Gaiakai, the Fuchsia Wars, and the Battle of the Female Body

This post may contain affiliate links, which means we receive a small commission on any sales. This committee helps Feminist Book Club pay our contributors, so thank you for supporting small independent press!

In a time travel adventure purple warAuthor Gaia Kai paints a dystopian future where women fight to reclaim erased history. Here, Kay talks to Feminist Book Club about the inspiration behind the book, the ongoing battle over women’s bodies, and the call to arms she hopes readers will make.

what inspires you to write purple war? Was there a specific moment (we understand, hard to pick in this general hellscape) or thought that triggered it?

2021. Ignoring women’s experiences and their innate ability to understand their bodies and make decisions is dehumanizing. It sends the message that women have no control over their lives and, worse, that their lives don’t matter. A woman is no longer valued or has rights when strangers have more power over her body than she does. This intrusion creates an eerie atmosphere of patriarchal control.

My time travel history was inspired by my teaching experience. I teach humanities and art history, and there are a lot of gaps and unknowns. I’ve always wished I had the power to invisibly travel back in time to see how history really unfolded and filled in the blanks. I spend a lot of time studying women throughout history, the art they created or commissioned, and comparing and contrasting how different civilizations treated women. Fueled by knowledge and fire in my blood, I pour my energy into writing purple war.

Without spoiling anything, what are the core themes you hope readers take away from this book?

I hope readers will come away with a deeper understanding of women’s history—how much has been ignored, erased, or silenced—and feel more connected to the ongoing struggles for recognition, autonomy, and equity.

How about it purple war Accepting ideas of gender, power, resistance and patriarchy?

I take a hard stance on fierce female characters who will stop at nothing to establish a global matriarchy. The story takes place in a world where men triggered ecological collapse and erased women’s history after an uprising. Humanity has destroyed Mother Earth and the only remedy is to abolish patriarchy. Then, real healing may begin.

Time travel is one of my personal favorite plot devices, but only when executed correctly. purple war Handles time travel perfectly. How do you think time travel makes your book more powerful or compelling?

Thank you! It’s not easy. I spent several years reading time travel books, researching what worked and what didn’t. I probably wrote at least a hundred different versions of the book just because I was trying to get the time travel part just right. None of it felt right until I decided to consider time travel as a weapon, a revolution, and a propeller for truth. I knew I didn’t want the travel to focus on a specific time, so for the time travel scenarios, I decided to approach them the same way I teach humanities and art history classes—fly-bys of key historical moments.

Dystopian and post-apocalyptic books often feel bleak. How did you inject hope into this narrative?

While some scenes lean toward the dystopian and dark, others unfold as historical fiction, science fiction, or stories of female friendship in that shadowy world. At its core, I hope the stories I share ignite purpose and hope. My characters experience great loss, but through friendship, knowledge, and a sense of purpose, they begin to shape a better future. There is always light in the darkness, especially in a world shaped by a global matriarchy.

What do you think makes a book feminist? what do you think purple war Contribute to today’s feminist literature?

It imagines a global matriarchy where the planet is healthy and women’s history is pure. purple war It not only challenges patriarchy but sets out to dismantle it. Hopefully this story will live on, spark conversation and raise questions. Ideally, it will inspire women to raise awareness, support each other, speak out and take up space.

did you notice purple war Conversations with other books, authors, movies, or other media? Which ones?

I want it to be seen as an Orwellian cautionary tale with a feminist and ecological twist. All of this provoked profound realizations, and I can only hope that my book sparks similar reflection and outrage. Movie promising young woman. books: woman talking [by Miriam Toews] and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Additionally, writer Elena Ferrante’s writing has such raw power. i just read girls burn brighter By Shobha Rao I’m still thinking about this. Also, I think purple war In keeping with the work of artist Shahzia Sikander. She created a beautiful 18-foot-tall bronze monument to women and justice that is on display at the University of Houston. It was beheaded. Deleted. Yes, I’m serious. Shahzia was censored for giving an artist talk.

Can you share a passage or scene in the book that you think particularly captures the heart of the story?

“I wanted to take this girl away from them and hold her tight. I wanted to protect her and take her under my wings, even though I knew the wings I was given were not for this kind of refuge. My wings would train her to kill, to protect herself.”

Is The Fuchsia War a standalone book, or is it part of a larger conversation that you hope to continue to build?

A second book is in the works, and I’m excited to continue developing these characters and share the stories of women throughout history that I write about. Their stories are very inspiring. There is so much history yet to be uncovered. Time travel is endless.

Fill in the blank: favorite readers strength Author: Naomi Alderman would like purple war.

Follow Kai and her work on her website!

Renee Powers founded the Feminist Book Club in 2018 to provide a space for intersectional feminists to learn, grow, and connect. When not reading or running her business, you can find her sipping coffee while unsuccessfully trying to teach her retired racing greyhound how to fetch. Favorite genres: Feminist thrillers, contemporary literary fiction, short stories, and anything that might be described as “irreverent”