Exogenesis: A Dystopian Novel of a Benedict Option Future

Out of the collapse of Old America rises Lantua, a glittering thousand-mile city, where armed drones and all-seeing Eyes watch over its people, and where AI machines analyze social behavior and reward the most compliant with echelon points. The privileged live in luxury with access to the best neuro-caps and psychedelics, the poorest feed on cricket paste in crammed graffiti-covered towers, and criminals are punished with brain-warping modding. Above all, birthing and the genetic quality of children are strictly controlled through mass embryonic selection, with fetuses grown outside the body through the technology of exogenesis.

But rebellion is brewing as Lantua struggles to control the Benedites, a rural religious people who refuse to obey one-child regulations. Each February, Maelin Kivela heads into the countryside to oversee the “protocolling”—the forcible sterilization of Benedite teenagers—except this year is different. After escaping an ambush by insurgents, Maelin returns to the city, where it seems her only stress is the “choosing”: selecting one of over a thousand embryos to be her future child. But Maelin’s plans for the choosing are upturned when a shocking secret from her past resurfaces, threatening her career, her relationship, and her deepest allegiances.

We are anticipating the publication of Exogenesis by ꓑ.ꓖ. Hungerland in 2022. If you want to be among the first to read the novel, send us an email at humanitasfamily@protonmail.com with “Exogenesis” anywhere in the subject line, and we’ll let you know once it’s published—and 10 entries will win free copies.