GUELPH – Guelph author Aaron Blair is set to release his latest novel The Mutant and the Mule on May 13.
Beyond the cover, Blair’s latest novel dives into an “earthbound dystopian future,” focusing on a time when human beings are evolving and acquiring new abilities.
New release – The cover for A. A. Blair’s new dystopian novel, The Mutant and The Mule. Submitted photo
This evolution creates conflict between what Blair calls “humans 2.0 and 1.0” and a new type of mutant known as the “mule”.
The mules are the offspring of the mutated and the non-mutated humans and are thus sterile and considered lower-class “helper” citizens.
“It [the inspiration for the novel] came like many years ago. I was an undergrad at UofT … and I majored in classics, literature, etc,” said Blair.
As part of his undergrad, the author took an archeology course where the idea for this novel was born.
“That class with a theory about homo sapiens and neanderthals and the demise of the neanderthal … one of the theories at the time was that the offspring of homo sapiens and neanderthal were sterile, which created a disadvantage for Neanderthals and eventually led to their extinction,” said Blair.
“I don’t know how true that is, but that really created the ‘what if’ idea, what if humans evolve. And what would that do? …
“If homo sapiens 2.0 bred with homo sapiens 1.0 and produced sterile offspring, it could create some similar conflicts. And in a modern society, what could that do, or what would that do? So that’s really how it started.”
Blair began the novel in his undergrad years; however, it went largely untouched for years until a friend re-lit the spark for the novel.
“Many years later, someone close to me was remarking that a lot of literature’s LGBTQIA+ characters don’t too often focus on the coming-of-age experience associated with the realization of who they are and their identity,” Blair told the Advertiser.
“And the person that was close to me was complaining at the time that they just wanted the characters that they identified with as going through the typical or different conflicts that come with any sort of story.”
Blair said the comment made him think back on his novel, as a few of the characters identify as 2SLGBTQIA+, and that is when he began to polish and refine the novel for publication.
The novel focuses on three primary characters. One is the protagonist, Helia, who is a mutant and a soldier on a “hopeless mission to infiltrate a human or norm compound,” a mission Blair said doesn’t go quite as planned.
The second primary character is Ari, the co-protagonist and helper of Helia. Ari is a mule and, as per the rules of society in the novel, is seen as a “serving class” citizen.
The final primary character is an unnamed older character who has the role of law enforcement in the new society.
“They’ve seen the change in society. They’re maybe not 100% happy with it, but they have a job to do, and that perspective, that changing perspective as the world has changed, as well as having to maintain the peace and this new existence,” said Blair.
The novel will launch on May 13 and can be purchased online on Amazon or directly from the publisher at HistriaBooks.com or at Barnes & Noble.
