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Dystopian fiction

  • Author:
    Zieroth, David
    Summary:

    The Wind has mysteriously caused the death of all people on earth -- except for Zoo. As the last remaining person on earth, he must deal with this extraordinary situation, and the result is a series of dreams, shocks, hallucinations, events, explorations and the final outcome in the light of his changing understanding.

  • Author:
    O'Donnell, Darren
    Summary:

    Toronto's CN Tower has fallen into the lake. The city is crowded with refugees from the US. Michael and Ruth Racco's dad has, in a rash of road rage, perpetrated the Backhoe Massacre. And, in the middle of it all, little Jimmy Hardcastle has, in the fountain of a suburban mall, walked on water. As helicopters chop the air over Toronto and a paranoid America slides into fascism, kids from south of the border collide with kids from north of the border and, over lattes, ruminate on new possibilities. Your Secrets Sleep With Me is a frenetic, ruthlessly hilarious critique of power and politics. Brilliant, absurd, incisive and fun, this caffeinated novel will take you on a doomed search for the place where you end and everything else begins. But you will not be alone. Shhh. Don't worry. Your secrets sleep with us.

  • Author:
    Dhaliwal, Aminder
    Summary:

    THE HILARIOUS AND WILDLY POPULAR INSTAGRAM COMIC ABOUT A WORLD WITH NO MEN. With her startling humor, it's no surprise that Aminder Dhaliwal's web comic Woman World has a devoted audience of over 120,000 readers, updated biweekly with each installment earning an average of 25,000 likes. Now, readers everywhere will delight in the print edition as Dhaliwal seamlessly incorporates feminist philosophical concerns into a series of perfectly-paced strips that skewer perceived notions of femininity and contemporary cultural icons. D+Q's edition of Woman World will include new and previously unpublished material. When a birth defect wipes out the planet's entire population of men, Woman World rises out of society's ashes. Dhaliwal's infectiously funny instagram comic follows the rebuilding process, tracking a group of women who have rallied together under the flag of "Beyonce's Thighs." Only Grandma remembers the distant past, a civilization of segway-riding mall cops, Blockbusters movie rental shops, and "That's What She Said" jokes. For the most part, Woman World's residents are focused on their struggles with unrequited love and anxiety, not to mention that whole "survival of humanity" thing. Woman World is an uproarious and insightful graphic novel from a very talented and funny new voice.

  • Author:
    DeStefano, Lauren
    Summary:

    After modern science turns every human into a genetic time bomb with men dying at age twenty-five and women dying at age twenty, girls are kidnapped and married off in order to repopulate the world.

  • Author:
    Patterson, James
    Summary:

    A sister and brother, along with thousands of young people, have been kidnapped and either thrown in prison or turned up missing after accusations of witchcraft were made against them, and the ruling regime will do anything in order to suppress life and liberty, music and books.

  • Author:
    Vanderstoop, Doreen
    Summary:

    Watershed is a contemporary dystopian novel set in a near-future southern Alberta, which has been ravaged by desert-like conditions, as opposed to the northern part of the province, which is warm as well as green and lush thanks to a water pipeline from the ocean. The province's former oil and gas pipelines are being converted to carry desalinated sea water, and the north and south are at odds because of it. The protagonist, Wilma, is desperately trying to hold onto her dying family farm, while her son, Daniel, takes a job for the enemy: the big water pipeline corporation.

  • Author:
    Vanderstoop, Doreen
    Summary:

    Watershed is a contemporary dystopian novel set in a near-future southern Alberta, which has been ravaged by desert-like conditions, as opposed to the northern part of the province, which is warm as well as green and lush thanks to a water pipeline from the ocean. The province's former oil and gas pipelines are being converted to carry desalinated sea water, and the north and south are at odds because of it. The protagonist, Wilma, is desperately trying to hold onto her dying family farm, while her son, Daniel, takes a job for the enemy: the big water pipeline corporation.

  • Author:
    Doctorow, Cory
    Summary:

    A man known as Hubert, Etc. finds he has no place in society except among the dregs of disaffected youth who party all night and heap scorn on those taking the morning commute. Falling in with Natalie, an ultrarich heiress escaping her repressive father, the two decide to give up fully on formal society--and walk away. Now that anyone can design and print the necessities of life--food, clothing, shelter--from a computer, there is little reason to toil in the system. It's still a dangerous world out there, wrecked by climate change and industrial flight. But when the walkaways flourish, more people join them. Then the walkaways discover the one thing the ultrarich cannot buy: how to beat death. Now it's a war that will turn the world upside down.

