Cece King

In an authoritarian future America, the government controls gender and family life. Ziya and Walker, two 17-year-olds, anxiously await their next birthday, which marks their Specification ceremony: the day when they must choose to be male or female and will get sorted into nuclear families. Before Specification, all young constituents live sexless and without a gender. Ziya and Walker have always taken for granted that they would be matched together, but they are also both inclined to specify as male, knowing that if they do, Specification will tear them apart. The only way out is becoming the government’s greatest fear: Evaders, those who escape Specification and run away from society.

The community on Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island–home to more endemic species per square kilometer than the Galápagos–defends its culture of stewardship against outside pressures.