Dane Johns new book, The Futile, is now available everywhere.
The quick pitch: In a near future world, where critics of the authoritarian leader are imprisoned and media has become a state sponsored tool for repression, one young punk rock band goes on the road to start a revolution with their music. An early reader review called The Futile, “Hunger Games on the Warped Tour.” Written with plenty of humor and heart, The Futile is ultimately a book about how people have the power to change themselves—and the world—even in the darkest of times.
Dane shared this background of the novel:
I played in middling emo/punk/rock bands through most of my late 20s and early 30s, so a lot of The Futile is pulled from those experiences, just those feelings of self-doubt, exhaustion, and “Am I delusional?” humiliation mixed with the best times of your life, riding around in a smelly van with your least/most favorite people in the world who you are so annoyed with one moment, but the next, you find yourself so filled with love for them that it could make you cry. That’s where The Futile started, but then as I learned more about the Russian punk band, Pussy Riot, and saw the continual escalation towards fascism in my own country, the world of The Futile began to take shape a bit more. Despite the heavy themes at times, I believe The Futile is cathartic and hopeful. Plus, there are a lot of run-on jokes like any good band should have and plenty of subtle (not always so subtle) references to punk/emo bands I love like Colour Revolt, Death Cab for Cutie, Foxing, Now, Now, mewithoutYou, Pussy Riot (of course), The Copyrights, and a bunch more.
Get more information, and order the book, at Dane’s website.