the main characters, had a strange, epigenetic abnormality when it came to having been spliced with foreign DNA. I struggled with the mechanism and details of this for a while. In the process of writing the story, I actually underwent genetic testing for my health, and that became a big part of some of the science that is included in the background of the story.
What about the YA dystopian genre enticed you to write a story that takes place within it?
I think that young adult dystopian is consistently about young people being resilient in unprecedented times. I was in kindergarten when 9/11 happened and have next to no memories of a world that wasn’t yet marked by that. Young adult dystopian has always been one of my favorite genres because it can help anyone have hope that you can still make the right choices in impossible circumstances.
Haven follows a wolf shifter, Luna, and a mad scientist, Silen, who are both missing at the start of the story. How has Silen changed since book one, and what can we expect from his relationship with Luna in this third installment?
Silen is one of the bad guys of the series. I think when the reader first sees him in book one, he is more of a mystery. But throughout the books so far, you get more of a sense that he is barely competent and losing his grip on reality. Luna has no love for him and doesn’t really care that he’s gone, except for the fact that he is a loose end and a resource to them, no matter how much of a liability he poses.
Are there any returning characters from the previous books in this series who play a larger role in Haven?
Yes! In book one, we meet James’ former best friend, Brandon. He kind of drops off the map as their communication avenue breaks down. James originally phones him for help when he finds out Titania’s secret and how much trouble they are in. When last we saw Brandon, he was on the hunt for James and Titania. He reappears in Haven, which my readers were very excited about.
In the summaries describing your books, it is mentioned that the entire Geneshifters series is free of both swearing and “spice.” As a writer, why do you opt to exclude these two elements from your process?
I think that there are so many reasons that readers don’t want spice or swearing in what they read. The market that prefers that, in my opinion, is often discredited as entirely religious or prudish, but I don’t believe that that is a fair or accurate depiction.
No reader has to disclose their reading preference or prove that they are valid. Sometimes, it can be challenging for these readers to find books that are safe or a good fit for them because of the propensity to be bullied for these particular preferences. So, I use different terms to indicate, without a doubt, what content you will find in my books because I believe that everyone should have informed consent for content that could be upsetting, triggering, or against someone’s preferences or morals.
Reading should be fun, not stressful!
Shapeshifting has a lot of folklore as well as modern mythology attached to it. Are there any specific stories or series that inspired your design of the shifters in this series?
I have always been fascinated by shapeshifters in various mythologies. I read a lot of books in different genres growing up that featured people who could shift into animals or other creatures. I wanted to do something a little different, so I added mythological shifters in my series. I think that it is such a fun way to showcase intense human emotions or reactions that would normally be considered “feral” or animalistic.
Besides your own, do you have any favorite YA series to recommend to our readers who might be looking to read more of the genre?
Yes, I do! This is going to be an obscure one, but I loved the Fire-Us series and the post-apocalyptic world that it depicted. I also love Animorphs, Jessica Khoury’s Origin and Vitro, and Reach and Rising by Olivia McCarthy.
A huge thank you to Rebecca Lemke for talking to us about her latest book and the YA dystopian genre. Be sure to follow her on Instagram and add Haven to your TBR!
Interested in another interview with a children’s literature author? Check out our interview with Lauren Magaziner!
For more book recommendations, browse our YA fantasy and sci-fi collection on Bookshop!
