For our inaugural issue, we wanted to pay credence to today's distorted reality. How better, we thought, then to select Dystopia as our theme. We’re all familiar with the genre's tropes: Tyrannical governments! Apocalyptic plagues! Environmental doom! But we wanted to take it a step further. We wanted to make it personal.
Dystopia, at its core, is the breakdown of a society—our society—as we know it. In this issue, that includes the breakdown of an identity, an image, a fabled history. A reckoning with one’s own mortality, or one’s monstrosity, as the world goes to hell. A sudden disappearance of life that unexpectedly spurs moments of revelation, reconstruction, and, most importantly, human connection.
Thank you to all our fearless contributors for starting Fatal Flaw off strong. Your work brought this issue to life.