Dear Reader…
You might be interested to know that I never planned to
write a book, but after a conversation with a city planner years ago, an idea
hit me. What would it be like if people lived inside malls? I was barraged by
multiple ideas, until I settled on one concept – an alternate world where
people lived in one giant MALL. I couldn’t keep my thoughts straight without
writing them. So began the novel.
I gave free reign to my imagination, the principal reason I
wrote in this genre. I have always had a vivid fantasy world – what would life
be like if we had tails? Dogs could talk? People could read minds? If we aged
in reverse? Things like that. I decided people living in MALL would be
beautiful. What would they believe in? Would they be just like us? Well, yes
and no. When we shop in a mall, we like to buy things, be entertained,
people-watch, socialize and escape from the everyday work world. So do
Mallites. In a much more extreme way. The main purpose in their lives is to
consume, to have fun. Unemployment is unheard of so they have the means to
amuse themselves. Every kind of entertainment you could imagine is available,
nonstop. Would you want to live there? Who wouldn’t? Before I completed this
novel, I admit the lifestyle attracted me. But as I wrote about this sumptuous
lifestyle, I knew I needed to examine the consequences of living just for
pleasure. What do we sacrifice when we live for the next fun thing? What
consequences do we face when we emphasize consumerism, often at the expense of
living authentically? And what about genuine relationships? Most of us as are
aware they mean work and often pain. Not in MALL. The Code forbids close
attachments including romantic love and deep friendships; the root, they
believe, of all suffering. Do you sometimes feel that if we could eliminate
deep relationships in our lives, we would be happier? Or are they worth the
suffering? What if we didn’t have to worry about employment, poverty and how to
feel our time in entertaining ways? Exploring this conflict in a sparkling
amusement-filled alternative reality seemed to be a dramatic and
thought-provoking way to heighten the issues.
Nona, a MALL Mental Health Practitioner and one of the two
main characters, has to give up her beliefs in the MALL way of life and
ultimately her freedom because of her pursuit of a close friendship with Sara,
the other main character. Sara, a woman from our world who somehow enters MALL,
is strongly tempted to stay in this reality to be free from upsetting
relationships. Never has she experienced anything like this carefree existence.
Well, not exactly carefree. MALL does have restrictions, for example, only a
few can have a child, and no one is allowed to change jobs. And not everyone is
completely safe because the Junkers (a secret rebel group) have been creating
increasingly dangerous ‘disturbances’. Why? Isn’t this an almost perfect world?
Not to this group. They want less Mall control, and they want to find the way
Outside – how, is the question because MALL is supposedly a closed system. Is
there a way out? Would it be possible for Nona to escape and/or for Sara to
find her way back to her reality? What would you do? I hope this novel brings
to light what you value the most.
About the Author
Pattie Palmer-Baker is a recognized award-winning artist and
poet. Her artwork has been exhibited in galleries throughout the Pacific
Northwest. Locally and nationally she has won numerous awards for
her art and poetry.
An accomplished poet, Pattie had been nominated for the
Pushcart Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in many journals including Calyx,
Voicecatcher, Military Experience the Arts, Minerva Rising and Phantom Drift.
In 2017 she earned first prize in the Write to Publish contest, and in 2019 she
won first, second, and the Bivona prize in the Ageless Poetry contest.
She has served as the poetry co-editor for VoiceCatcher: a
journal of women's voices and visions.
Del Sol Press awarded MALL first prize for the most promising
first novel in 2017.
Pattie lives in Portland, Oregon
with her beloved husband and rescued dachshund.
Her website is www.pattiepalmerbaker.com/.
You can follow her at Facebook at https://tinyurl.com/yykrz36e.
About the Book:
A Novel by Pattie Palmer-Baker
Winner of the Del Sol Most Promising Novel, 2017
MALL is
a sparkling alternate world where everyone is beautiful, employed with enough
income to
But
what about the Mall Code? And what happens when Sara, a 21st century woman,
accidentally finds her way into this alien yet familiar world? Nona,
a MALL mental health practitioner treats Sara upon her arrival and goes against
the Code to help her acclimate. Sara seems to be just what she needs, an
antidote to Nona’s secret and growing boredom.
At
first Sara desperately wants to get home, and, as she seeks a way out as well
as answers about her new reality, Nona begins to see MALL in a new light. Is
abundant gratification enough?
Things
aren’t all beauty and pleasure. Sara experiences dancing in a dangerous
orgiastic dance club on a lower level. She attends a gambling session where
people bet on living more years when their “number’s up” and a “passing
ceremony,” where Mallites are supposedly resurrected
into a new life.
Junkers,
outsiders lurking on the fringes of MALL, have been fighting Mall Management’s
control by creating increasingly dangerous disturbances. For years they have
struggled to discover an exit, based on rumors of those who made it Outside and
were never heard from again. Through them Sara and Nona meet someone who
might help them escape. They both must make the choice that will change their
lives forever.
Who
will risk leaving and who will decide to stay?
MALL by Pattie Palmer-Baker was recently published by Del
Sol Press and winner of the Del Sol Press Most Promising Book, 2017.
ISBN:
978-0-9998425-5-3.
PRAISE:
What a suspenseful journey
Mall was—a real "page-turner"- imaginative with firm command of
psychological expression and dialogue! Pattie Palmer-Baker captures some of the
sexual contradictions, insecurities, and darker motivations of her female
characters, and the complex relationships between women. The
"surface" allusions to sex and violence throughout the story line
work well with the superficial world she describes. Sex all the time—and yet,
really, not much explicit writing about actual sexual encounters—the same for
violence. This tension of content and form works well for me. What gives
pleasure? What gives pain? The many hallways and mirrored rooms give the
setting a creepy fun-house effect and increase the sense of a closed world and
claustrophobic doom. Her descriptions of the Mallites' physical appearances and
their individual choice of costume in this strange place is creative—a breath
of lightness in this frank examination of our quandary about the meaning
of freedom in an existential existence. What is real? I was
"on the run" with Sara for the entire read! And what a turn at the
end!
-- Cathy Cain, Portland
poet and artist
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