Tag: Dystopia

The Curfew

September 23, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Molly’s mother was disappeared by the government when she was younger. Now, she and her father William (a violinist-turned-epitaphorist) live a quiet life in an increasingly violent and dangerous city where no one goes out after dark and people die in the streets. But when William goes out on an errand late one night and does not return, she and her neighbor create a puppet show in the hopes of explaining and perhaps saving their story. The […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Agitprop, Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Dystopia, Family, Fiction, Jesse Ball, Literature, Music, Politics, review, Reviews, The Curfew, Totalitarianism

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Hystopia

July 15, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: After a Vietnam vet’s suicide, his mother discovered a manuscript of a novel that seemed to take place in a reality just next to their own, about Vietnam and the plight of returning vets. But even the vet’s reality is one far removed from our own, where JFK survived six assassination attempts and held a third term – and where returning vets were “enfolded” to help process their PTSD… The Review: I had such high hopes for this […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Alternate History, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, David Means, Dystopia, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Hystopia, Literature, Reviews, Vietnam

Winter

April 15, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Revolutionaries fleeing a failed operation in near-future England, in the midst of a Second English Revolution, head for the Scottish border. There, they hole up in a house with two strangers – one of whom might be more than first meets the eye… The Review: First, a little background. Unsung Stories is a new publisher out of the UK, with a few beautiful-looking novels to their name – and, kicking off just a few months ago with Winter, a series of […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Literature • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Dan Grace, Dystopia, Fantasy, Fiction, Literature, Mystery, Novella, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Unsung Signals, Unsung Stories, Winter

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High-Rise

April 8, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: A 40-story luxury high-rise just to the east of the city of London has finally reach occupancy – and over the course of three months, the tenants begin to shed their moral and social trappings and regress (or is it progress?) towards something altogether more violent, terrifying, and unrepressed. The Review: Well holy shit. I did not expect this – I did not expect horror from this novel. And yet this book shook me, right down to my bones. It […]

Categories: Fiction, Horror, Literature • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Dystopia, Fiction, High-Rise, Horror, J. G. Ballard, Literature, Reviews

Near Enemy (Spademan #2)

March 25, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Spademan has returned to his usual work (killer for hire) after the events of Shovel Ready – but when his next target wakes up out of the limn to say that somebody killed somebody for real on the inside, he stays his box cutter and begins to investigate. But this plot is bigger than he ever could’ve foreseen and the reality that society is clinging to, both in the real world and the limn, might be far less […]

Categories: Fiction, Noir • Tags: Adam Sternbergh, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Dystopia, Fiction, Mystery, Near Enemy, New York City, Noir, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Spademan, Terrorism, Thriller

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Square Wave

February 1, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Sometime in the future, in a city called Halsley in an America not quite dystopic but certainly worse off than we are now, several lives intertwine: a writer interested in 17th-century Sri Lanka, a musician exploring microtones, the son of an Indian scientist researching weather modification, and more all come together not quite in harmony but in a sort of harmonic dissidence as the presidential elections loom… The Review: I’ll admit that for quite a long time with this […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Advance Review, America, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Dystopia, Fiction, History, Ideas, Literature, Mark de Silva, Music, Philosophy, Politics, Reviews, Science, Science Fiction, Square Wave, Two Dollar Radio

Bats of the Republic

January 29, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Split over two timelines (and several narrators) of one family’s story, Bats… follows lovestruck accidental explorer Zadock Thomas through the Republic of Texas in 1841… and Zeke Thomas, addled scion of a major political family in a city-state of Texas circa 2141. Told through letters, recordings, novels-within-novels, and more, their stories are connected by more than just blood… The Review: It’s always a great fear of mine that beautifully tricked-out books will sacrifice good storytelling for good design. […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novel, Literature, Sci-Fi • Tags: Alternate Universe, An Illuminated Novel, Bats of the Republic, Bats of the Republic: An Illuminated Novel, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Dystopia, Fantasy, Fiction, History, Illuminated Manuscript, Literature, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Texas, The Tournament of Books 2016, Wild West, Zachary Thomas Dodson

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The Heart Goes Last

December 7, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: Nick and Charmaine are a down-on-their-luck couple, living in their car in an America of the near future. When they’re offered the opportunity to join Consilience/Positron, a new planned community where you alternate between civilian and prison inmate every month, they leap at the chance for a new life – but is it all too good to be true? The Review: When I was in my early teens, my family went to Disney World and, during the […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature, Sci-Fi • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Dystopia, Fiction, Humor, Literature, Margaret Atwood, Positron, Prison, Reviews, Satire, Sci-Fi, The Heart Goes Last

Gold Fame Citrus

September 28, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: The water has dried up across the West and many have fled California for greener pastures but Luz and her lover Ray have a decent life, squatting in a starlet’s old house and doing the best they can. When a young child comes into their life, however, they decide to set out for someplace better – and end up nearly dying in the new desert, before discovering a new civilization deep in the dunes… The Review: Climate fiction has never felt […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Advance Review, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, California, Claire Vaye Watkins, Cli-Fi, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Fiction, Dystopia, Fiction, Gold Fame Citrus, Literature, Reviews

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Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

Tag: Dystopia

The Curfew

Hystopia

Winter

High-Rise

Near Enemy (Spademan #2)

Square Wave

Bats of the Republic

The Heart Goes Last

Gold Fame Citrus