DYSTOPIAN VERSE NOVEL
Introduction to ‘In the Minuses’
Including Mini Book Movie: Angie’s Quest
Introduction to In the Minuses
by Anneliese Dahl
The world is a truly wonderful place, full of extraordinary beauties of nature, many hundreds of trillions of plants and animals and birds, and billions of remarkable humans with the incredible potential given us by our Creator. These things, all of them, are a gift, a blessing, and we should never forget how important they are in sustaining us, body and soul.
But as human souls, many difficult opportunities come with these gifts, terrible and wonderful and frightening and sometimes sad, for us to learn and grow. It has been the human condition to be subject to many devastating life experiences for all of human history- war, tyranny, oppression, slavery, abuse — with repeating cycles driven by small numbers of “bad people” and large numbers of good people who don’t know how to save themselves, people who have been indoctrinated to relinquish their authority.
It can be hard to hold onto your heart and recognize love where it can be found. It will become worse before it gets better, as we are at the door of increasing tyrannies and trials across our planet which we must weather and surpass.
Pernoste and I decided to write In the Minuses as an allegory for today because humanity is at the cusp of an awakening.
In this verse novel, we present a possible future, the worst type of future, through the eyes of Angie Salo and felt deeply through her heart. The world is dead, and humanity has retreated to a great domed city in which there is little freedom of spirit, few joys, and no hope for most. Is there any possibility of change?
In the end, can Angie surpass the tragedy and despair in her life to awaken to understanding and be the catalyst to open hearts? Choices need to be made, freely, for our birth into a higher awareness and better stewardship of those gifts we have on our beautiful Earth. Perhaps this story reveals for us our path forward to a different way of being.
It may seem a strange thing to capture a dystopian future in poetry, but heart and passion, and hope- captured more effectively in verse- are an important part of our strength as human souls. Perhaps there is also some magic in, and between, the lines of In the Minuses. We hope you agree.
With Love and Light,
Anneliese Dahl
Note by Martine Weber
‘In the Minuses’ is a thought-provoking dystopian verse novel embellished with stunning graphic illustrations to complement the storyline. As I started reading its verses, it touched me tremendously. I was incredibly inspired and strongly urged to translate the story into a musical composition. Thus, I created a piece titled ‘Angie’s Quest,’ to embody the essence of the novel and its themes.
Fortunately, the authors permitted me to use the graphic illustrations from the book to create a mini-book movie. The movie, also titled ‘Angie’s Quest’, is a fusion of the musical composition and the graphic illustrations, thus enabling the audience to visually and musically experience the storyline of ‘In the Minuses.’
If you are intrigued, you can find ‘Angie’s Quest’ and links to the authors’ website and the novel below:
Stay safe and be well! 💕
Thank you for reading and watching!