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Orphancorp book cover 1
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Orphancorp
Series · 3 books · 2015-2019

Books in series

Welcome To Orphancorp book cover
#1

Welcome To Orphancorp

2015

A sharp-edged semi-futuristic riff about a rebellious teenager's last week at an industrial orphanage. 'Takes all of your dystopian nightmares and connects them to a mother lode of pure emotional intensity. There's so much keen detail here about the cruel logic of oppressive institutions, you'll feel Mirii's yearning for freedom in your bones - and you'll rejoice at every tiny moment of escape that she achieves. Welcome to Orphancorp is harrowing, scarily real, and ultimately super moving.' - Charlie Jane Anders (i09) 'Punchy, crunchy, sexy and smart, Welcome to Orphancorp is a short, sharp shock of a story with bruised-but-not broken characters and a bonsai dystopia you can actually believe in. Marlee Jane Ward is a writer of heart and passion, muscle and slow-burning anger.' - Ian McDonald 'Welcome to Orphancorp is an intimate, heartfelt story set in the darkest of places. I can't stop thinking about these characters.' - Kij Johnson 'An object lesson in how to dehumanise young people by locking them up and depriving them of all warmth and care - has never been more timely. This gritty, greasy story is peppered with violence and lit with the slenderest shafts of affection and hope. It will make your jaw clench with fear for the indomitable Mirii Mahoney, and your fist punch the air at her every tiny victory.' - Margo Lanagan
Psynode book cover
#2

Psynode

2017

Having barely made it out of Orphancorp alive, Mirii is on a mission to find the most important babe in her life, Vu. Vu has been taken to ‘Psynode’, a secret facility operated by the megacorp Allnode. After wrangling her way into the Allnode warehouse as a picker, Mirii meets Rowe, the daughter of one of Allnode’s execs, who may just be the perfect person to help her with the mission. But life at Allnode is far from cushy and Mirii has to battle her way through the dangers of her new job, the corps that she knows are watching her and get to Vu before it’s too late.
Prisoncorp book cover
#3

Prisoncorp

2019

Mirii has been caught—along with the friends who were helping her find her partner, Vu. Being in prison is just like her revisiting her childhood in Orphancorp—only worse. Under the beating heat of a desert sun, the prisoners fight for food, water and a safe place to sleep. Our heroine begins to question her urge to fight back and rebel as all it seems to do is lead her and the people she cares for deeper into trouble. Fast-paced, gritty and original, Prisoncorp is the final instalment in the Welcome to Orphancorp trilogy. It confirms Marlee Jane Ward as one of Australia’s best YA authors.

Author

Marlee Jane Ward
Marlee Jane Ward
Author · 5 books

I’m a writer, reader and weirdo from Melbourne, Australia. I grew up on the Central Coast of New South Wales and studied creative writing at the University of Wollongong. I attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop in 2014. You can find my short stories at Interfictions, Terraform, Apex, The Sockdolager, Aurealis, Mad Scientist Journal, Slink Chunk Press, Feminartsy and the In Your Face, Hear Me Roar, Kindred and Best Summer Stories anthologies. My debut novella, Welcome To Orphancorp, won Seizure’s Viva La Novella 3 and the 2016 Victorian Premiers Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction. It was shortlisted for The NSW Premiers Award, an Aurealis Award, and the Norma K Hemming Award. The sequel, Psynode, was released in May of 2017 and was shortlisted for Best YA Novel in the 2018 Aurealis Awards. The third and final book in the series, Prisoncorp, was released in 2019 and was ‍nominated for Best Science Fiction Novella in the Aurealis Awards. My non-fiction can be found at Overland, Kill Your Darlings, Writers Bloc, Going Down Swinging and more.

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