It’s Always 9-11

Most people say wait it out. After all, President Kaspar isn’t as bad as expected.  He’s banned fracking, improved medical care, even provided every American over eight with a free cell phone!  So what if the number of news channels has shrunk to three, and no one can afford email anymore?  Even when a health crisis in New York City shakes the country to its core and raises the specter of authoritarianism, President Kaspar explains it all calmly in his cardigan sweater. Most people say wait it out. New York City transplant Tessa lives in a leafy Portland, Oregon neighborhood with her husband Larry and teenage son Holden.  They are 3,000 miles away, but that is too close for comfort. They can’t wait it out.  They take a different path—one that will shatter their lives, their identities, and change the course of a nation.   Wendy Gordon grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, and lived in Boston, Chicago, and New York before finding her true home on the West Coast.  A graduate of Simmons College and the University of Chicago, she has been a journalist for over 30 years, publishing in newspapers, magazines, and on the internet.  She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and children.  Her first novel, Wrong Highway, was published in 2016.   “It’s Always Nine-Eleven” is about the dystopia of the present moment, when many of our fears about contagion, totalitarianism, environmental destruction, and civil liberties—until now, mostly constrained to speculative fiction—are manifesting in every facet of daily life.  For fans of Omad El Akkad’s American War, Gordon’s prescient story of one family’s high-stakes determination to fight societal collapse is a searing, fast-paced warning to resist that all readers should heed.” - Rhianna Walton, Managing Editor, Powell’s Books “Wendy gives us a believable dystopia in the not-too-distant, not-too-different future.  She tells a detailed story with jarringly accurate turns of phrase, characters you feel like you know, and a situation you hope you’ll never know.” - Elyse Schumock, owner, Rose City Book Pub