Sykosa, Part I: Junior Year free day + Guest post by Justin Ordonez

As mentioned yesterday, Sykosa, Part I: Junior Year by Justin Ordonez is free in the Amazon Kindle store on 7th and 8th June. There's less than a day left, so be sure to grab a copy of Sykosa, Part I: Junior Year if you haven't already!

Also, if you, like me, have finished reading Sykosa, Part I and can't stop wondering what Part II is all about... OR if you are simply curious about the themes prevalent in Sykosa... this guest post by Justin Ordonez is for you! I'm extremely happy to have Justin on my blog highlighting some of the themes prevalent in Sykosa, Part II! So without further ado...

Hey all,

Ajoop thought you might all be interested in some Sykosa, Part II teasers. I’m working on Part II, but it might be a while before it’s finished. Let’s go ahead and take a look at some of the major themes.

1) Part I deals with the presence and influence of pornography in the youth of America. Because of the Internet, these are kids, especially the boys, who often have an extensive sexual knowledge base, and as the Internet often does on any variety of topics, it’s turned these young men into arm-chair know-it-all sexual aficionados who’ve done almost none of the things they watch. As a consequence, they feel little tie or responsibility to it.

In Part I, Sykosa is both turned off and understandably curious when she finds out Tom has watched so much pornography. Like a lot of young women smothered by these ideas in society, I think Sykosa is reluctant to judge it too quickly, or to listen to her gut reaction to it. Though, in Part II, we’ll see that Sykosa’s initial interest cools and she has a bit of a retreat from her previous stance. This will change the dynamic of the relationship: Is Tom willing to stop? And if he’s not, why do these images of women hold such allure and power over him? What are they accomplishing? How does this conflict with how Sykosa views herself and her friends?

2) At the end of the novel, Niko makes a startling, mean-spirited comment about Jesus Christ. As we saw in the book, Niko faced immediate social ostracization for the statement. Because of this, I thought it was safe to keep it in. We are going to dive further into how Niko’s provocative nature, and her ability to create division amongst people, is really a means of furthering her own self-agenda, and is part of Niko’s egomaniacal nature. We will see how by creating enemies, and doing things that appear “crazy,” Niko achieves fantastic amounts of control and power over people.

While we are learning this, we will realize that Niko is not revolutionary in this idea. She is, in fact, just copying what the Administration does.

3) Since all the main characters are women, an examination into the sexism within the church and the Academy will be extensive in Part II (primarily because, in Part I, the major set piece is Niko’s cottage. In Part II, the major set piece is the Academy itself). This examination will be connected to “last year.” There’s going to be an interesting dynamic here. While we watch Niko irresponsibly use this dynamic for her self-gain, we will see that Niko is not imagining the bias environment of the Academy.

Is it okay for Niko to manipulate the system that manipulates her?

Is it moral?

4) You will find out what happened “last year.” Most of Sykosa’s story lines in Part II are completely connected to it. “Last year” stops being a vague notion and must be confronted, so it’s hard to give teasers on Sykosa without giving it all away.

5) Interlude II is told exclusively from Tom’s perspective.

To make a small disclosure, I think those who stick around for Part II will be in for a real treat. It’s hard to get deep into things in Part I, for obvious reasons and necessity of storytelling. Sykosa is a very special girl, though, and I promise you that she will not let you down. It’s safe to put your faith in her, she’s someone who’s worth fighting for. Now we just need to find a way to get people reading and enjoying her!

Please get yourself the novel on its free days, then insist your friends do it too! I love hearing from my readers, stop by my contact page @ www.sykosa.com/bio.html and send me a message. Or follow me @ facebook.com/sykosanovel or goodreads.com/sykosa.

Take care,
Justin

from goodreads

Sykosa (that's "sy"-as-in-"my" ko-sa) is a junior in high school. She belongs to an exclusive clique of girls called the "Queens." The leader is her best friend Niko. Their friendship has been strained lately because Tom—Sykosa's first boyfriend boyfriend—has gotten all serious about making her his pretty Prom princess. That is if he ever gets around to asking her. Before Prom, there's a party at Niko's cottage where parental supervision will be nil. He wants to have sex. She doesn't. He sometimes acts like that doesn't matter.

It matters.

Sykosa has a secret she has never told anyone about. Although, some people—Tom included—know anyway. It happened last year and it was big and she'll cry if she talks about it so she's done talking about it, okay? Never mind, it's nobody's business. Except it keeps happening, and it never stops. She doesn't want to deal with it. He does. She sometimes acts like that doesn't matter.

It matters.