Having a kid, especially your first, can be stressful for anyone.
But imagine if you lived in a somewhat dystopian future, and had anxiety, and were then told you couldn’t legally use the very thing that makes your life that helps you manage said anxiety because you’re having a baby…and the kid was coming under somewhat stressful circumstances.
Such is the condition under which we find Valya, the main character in author Koji A. Dae’s dark science fiction novel Casual (paperback, Kindle).
In the following email interview, Dae explains what inspired and influenced this rather personal sci-fi story.