…and Also, What is a Cozy Dystopia?

The cozy dystopian genre is not a thing. Yet. I want to change that by raising awareness of existing cozy dystopian novels and with my own debut novel, Five Years. 

To be clear, cosy dystopian novels do exist, though nobody much has labeled them that way. After all, it seems almost disrespectful to dystopias to suggest there can be anything “cozy” about them. But these are exactly the kinds of books we need to be reading right now, as I’ll discuss below. 

Readers know about cozy mysteries—those that you could recommend to your grandmother with a clean conscience. Cozy mysteries often have the same elements as regular mysteries, except everything is less graphic. So much so that you can recommend them without your neighbor thinking you’re a serial killer, and enjoy them cuddled up with a warm blanket and a mug of hot cocoa. Hence the term, cozy mystery.

Should Dystopian Novels Ever Be Cozy?

Is dystopian a genre that needs a cozy makeover? Do readers have an appetite for cozy dystopias? 

Yes and yes. Simply put, dystopian tales are thought experiments about what kinds of governments we need to have—or, more importantly, need to avoid—as we face evolving challenges. The still-popular novel (and Hulu series) The Handmaid’s Tale shows us the surely ill effects of implementing a theocracy to deal with, in part, declining birth rates. The Hunger Games, a YA dystopian novel, portends a post-apocalyptic North America, ravaged by climate change and greed, in which the government forces children to fight to the death as a distraction from the real problems of their everyday lives.a

So Why Make Dystopian Novels Cozy?

In short, we need cozy dystopian novels because the closer we move towards dystopian conditions in real life, the more we need to focus on solutions. With so many depressing data points and “real-life dystopian” aspects of modern life, it’s easy to become despondent about the world around us. Despondency leads to a sense of hopelessness, in which we believe that nothing can be done about the current situation. 

Back when the original “great” dystopian books were written—books like 1984, Brave New World, and even The Handmaid’s Tale, which was published in 1985—the predicted events were still a significant departure from the current reality. The future these dystopian novels described was so distant that authors could risk portraying their most horrifying aspects without thoroughly depressing readers. 

That isn’t true anymore. With each passing day, we seem one news report away from utter, worldwide pandemonium and/or sliding into a full-blown dystopia of our own. With the evening news already so distressing, why would we choose to escape through content that is even more pessimistic?

What is a Cozy Dystopia?

Enter the cozy dystopia. I define the cozy dystopia as a book that features all the aspects of a dystopian society, with the only difference being that the book doesn’t bog down with violence and a sense of hopelessness. In other words, cozy dystopias are less graphic but more hopeful. The dire warnings remain, but they are more about how we can navigate and avoid creating our own dystopian societies. The heart of cozy dystopian novels is the humanistic aspiration that, through individual and collective action, we can make things better instead of worse. 

Examples of Cozy Dystopian Novels

My book, Five Years, takes place in the near future in a world that falls apart due to climate change and other environmental issues. The changing weather is only part of the problem; the real issue is the massive worldwide failure of humanity and human systems as a result of the challenges and the grim future. In the wake of the worldwide chaos, a small town in New England stocks its stores and totally walls itself off from the outside world. If they are to die, the neighbors of Middlewich have decided they will do so with dignity and peace. 

Five Years is about how the town forms the government and tries to maintain its traditional New England-style democracy in the wake of these challenges. They must decide issues like how to properly allocate collective resources and deal with internal dissent. When a long-depleted natural resource reappears, they must decide how to utilize and promote it, not only for their own town but also for the benefit of others. 

In other words, Five Years addresses our current challenges in a hopeful way. It isn’t all doom and gloom; there are dinner parties and there is pemmican (the recipe of which I will divulge in a future article). And there is at least one adorable pet; maybe two. 

And I don’t want to be totally self-serving and only promote my own book. Emily St. John Mandel’s Station 11 is a brilliant example of the cozy dystopian novel. In it, a theatrical troupe wanders around the post-apocalyptic Midwest in an attempt to entertain and save humanity. If that’s not a hopeful idea, I don’t know what is. 

Cozy Dystopian Novels for (Young) Adults

I didn’t write my book for children. It doesn’t feature a YA dystopian hero, but I am comfortable with my thirteen-year-old nephew reading it. And he claims to like it, too. 

That means it won’t cause you nightmares, either. So if you’re looking for your next light sci-fi, near-future dystopian read, consider Five Years. The situation is dire, but hope and human action just might change things for the better. 

Five Years is currently free on Kindle Unlimited. You can also purchase on Amazon or get a personalized, signed copy here.