Year Zero - Front Matter

For Dawn. <3xd8

For all the girls I almost was, and for the one I almost wasn’t.

Hi. I’m Olivia. Liv, if you like. Bel wanted me to handle this bit because she’s…I don’t know, not comfortable with like…fucking anything public-facing, apparently? Outstanding trait for someone trying to publish a book, I’m sure you’d agree.

So…as you’ve probably deduced, this is a work of fiction.

Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

None of the medical scenarios or depictions involved constitute advice, and while efforts have been made to be accurate, it’s pretty critical to note that things like dosage regimens and medication types are very individuated to the needs of specific individuals. That said, if you’re taking medical advice from a Multiverse story, you may wanna take a step back and reconsider some things about how you live your life more generally, y’know? Cool? Great.

Also, this book does touch on some messy subjects. Uh…let’s do a list, I guess:

• Quite a bit of strong language,
• Explorations of gender dysphoria is a big one?
• We also have suicidal ideation and attempts,
• Physical violence including actual death,
• There’s an example of attempted sexual assault in there as well…
• Street violence and societal unravelling,
• A couple of instances of transphobic slurs,
• Problematic coping strategies including alcohol, and
• Mentions of drug use.

Like a lot happens, y’know? It’s not all happening all the time, but yeah, there’re some rough moments. So…take care of yourselves.

Also, this whole thing is set in Meanjin, also referred to as Brisbane and Edenglassie (depending on the world we’re in at the time). In these fictionalised versions of Meanjin, as with the real version, we want to acknowledge the Jagera and Turrbal peoples as the tradition owners of Meanjin and pay our respects to Elders, past, present, and emerging. This always was and always will be First Nations land. Sovereignty was never ceded.

Anyway: Hope you enjoy our…cheery, uplifting story about how much fucking fun it is to do multiverse shenanigans with the girls, or however we’re positioning this 100000+ word shit-show.