Today I have a real treat for you , actually two treats, one by sharing our first dystopian short story with you, and two by having the writer of this story performing the narration for it. She’s our own Australian original, Erica Tippet, and she has become a pretty good short story writer since her last visit here when she read a Henry Lawson story for us last year. Dystopian stories are a sort of science fiction, in that they describe society in the future or near future, and the outlook tends to be fairly grim. Not many people would argue with you if you said the big government has gone way to far in controlling our lives. Erica’s story THE TEST describes the plight of a young girl who lives in a totalitarian society which, in an obvious effort to control the population, forces young ladies to pass a test in order that they can be granted fertility. The young lady, whose name is Meg, nervously awaits the outcome of the test.  Erica is an aspiring author from Melbourne, Australia. She wrote The Test as a contribution to the Monash Writer’s Group anthology, The First Line. It received high commendation in the 2018 Monash Council Wordfest short story competition. The inspiration for this story came from wondering what life would be like if we needed qualifications for more than professions.  If you have written or performed a short story in the public domain you are encouraged to send it to me via mp3 format at 1001storiespodcast@gmail.com. Thanks! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices