Bravelip K. Dick & Kurt Vonnegut & Shirley Jackson & Kate Wilhelm & Carrie Vaughn & Various & Nick Gaetano

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Familiar classics by such luminaries as Shirley Jackson, Ursula K. Le Guin, and J.G. Ballard rub shoulders with new standouts in this dark anthology of 33 dystopian futures and alternate worlds. In Joseph Paul Haines's "Ten with a Flag," a government uses confusion to manipulate the governed. Sarah Langan's "Independence Day" shows a tyrannical future U.S. through a teenager's eyes. Matt Williamson's "Sacrament" offers the torturer's perspective on his "art." Adam-Troy Castro's "Of a Sweet Slow Dance in the Wake of Temporary Dogs" asks how much of our souls we would surrender for nine days of guaranteed happiness plus one of horror. Grinding inevitability runs through Vylar Kaftan's interactive "Civilization." Most of the stories are bleak, many are hopeless, and all serve as powerful warnings of what we may let ourselves become. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. Product Description YOU ARE BEING WATCHED. Your every movement is being tracked, your every word recorded. Your spouse may be an informer, your children may be listening at your door, your best friend may be a member of the secret police. You are alone among thousands, among great crowds of the brainwashed, the well-behaved, the loyal. Productivity has never been higher, the media blares, and the army is ever triumphant. One wrong move, one slip-up, and you may find yourself disappeared -- swallowed up by a monstrous bureaucracy, vanished into a shadowy labyrinth of interrogation chambers, show trials, and secret prisons from which no one ever escapes. Welcome to the world of the dystopia, a world of government and society gone horribly, nightmarishly wrong. In his smash-hit anthologies Wastelands and The Living Dead, acclaimed editor John Joseph Adams showed you what happens when society is utterly wiped away. Now he brings you a glimpse into an equally terrifying future -- what happens when civilization invades and dictates every aspect of your life? From 1984 to The Handmaid's Tale, from Children of Men to Bioshock, the dystopian imagination has been a vital and gripping cautionary force. Brave New Worlds collects 33 of the best tales of totalitarian menace by some of today's most visionary writers, including Neil Gaiman, Orson Scott Card, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Ursula K. Le Guin. When the government wields its power against its own people, every citizen becomes an enemy of the state. Will you fight the system, or be ground to dust beneath the boot of tyranny? From Huxley's Brave New World, to Orwell's 1984, to Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, dystopian books have always been an integral part of both science fiction and literature, and have influenced the broader culture discussion in unique and permanent ways. Brave New Worlds brings together the best dystopian fiction of the last 30 years, demonstrating the diversity that flourishes in this compelling subgenre. This landmark tome contains stories by Ursula K. Le Guin, Cory Doctorow, M. Rickert, Paolo Bacigalupi, Orson Scott Card, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, and many others. Table of Contents Introduction / John Joseph Adams -- Lottery / Shirley Jackson -- Red card / S.L. Gilbow -- Ten with a flag / Joseph Paul Haines -- Ones who walk away from Omelas / Ursula K. Le. Guin -- Evidence of love in a case of abandonment / M. Rickert -- The Funeral / Kate Wilhelm -- O happy day! / Geoff Ryman -- Pervert / Charles Coleman Finlay -- From homogeneous to honey / Neil Gaiman & Bryan Talbot -- Billennium / J.G. Ballard -- Amaryllis / Carrie Vaughn -- Pop squad / Paolo Bacigalupi -- Auspicious eggs / James Morrow -- Peter Skilling / Alex Irvine -- The Pedestrian / Ray Bradbury -- Things that make me weak and strange get engineered away / Cory Doctorow -- Pearl diver / Caitlin R. Kiernan -- Dead space for the unexpected / Geoff Ryman -- "Repent harlequin!", said the Ticktockman / Harlan Ellison -- Is this your day to join the revolution? / Genevieve Valentine -- Independence day / Sarah Langan -- Lunatics / Kim Stanley Robinson -- Sacrament / Matt Williamson -- Minority report / Philip K. Dick -- Just do it / Heather Lindsley -- Harrison Bergeron / Kurt Vonnegut Jr. -- Caught in the organ draft / Robert Silverberg -- Geriatric ward / Orson Scott Card -- Arties aren't stupid / Jeremiah Tolbert -- Jordan's waterhammer / Joe Mastroianni -- Of a sweet slow dance in the wake of temporary dogs / Adam-Troy Castro -- Resistance / Tobias S. Buckell -- Civilization / Vylar Kaftan. Collects short stories on civilization invading and dictating citizens lives, from authors including Shirley Jackson, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., and Geoff Rymann.