Science Fiction & Dystopian Fiction

... Read Heir to the Empire Summary

He, She and It is a 1991 cyberpunk novel by Marge Piercy. It won the Arthur C. Clarke award for Best Science Fiction novel, telling the story of a romance between a human woman and a cyborg against the backdrop of a dystopian/post-apocalyptic world. Plot Summary Shira and her ex-husband, Josh, are sitting in a courtroom in Nebraska awaiting word on the custody of their son, Ari. Shira is a psychoengineer who works with artificial intelligence. They... Read He, She and It Summary

... Read Home Before Dark Summary

... Read Hour of the Witch Summary

... Read How High We Go in the Dark Summary

How Long ‘Til Black Future Month, a collection of 22 dystopian short stories created in the spirit of Afrofuturism, was written by New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin. Jemisin is the only author awarded the Hugo Award for Best Novel for three consecutive years.This collection transports readers to dozens of new worlds, characters, and possibilities. Often taking on important societal issues such as rape, pollution, the abuse of power and religion, mediocre educational models... Read How Long 'Til Black Future Month? Summary

... Read How to Stop Time Summary

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson was published in 1954. The novel depicts a dystopian/post-apocalyptic world in which people infected with a contagious disease behave like vampires. The last human man, Robert Neville, must protect himself as he studies the scientific basis for the disease. I Am Legend discusses moral relativism, the evolution of the horror genre, and loneliness. It has been adapted several times, most recently as the 2007 film I Am Legend starring... Read I Am Legend Summary

It Can’t Happen Here (1935) is a dystopian political novel by Sinclair Lewis. The narrative details the rise, consolidation, and partial collapse of an American fascist dictatorship and is told through the perpesective of 60-year-old protagonist Doremus Jessup, owner-editor of a small Vermont newspaper and self-described middle-class liberal intellectual. Initially a cynical and detached political observer, Jessup becomes an increasingly active member of the resistance.Considering themes like American Totalitarianism and The Conditions Necessary for Liberal... Read It Can't Happen Here Summary

Part I relates the story of Tituba from her birth to her arrival in Salem. Part II begins with the witch trials and ends with Tituba’s execution in Barbados in the 1700s. The Epilogue, narrated by Tituba’s spirit, brings the story from the century of her death to that of the present-day reader. Following the Epilogue are two sections that Condé included in the original French publication: a Historical Note on the Salem witch trials... Read I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem Summary

... Read Jade City Summary

Journey to the Center of the Earth was written by the French writer Jules Gabriel Verne (1828-1905), who is best known for Extraordinary Voyages, a series of science fiction/dystopian adventure stories that includes Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) as well as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1872). Verne was born in the French port city of Nantes and from a young age was... Read Journey To The Center Of The Earth Summary

The 1979 novel Kindred was written by Octavia E. Butler, a Black author from California who wrote science fiction that challenged white hegemony. The novel tells the story of Edana “Dana” Franklin, a young Black woman in 1976 whose connection to a young white boy named Rufus Weylin allows her to time travel to 1800s Maryland. As she jumps between 1976 and the 1800s, she learns how she and Rufus are connected, and she must survive... Read Kindred Summary

Landscape with Invisible Hand is a satirical dystopian science fiction novel by M. T. Anderson, written for a young adult audience. A diverse author, Anderson writes both fiction and nonfiction for people of all ages. In 2023, Landscape with Invisible Hand was adapted for film, reflecting the novel’s popularity and relevance. The book depicts a future world in which an alien species, the vuvv, have sold their technology to humans, causing the collapse of the... Read Landscape with Invisible Hand Summary

Rumaan Alam’s Leave the World Behind (2020) is a work of apocalyptic fiction that examines the relationship between race and class during an unspecified disaster that cuts off all communication, forcing two families together. The book uses omniscient narration and interpersonal conflict to heighten the fear of disconnection in the Information Age, treating the apocalypse as an event that happens on a human scale. Published to great acclaim, it has been longlisted for the National... Read Leave the World Behind Summary

Translated by Ebba Segeberg, Let the Right One In (2004) is an international bestselling work of horror fiction by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist. The chilling novel centers around a bullied 12-year-old named Oskar who befriends the strange new kid in the neighborhood, Eli. As Eli and Oskar’s relationship grows, the town of Blackeberg experiences a rise in recent deaths. When Oskar realizes that Eli is a vampire, Oskar must decide if Eli is to... Read Let the Right One In Summary

... Read Machines Like Me Summary

Nalo Hopkinson’s Midnight Robber was first published by Warner Books in 2000. It is dystopian/speculative fiction with many Afro-Caribbean/Afrofuturist influences and cyberpunk elements. Midnight Robber was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and Hopkinson won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Another novel by Hopkinson is Brown Girl in the Ring.Plot SummaryThe novel moves between a first-person narrator and a third-person narrator who tell the story of Tan-Tan, the Robber... Read Midnight Robber Summary

Book Details & Major ThemesNever Let Me Go is a 2005 novel by Kazuo Ishiguro set in a dystopian version of Great Britain in the 1990s in which cloning technology allows for the mass proliferation of organ donation. Medical problems like cancer are cured because organs are harvested from clones through a state-sanctioned program. The cloned “donors” have their organs taken one at a time until they die. The novel is narrated by Kathy H... Read Never Let Me Go Summary

Written by celebrated British fantasy author Neil Gaiman and published in 1997, Neverwhere was originally created as a BBC television series that aired in 1996 and was also written by Gaiman. However, because the practical limitations of the production process necessitated many changes to the original story, Gaiman created the novel to correct and improve upon the series and more fully encapsulate his vision. The novel follows the London-based misadventures of Richard Mayhew, who comes... Read Neverwhere Summary