In Ever Dundas’ new novel, HellSans is a typeface that is enforced by the government as the ultimate control device. Those allergic to it find themselves not only unsupported, but actively persecuted, forced into the outskirts of the city. Having created this dystopian tale that will stay with you long after the last page, Ever Dundas talks to BooksfromScotland about her favourite books.

 HellSans
By Ever Dundas
Published by Angry Robot Books 

The book as . . . memory. What is your first memory of books and reading?  

My first memory of reading is struggling to read. In Sunday school we all had to read a passage from the Bible and I couldn’t. The other kids were horrible to me (how very Christian of them). I was never formally diagnosed with dyslexia but all the things I struggled with point to that. Eventually I got some extra help, and when I finally learned to read I devoured books as if they were life-giving sustenance.  

The book as . . . your work. Tell us about your latest book HellSans. What did you want to explore in writing this book?  

HellSans is set in an alternative dystopian UK, where the Inex, a cyborg doll-like personal assistant, has replaced the smartphone and the population is controlled by its ‘bliss’ reaction to HellSans, the enforced, ubiquitous typeface. But there’s a minority who are allergic to the typeface: so-called ‘deviants’ who are forced to live in ghettos or on the streets. 

The story follows two protagonists, Jane Ward and Dr Ichorel Smith. Jane is a queer woman, and she’s CEO of the company that develops the Inex. She’s powerful and in league with the government until she falls ill with the allergy. Losing her charmed life, she languishes in the ghetto until her story collides with Icho. 

Icho is a queer woman who has a HellSans allergy cure and is on the run from the government and the Seraphs who all have their own agenda for the cure (the Seraphs run the ghetto and are ‘terrorists’ or ‘freedom fighters’ depending on your viewpoint). 

The book is in three parts, and the first two parts, ‘Jane’ and ‘Icho’, can be read in an order of the reader’s choosing. 

HellSans was influenced by my experience as a disabled person living under a Tory government that was investigated by the UN for human rights violations against disabled people. I experienced how quickly and easily you can fall through the cracks of capitalism, and I got a taste of the dehumanising punitive benefits system. Even with all the support I had, it almost broke me. There’s also little in the way of medical or social support and it’s a fight to access what little there is. Ableism and health supremacy permeates society and no one cares if disabled people suffer and die.  

I funnelled all that into HellSans, but I didn’t want it to be worthy and preachy; it’s first and foremost a sci-fi thriller. I want readers to be swept up in the story, so I hope I’ve achieved that. 

The book as . . . inspiration. What is your favourite book that has informed how you see yourself?  

Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography by Julian Young. I read it every morning as I had breakfast and it was such a soothing way to start the day. I loved travelling with Nietzsche each morning, and I loved the challenge of the thought experiment that is the eternal return. But more than informing how I see myself, it’s informed the core of my third novel.  

The book as . . . an object. What is your favourite beautiful book?  

We have so many beautiful books, it’s hard to choose. But I think I’ll go with Emil Ferris’ My Favourite Thing Is Monsters, as the art is so entrancing.  

The book as . . . a relationship. What is your favourite book that bonded you to someone else?  

The Catcher In The Rye. When I was a young teen, my sister Rachel gave me her tatty copy which had all her scribbles in the margins, passages underlined.  

I don’t get all the recent social media hatred of it, just because Holden isn’t a particularly likeable character. Why do characters have to be ‘likeable’? Or even relatable? I loved it as a teen and reread it as an adult and still love it; even now, I find the passage where he talks about being the catcher in the rye very moving. 

My sister also introduced me to 1984, Brave New World, American Psycho, and Equus; you wouldn’t judge any of these books on the likeability of the characters.  

Rach died a few years ago. I wish I’d had the chance to tell her what an impact she had on me as a person and a writer.  

The book as . . . rebellion. What is your favourite book that felt like it revealed a secret truth to you?  

Groosham Grange by Anthony Horowitz. It blew my nine-year-old mind because the bad guys won – but were they the bad guys? 

What I’d been taught was bad wasn’t necessarily bad. The people I thought were bad – were they really? The things I was told to be afraid of – were they really the things to fear? As the Groosham Grange headmasters explain to the protagonist: ‘All right, I admit it. We are, frankly, evil. But what’s so bad about being evil? We’ve never dropped an atom bomb on anyone. We’ve never polluted the environment or experimented on animals or cut back on National Health spending.’ Beware the bankers, beware the politicians – don’t get distracted by those they call monstrous, don’t get distracted by their scapegoats. 

The book as . . . a destination. What is your favourite book set in a place unknown to you?  

Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi. I’d love to visit the House.  

The book as . . . the future. What are you looking forward to reading next?  

I’m not sure what I’m reading next from my ridiculous ‘to read’ tower, but I’m very much looking forward to Mat Osman’s The Ghost Theatre which is out May 2023. I had the pleasure of reading an early draft during a miserable lockdown January when I was dealing with a friendship imploding; it brought escape and cheer. I’m looking forward to holding it in my hands in book form and immersing myself in that world again. 

HellSans by Ever Dundas is published by Angry Robot Books, priced £9.99.