ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CJ RIVERA
Adult dystopian author · Creative Producer · Washington DC
Some stories are built on a reality that was never what it seemed.
I write dystopian fiction, sci-fi and horror. The kind of stories where the world looks familiar until it doesn't, and the people in charge always have a reason that isn't the real one. Power, consequence, and what happens when the truth comes to light.
The Final Orchard, my debut novel published by Angry Robot, is a dual-timeline dystopian thriller about a mother who will do anything to bring her daughter back, and a teenage girl living underground who has spent her whole life preparing for a future that was never really hers to have.
Happy Island, my standalone horror novel, follows the guests and staff of an exclusive island paradise off the coast Dominican Republic that promises transformation to the global elite, and delivers something far older and far less forgiving. It was evaluated by The Blacklist and scored in the top 18% of all manuscripts reviewed. It is currently seeking representation.
The Dawning Desert, the sequel to The Final Orchard, is forthcoming from Radical Mind Press.
Before I started writing the kinds of stories that keep people up at night, I spent years as a creative producer. I’ve worked for NBC Universal, Viacom, and the Food Network. I still work in production. I just also write books now.
I'm based in Washington, D.C.
WHAT READERS & AUTHORS ARE SAYING
Praise for The Final Orchard
"A tense, compelling page-turner in which both the characters and audience must distinguish between the truth and lies told by a near-future society ruled by blackmail and indoctrination. Compulsively readable and full of branching twists, this chilling and thrilling tale of the repercussions of human ambition, greed, and even love will keep you glued to the page until its bittersweet end."
Ness Brown
Author of The Scourge Between Stars
"An enthralling new voice in dystopian fiction, CJ Rivera puts a gripping, exciting, and downright stunning spin on the thrilling tensions unleashed by a female researcher's scientific choices and a young woman's underground journey to a Surface world where nothing is what it seems, maybe not even her deepest self, unless she battles for it. A truly remarkable debut."
Patricia Raybon
Christy Award winner, Annalee Spain Mystery Series
"Two women — one trapped in a dystopic society underground, the other in a bio-hacked future of her own making — face impossible choices in The Final Orchard and its twisty, helix-shaped plot adorned with thorny questions about agency, identity, and technology."
Lauren C. Teffeau
Author of Implanted
"The Final Orchard is a layered mystery that unfolds the pages of dystopian horror at a blistering pace. Rivera masterfully delivers a story that has one foot in the present and another on the precipice of the future, making it all the more real, and terrifying."
Chris Panatier
Author of The Phlebotomist, Stringers, and The Redemption of Morgan Bright