UW-River Falls English professor Joseph Rein will release his upcoming sci-fi thriller novel, YOUtopia, this April. Rein originally planned to publish YOUtopia as a standalone novel, but was offered a deal that resulted in the book becoming a trilogy. 

Rein explained that he came up with the idea for YOUtopia around ten years ago, and started writing the novel in 2018. He finished what he described as a “decent draft” in 2021. Rein described his inspiration for the novel: “I had read a lot when I was an undergraduate about utopias. The idea was a perfect world…. [where] we’re trying to figure out how we can live as a society where everyone is equal, individual, [and] perfect.