A Place Called Zamora

by LB Gschwandtner

Overview

Niko and El are trapped in a politically corrupt dystopian city where brutality rules. After winning a cynical race where only one rider can survive, Niko tosses aside his chance to join the city’s corrupt inner circle by choosing lovely, innocent El as his prize—thus upsetting the ruling order and placing them both in mortal danger. With the Regime hunting them and the children of the city fomenting a guerrilla revolt, the two attempt a daring escape to the possibly mythical utopia, Zamora. But as events unfold, the stirrings of love El once felt for Niko begin to morph into mistrust and fear. If they reach Zamora, will Niko ever claim his secret birthright? And what will the future hold if he loses El’s love?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684630516
Publisher:	SparkPress
Publication date:	09/08/2020
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

LB Gschwandtner has attended numerous fiction-writing workshops—the Iowa Writers Workshop and others—studied with Fred Leebron, Bob Bausch, Richard Bausch, Lary Bloom, Joyce Maynard, Sue Levine, and Wally Lamb, and published five adult novels, one middle-grade novel, and one collection of quirky short stories. She began her professional career as an artist, became a magazine editor in 1980, and began writing fiction in 1986. She’s won awards in literary contests and independent publishing contests, and been published in literary digests and magazines. A Place Called Zamora is her eighth book.

Editorial Reviews

Glimmers of discontent and secrets arise in a city that’s under authoritarian rule in A Place Called Zamora, a promising start to a new dystopian series.”
—Foreword Reviews

“A dystopian novel that readers of any age will eagerly devour, A Place Called Zamora explores an age-old question: Can love survive when the world is falling apart? Gschwandtner creates a compelling and highly detailed world that includes a wide array of fascinating characters. This is a lot of world building and the author does a fantastic job with great level of detail that sucks you right in. A Place Called Zamora is an engaging kick-off to what promises to be a dynamic series!”
—Kim Wright, winner of the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction and author of Love in Mid Air, The Unexpected Waltz, The Canterbury Sisters, and Last Ride to Graceland

“LB Gschwandtner’s A Place Called Zamora is an enthralling dystopian novel peopled with heart-tugging characters and a can’t-put-down plot. It’s a tale of touching inner goodness pitted against a heartless society. About capture and escape. And in the end, about love.”
—Jennie Fields, author of The Age of Desire and the upcoming Atomic Love

“With her sharp storytelling skills, Ms. Gschwandtner takes the reader on a blood-curdling ride through a post-apocalyptic world where no one is safe. And yet, for all of its astonishing twists, turns, and futuristic touches, the novel speaks directly to what we face today with our truth-failing government, and the need for an unlikely hero to arise.”
—Lary Bloom, author of Sol LeWitt: A Life of Ideas; columnist featured in the New York Times; and teacher at Yale, Fairfield University, Trinity College, and Wesleyan University

From the Publisher

07/10/2020

Far away in the distance, there is a glimmer; a place called Zamora. Its possible existence brings hope to Niko and El, two young people living in a brutal and corrupt dystopian city. Premier Villinkash, the dictator who brought about The Collapse and The Cleanse that removed everyone's memory of life before, has instituted a mandatory and barbarous competition forcing the city's young men to race to the death on motorcycles. Only one is allowed to survive. When Niko wins the race, he shuns a life of entitlement and wealth and chooses El as his prize. Enraged by his act of defiance, Villinkash declares both Niko and El traitors. A long-awaited rebellion rises throughout the city, while Niko and El run for their lives, on a search for a safe haven on the horizon. VERDICT Gschwandtner's (The Other New Girl) novel has an intriguing premise that shows signs of inspiration from Suzanne Collins's "Hunger Games" books and Veronica Roth's "Divergent" series. The story as a whole is chaotic and disjointed, often moving from past to present events without any break in the text. Libraries with well circulating sf/fantasy collections may want this one; otherwise, pass.—Carmen Clark, Elkhart P. L., IN

Library Journal

2020-07-27
In this post-apocalyptic series opener, two young people from the semianarchic streets find themselves at the center of unrest and a brewing revolution in a police state.

Gschwandtner’s tale is part of the alarmingly fecund SF genre starring YA characters fomenting revolt in a future dystopia. The setting is an unspecified country sometime after the ecological and economic “Collapse” of civilization. Widespread communication has ceased, and a city called Infinius is now a harsh, self-contained metropolis. Its dictator, Villinkash, uses a sort of sonic brainwashing to turn much of the populace into regimented proles, largely ignorant of the past and bombarded by Orwellian media propaganda. Meanwhile, children either run feral in the streets or suffer in Child Holding Centers. Teenage Niko ran away at age 12 from such government control, persevering among outcasts, loners, and predator gangs. But he has a guardian/benefactor, a mystery man called Huston. Niko is also cautiously friendly with El, a beautiful girl raised—and protected from ever present rape threats—amid an aging, nearly vanished order of nuns (and one holdover Roman Catholic priest) that the Regime tolerates. Niko enters The Race, a cruel but popular annual motorcycle spectacle designed to kill all but one of the 13 contestants. Huston ensures that Niko emerges triumphant from the barbaric Race, but when the teen shares his victory with El—instead of following the tradition of deflowering a state-offered virgin—the couple incur the wrath of Villinkash. While characterizations and psychological motivations are nicely detailed, readers may get a sense of a literary YA dystopia buffet cart stopping for extra-large helpings of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series. As Niko and El go rapidly from Infinius idols to enemies of the Regime (and of each other), readers will feel a little whiplash at the change of fortune even if it serves the genre’s mechanics (Villinkash really isn’t much more than a thuggish President Snow). Closing acts reveal that what seems to be a spontaneous rebellion in fact has deeper, more calculated intrigues behind it, though the volume ends with many narrative strands left dangling. Gschwandtner is bolder than most writers in this territory in deploying R-rated language and elements of violence and lust, though she never lapses into poor taste in the process.

Vivid urban jungle SF settings and vigorous storytelling—if readers can overlook Katniss Everdeen’s shadow. (discussion topics, acknowledgments, author bio)

Kirkus Reviews