  • Author:
    Mason, Zachary
    Summary:

    In near-future San Francisco, weapons-drones keep out the poor. Irina isn't rich, but has implants to earn enough to stay. Kern is a refugee that scrapes by as a thief. Thales is a Brazilian political scion hiding from assassins. None are safe as they're pushed together by forces just out of sight.

  • Author:
    Bennett, Robert Jackson
    Summary:

    Robert Jackson Bennett's Vigilance is a dark science fiction action parable from an America that has permanently surrendered to gun violence. The United States. 2030. John McDean executive produces "Vigilance," a reality game show designed to make sure American citizens stay alert to foreign and domestic threats. Shooters are introduced into a "game environment," and the survivors get a cash prize. The TV audience is not the only one that's watching though, and McDean soon finds out what it's like to be on the other side of the camera.

  • Author:
    Gailey, Sarah
    Summary:

    Esther is a stowaway. She's hidden herself away in the Librarian's book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her-a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda. The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.

  • Author:
    Highley, Kendra C.
    Summary:

    Lexa Pate, seventeen-year-old thief extraordinaire, has burned a bridge or two in her life. You don’t make a career out of stealing other people’s property without making enemies. When a risky job goes from bad to worse, Lexa and her adopted family find themselves on Precipice Corporation’s hit list because they’ve accidentally stolen the wrong thing—plans for a new model of genetically-engineered super humans. Now every bounty hunter, cop on the take, and snitch in the city is after them. Lexa’s world crumbles around her as she fights to keep her family safe even as someone strolls out of her forgotten past. Quinn claims to know who Lexa really is, but can she trust a stranger she met while robbing his boss? More importantly, does she really want to know what Quinn has to tell her? Based on the fairy tale Pinocchio, UNSTRUNG takes you into a near future world where the lines between fake and real are blurred, all that’s pristine isn’t always innocent, and being a criminal isn’t always wrong.

  • Author:
    Mafi, Tahereh
    Summary:

    The thrilling second installment in New York Times bestselling author Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me series. It should have taken Juliette a single touch to kill Warner. But his mysterious immunity to her deadly power has left her shaken, wondering why her ultimate defense mechanism failed against the person she most needs protection from. She and Adam were able to escape Warner's clutches and join up with a group of rebels, many of whom have powers of their own. Juliette will finally be able to actively fight against The Reestablishment and try to fix her broken world. And perhaps these new allies can help her shed light on the secret behind Adam's-and Warner's-immunity to her killer skin. Juliette's world is packed with high-stakes action and tantalizing romance, perfect for fans of the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard and the Darkest Minds trilogy by Alexandra Bracken. Ransom Riggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, raved: "A thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love, the Shatter Me series is a must-read for fans of dystopian young-adult literature-or any literature!" This bestselling series from powerhouse author Tahereh Mafi showcases relentlessly thrilling action, heart stopping romance, and a war-torn world in which rebellion is the only path to freedom.

  • Author:
    Mafi, Tahereh
    Summary:

    Perfect for fans of Tahereh Mafi's New York Times bestselling Shatter Me trilogy, this audiobook collects her two companion novellas, Fracture Me and Destroy Me, for the first time in audio. It also features an exclusive look into Juliette's journal and a preview of Ignite Me, the third installment of the series. Destroy Me tells the events between Shatter Me and Unravel Me from Warner's point of view. Even though Juliette shot him in order to escape, Warner can't stop thinking about her-and he'll do anything to get her back. But when the Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment arrives, he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner cannot allow. Fracture Me is told from Adam's perspective and bridges the gap between Unravel Me and Ignite Me. As the Omega Point rebels prepare to fight the Sector 45 soldiers, Adam's more focused on the safety of Juliette, Kenji, and his brother. The Reestablishment will do anything to crush the resistance . . . including killing everyone Adam cares about. The Shatter Me series is perfect for fans who crave action-packed young adult novels with tantalizing romance like Divergent and The Hunger Games. This captivating story, which combines the best of dystopian and paranormal, was praised as "a thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love" by Ransom Riggs, bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. And don't miss Defy Me , the shocking fifth book in the Shatter Me series!

  • Author:
    Chappell-Pollack, Nancy, Nelson, Colleen
    Summary:

    Following the events of Pulse Point, 12-year old Ama and the other Underlanders living in a world of darkness dig for brine, the City's real energy source. Underland is a dangerous place: cave-ins, starvation and illness are constant threats. When their leader deserts them, Ama goes looking for him and stumbles on two Citizens. Neither knew the other existed. 18-year old Sari lives in the City, blissfully unaware of what goes on beneath her feet. The disappearance of her best friend, Kaia, has left her feeling isolated. A chance encounter with her sister leads her to join a group called the Resistance who are on a secret mission to reveal the secrets the Council keeps hidden. When Kaia mounts an attack on the City, Sari and Ama are thrown together in a battle that will decide their futures and the fate of the City.

