RESET
by Sarina Dahlan
Author Sarina Dahlan sat down with Raphael Ruiz to discuss her recently released novel, Reset! Reset follows four self-sustaining cities in the Mojave Desert after an apocalypse. Citizens undergo a memory wipe (tabula rasa) every four years to prevent mankind from destroying itself once again. Will memories, romance, and war maintain relevance? Watch the interview above or scroll down to find a summary of the pleasant discussion.
Interview Summary
Kinokuniya New York’s Rafael Ruiz once again starts the conversation by welcoming Author Sarina Dahlan to the interview. Ruiz describes her background which can be read below.
The first question posed by Ruiz was a complex one: “What’s your favorite Japanese manga?” After a quick giggle from both parties, Dahlan almost instinctively shouted out “Doraemon” for its creativity and went on to comically state, "I grew up on a steady diet of Doraemon."
Ruiz: “What do you hope readers will get out of this work?”
I wrote Reset initially as a utopia. So, the four cities this place was set in were inspired by the lyrics of “Imagine” (John Lennon) and I just love how optimistic and innocent that song is and I really wanted to write a place that embodies it. While I was writing, I realized, you know, everyone's utopia is a dystopia. However, what I do hope the readers will get out of it is to imagine if we can get to this vision of utopia that the lyrics talk about without having to erase our memories. Can we try to find our way to harmony, somehow, either by relearning what we were taught or rewriting the narrative of all of these things that put us against another human being? That's ultimate hope, but you know I also want the readers to enjoy the story!
Afterward, Rafael Ruiz asked about Dahlan’s inspirations for the book, and if the quote from John Lennon’s “Imagine” was the primary inspiration behind her writing. Sarina Dahlan mentioned Lennon’s quotes and the question, “What would it be like if we could erase memories the same way we erase documents?” She was able to “marry” those two ideas by claiming “Buddhist philosophies that teach us the path to nirvana is through detachment, and if memories are the seeds of attachment then the logical path to peace is to erase our memories.”
The two speakers later discuss the connections between the main characters and how they could even be reintroduced to each other after a memory-wipe called “Tabula Rasa.” Ruiz asked about the importance and connection between general prejudice and memory wiping. Dahlan briefly reflected on past events in the real world and how the leaders of her fictional society determined that the world’s prejudices are better off being forgotten so that we do not destroy one another.
Referring to the quote on the Reset book cover, “Can we love someone that we don’t remember?” Ruiz asked whether Dahlan believed in love at first sight, fate, or destiny.
I don't know if I would call it fate or destiny. I would think of it more as karma and that's a part of Buddhism that is kind of imbued within the book… the idea of cause and effect, right, we have an innate feeling when we meet certain people based on whatever happened to us in the past. Perhaps, we can find so many different reasons but a lot of times it's this gut reaction that you don't know why. That can be based on so many things but a lot of times it has to do with whatever happened to us that kind of made us feel a certain way. It's all cause and effect, you know, that makes sense. I don't think that it's predestination in ways where there's this all-powerful being that made us walk along a certain path. I think those paths are drawn by us based on every decision that we had made in the past.
Ruiz asks about the value of holding memories compared with “Tabula Rasa” and their juxtaposition.
I think it has to do with whether or not one has faith in humanity. The planner didn't. The planner felt that in order for us to coexist in peace, we have to have our memories wiped and taking that out of our hands. However, I tend to think differently. I think that there is another way to get to this path of harmony and so I feel like the writing research was really a conversation I was having with myself. It's like… do we have faith in each other enough… which path would we choose… which decision would we choose… I would love for the readers to also think about, you know, how they feel each step of the way. I wrote the four cities specifically as a utopia because I wanted us to be able to kind of root for it as well. There's a lot to really like in this place and it's a conversation I was having with myself that I am hoping that my readers will also have as they read this book.
Dahlan is asked to expand on the dystopian world and so she focuses on the idea of sustainability. “No excess, no waste is very much a theme of this world” is what she would recite to herself over and over. “Water is always essential and there’s no one else outside the city.”
Ruiz: You've also had a career as an advertising producer and corporate marketing strategist. You have a degree in psychology/visual arts. Have you incorporated these into your writing or how has that field influenced your creative process?
I think all of the above… It's really difficult as an author to not borrow from your life… The fact that I had to immigrate to america at the age of 12... The fact that I had to learn English as a second language... The fact that I study psychology to understand how human minds work, our behavior, and the fact that I love art, you know, it all kind of culminated and led me down this path. I mean, it's just so hard for me to answer this question because… I can't escape the fact that I wrote this book because I am me.
Ruiz asks about stories she may have used to create her story:
I love fantasy. I think Reset, even though it's speculative fiction, there are elements of fantasy in it too and that's why it's not a hard science where everything is completely explained. People in the city don't really know the inner workings of the city itself but also because I just have this love for the unexplained. Growing up… where I grew up in this little area in Bangkok, I was surrounded by ghost stories. I was surrounded by parables. There is one parable in particular that... always stuck with me because parables, for some reason, they're either ghost stories or they're just really gruesome… There's this one story about this farmer who was so hungry… One day, his mom who's in charge of packing his lunch, brought him his lunch every day, and he was so hungry that when he saw what she brought in this tiny little lunch box, he got so angry because he's like, ”It's too small… don't you know that I'm really hungry?” ..and he ends up killing her. Then… he sat down to eat [and] realized that his mother had packed so much into that lunch box. He couldn't even finish the food so I always think of that along this writing path because a lot of times it's a reminder that sometimes things look smaller than your expectation. Sometimes you just gotta have patience and you have to wait and see that something small could lead to something so big.
Before graciously reading an excerpt from Reset, Sarina Dahlan provides helpful advice for new authors: “Always working on something!” It is a long process, as she began writing “Reset” in 2017 and sold it to Blackstone Publishing the next year. Dahlan mentioned a set of short stories that she just wrote, and even a prequel to Reset meant to be read after the original. You can find a list of Dahlan’s books here. Without further ado, enjoy an excerpt from the exciting sci-fi, Reset.
He feels the haze of sleep, only it is stronger than any he has ever experienced. It comes from deep inside him, a black hole that draws in all surrounding light. He struggles to keep his heavy eyelids from closing but how does one prevent a landslide from covering the entrance of a cave? Eventually, it will consume it, taking away light until only a sliver is left, then complete darkness. “Goodnight, Sweetheart. I love you.” He whispers and kisses her hand. In a slow and deliberate move, he eases the ring off her finger. Warmth emanates from the silver metal. He puts it on his little finger next to his own ring. She reaches up and kisses him. He tastes like the ocean; salt and earth. “Goodnight, Love.” She says. He is losing grip. His body begins to slip into the warm embrace the rest promises. He presses his lips on her forehead. She lays her head against his chest and closes her eyes. Tomorrow, we will be strangers.
photo credit: Laurie Diep - www.sarinadahlan.com
Who is Sarina Dahlan?
“Sarina Dahlan was born into an Indonesian family in Thailand, and immigrated to the United States at the age of twelve. While children in the west grew up on fairytales, she learned parables through ghost stories, mythologies, and Japanese manga.
A graduate of the University of California, San Diego with degrees in Psychology and Visual Arts, she has blended both disciplines in careers as an advertising producer, a corporate marketing strategist, and a writer.
She finds inspiration for her stories in traveling, the people she knows, and the places she has lived. She currently resides in California with her family.
Her short story collection, Shadow Play: Ten Tales from the In-between is available for purchase in hardcover, paperback, and e-book.” - www.sarinadahlan.com