YA authors discuss their dystopian visions of L.A. in L.A. Sat.

Whether it’s underwater or embattled by a plague, protected by celebrity guardian angels or inhabited by Angelenos implanted with computer chips, the Los Angeles of the future is a vastly different city than it is today -- at least it is in the young-adult novels of four local authors. Marie Lu (“Legend”), Lissa Price (“Starters”), Jennifer Bosworth (“Struck”) and Scott Speer (“Immortal City”) will all be discussing, and showing the trailers for, their books at L.A. Sizzles, a forum for dystopian-L.A. YA at Once Upon a Time bookstore in Glendale this Saturday.

“We’re just celebrating that if L.A. is still around in 200 years, it may be in all these different formats,” said Maureen Palacios, owner of Once Upon a Time, where “Starters,” by Glendale author Lissa Price, is the store’s young-adult bestseller.

Los Angeles has become a hotbed backdrop in popular young adult fiction in the last year, particularly in the dystopian genre, with books such as “Legend,” about a plague-infested L.A. prone to hurricanes and flooding that’s patrolled by caped soldiers, and “Starters,” about a 16-year-old girl so desperate for money that she rents her body to a Beverly Hills socialite. “Struck” follows a girl who lives in L.A. to rid herself of an addiction to lightning strikes and instead causes an earthquake so devastating that area beaches are transformed into tent cities.

L.A. Sizzles will cover what makes L.A. such a great setting and offer sneaks peaks of the authors’ second installments in their series -- all of which are due out next year.

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