Dystopias are fantastic in fiction. But do you really want to live in one?
Just a few days until the election, and a writer’s thoughts naturally turn to dystopias.
Yes, dystopias — those stories where everything has gone to hell, hopefully in a compulsively readable way. Science fiction is the home genre of dystopian literature, and any knowledgeable student of the form can lay out dystopias for you like a car salesman can talk up his floor models:
Looking for classic dystopia? Here’s “Nineteen Eighty Four” by George Orwell! Want something newer? Take a gander at “The Windup Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi! One for the kids? Everyone loves Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games”! Want zombies? Mira Grant’s “Feed” series is right up your alley! What? A religious dystopia? Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” is calling to you! America on the rocks in a pseudo-historical dystopia? Philip K. Dick’s “The Man in the High Castle” is just the ticket! Classy dystopia? Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” won a Pulitzer, my friend!
All priced to move! All ready to drive off the lot! What will it take for me to get you in one of these imaginings of a world gone horrifyingly wrong?
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-scalzi-dystopia-20161104-story.html