Mortal Chaos

Mortal Chaos is a series of novels for teenage and young adult readers which was published by Oxford University Press in 2012. Written by Matt Dickinson, the series explores the world of chaos theory and the butterfly effect. Previous published works by Matt Dickinson have been The Death Zone (Random House 1997), High Risk, (Random House 1999) and Black Ice (Random House 2001). Mortal Chaos is inspired by the work of Edward Lorenz and Ray Bradbury's 1952 story "A Sound of Thunder", in which the concept of sensitive dependence on initial conditions is applied to time travel. Each novel in the series starts with the beating of a butterfly's wings and follows parallel (and simultaneous) stories set in different parts of the globe as a disaster unfolds. The films The Butterfly Effect, Babel and Crash employed a similar concept. The series is commissioned by OUP's children's division and will be edited by Liz Cross with managing editor Kathy Webb.