  • Author:
    Stine, Alison
    Summary:

    A few generations from now, the coastlines of the continent have been redrawn by floods and tides. Global powers have agreed to not produce any new plastics, and what is left has become valuable: garbage is currency. In the region-wide junkyard that Appalachia has become, Coral is a "plucker," pulling plastic from the rivers and woods. She's stuck in Trashlands, a dump named for the strip club at its edge, where the local women dance for an endless loop of strangers and the club's violent owner rules as unofficial mayor. Amid the polluted landscape, Coral works desperately to save up enough to rescue her child from the recycling factories, where he is forced to work. In her stolen free hours, she does something that seems impossible in this place: Coral makes art. When a reporter from a struggling city on the coast arrives in Trashlands, Coral is presented with an opportunity to change her life. But is it possible to choose a future for herself?

  • Author:
    Blair, Kate
    Summary:

    London, England, present day. This is the world as we know it, but with one key difference: medical science has found a way to remove diseases from the sick. The catch? They can only transfer the diseases into other living humans. The government now uses the technology to cure the innocent by infecting criminals. When sixteen-year-old Talia Hale, daughter of a prime ministerial candidate, discovers that the effort to ensure that bad things happen only to bad people has turned a once-thriving community into a slum, and has made life perilous for two new friends, will she defy her father to protect them? Even if it means costing him the election?

  • Author:
    Liddell, Merilyn Ruth
    Summary:

    "A misguided experiment. A devastated world. A chance for rebirth. In a world decimated by a killer virus, an isolated mountain community is left more dysfunctional than dystopian. Small town. Big secrets. It's a place where...neighbors still look out for neighbors,...a feisty senior sasses the man who controls the town,...a doctor finds a unique use for local bullies, and the lives of three strangers unexpectedly intertwine...Martha, a reclusive doctor seeking a solution to the mystery of the pandemic,...Jake, a cab driver seeking his birth mother,...Sophie, a young, desperate pregnant woman seeking safe haven from abuse. Brought together by violence, these unlikely friends forge an alliance that may help reshape the world."

  • Author:
    Yanagihara, Hanya
    Summary:

    #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - From the author of the classic A Little Life- a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia. In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love whomever they please (or so it seems). The fragile young scion of a distinguished family resists betrothal to a worthy suitor, drawn to a charming music teacher of no means. In a 1993 Manhattan besieged by the AIDS epidemic, a young Hawaiian man lives with his much older, wealthier partner, hiding his troubled childhood and the fate of his father. And in 2093, in a world riven by plagues and governed by totalitarian rule, a powerful scientist's damaged granddaughter tries to navigate life without him-and solve the mystery of her husband's disappearances.   These three sections are joined in an enthralling and ingenious symphony, as recurring notes and themes deepen and enrich one another: A townhouse in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village; illness, and treatments that come at a terrible cost; wealth and squalor; the weak and the strong; race; the definition of family, and of nationhood; the dangerous righteousness of the powerful, and of revolutionaries; the longing to find a place in an earthly paradise, and the gradual realization that it can't exist. What unites not just the characters, but these Americas, are their reckonings with the qualities that make us human: Fear. Love. Shame. Need. Loneliness.   To Paradise is a fin de siecle novel of marvelous literary effect, but above all it is a work of emotional genius.  The great power of this remarkable novel is driven by Yanagihara's understanding of the aching desire to protect those we love-partners, lovers, children, friends, family and even our fellow citizens-and the pain that ensues when we cannot.

  • Author:
    Gom, Leona
    Summary:

    The Y Chromosome challenges the reader to meet an all-woman society of the future. The few remaining men live in hiding. When one of these men is discovered, the resulting conflict threatens both worlds.

    The futurist society was developed by necessity and is far from perfect, but it now abhors its male-dominated past, where violence escalated to an extreme. The journals of a man who lived during The Change reveal the desperate turmoil and anger of a world facing the extinction of half its members. The journals are now part of university history courses, leading to assessments of the past that are both ironic and disturbing.

    Despite its striking differences to our world today, there are uncomfortable similarities. Taut and gripping, a page-turner at its very best, the novel asks important and fundamental questions about who we are as women and men and what we will do to survive.

    Originally written and published thirty years ago to enthusiastic reviews, The Y Chromosome is even more relevant today.

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