A glittering landscape of twenty-five speculative stories that challenge oppression and envision new futures for America—from N. K. Jemisin, Charles Yu, Jamie Ford, G. Willow Wilson, Charlie Jane Anders, Hugh Howey, and more.NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLY In these tumultuous times, in our deeply divided country, many people are angry, frightened, and hurting. Knowing … people are angry, frightened, and hurting. Knowing that imagining a brighter tomorrow has always been an act of resistance, editors Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams invited an extraordinarily talented group of writers to share stories that explore new forms of freedom, love, and justice. They asked for narratives that would challenge oppressive American myths, release us from the chokehold of our history, and give us new futures to believe in.
They also asked that the stories be badass.
The result is this spectacular collection of twenty-five tales that blend the dark and the light, the dystopian and the utopian. These tales are vivid with struggle and hardship—whether it’s the othered and the terrorized, or dragonriders and covert commandos—but these characters don’t flee, they fight.
Thrilling, inspiring, and a sheer joy to read, A People’s Future of the United States is a gift for anyone who believes in our power to dream a just world.
Featuring stories by Violet Allen • Charlie Jane Anders • Lesley Nneka Arimah • Ashok K. Banker • Tobias S. Buckell • Tananarive Due • Omar El Akkad • Jamie Ford • Maria Dahvana Headley • Hugh Howey • Lizz Huerta • Justina Ireland • N. K. Jemisin • Alice Sola Kim • Seanan McGuire • Sam J. Miller • Daniel José Older • Malka Older • Gabby Rivera • A. Merc Rustad • Kai Cheng Thom • Catherynne M. Valente • Daniel H. Wilson • G. Willow Wilson • Charles Yu
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Worldbuilding
By turns uplifting, bloody strange, heartbreaking and joyful, this story collection touches on so many things: gender relations, race, hope, the need to feel safe, and the need to feel dignity among them. There are versions of America in this series that I dread, and versions of America that I long for. There’s one commentary on a certain mango-hued nutjob and his *cough* social philosophy that involves a quantum genetic drug dropped into the water supply, and it cracked me right up. Live Me Corn Bread Or Give Me Death is utterly fascinating and weirdly believable…though it does involve training dragons with siracha. And again and again, we see stories of integrity, cooperation, fierce love. And hope. Even in the darkest of realities, even when you’re trying to take an exam in the middle of a wildfire, there is hope.
Characterization
You’re going to meet so many great characters in this series. From the book-seller’s daughter trying to get her neighbors to look each other in the eye to the family giving birth to the first baby born in a decade, from the curandera fighting the Empire to the librarian of stories written in tattoos, the people in these stories will open your eyes to all kinds of ways to experience life.
Writing Style
You can imagine that twenty-five authors have some pretty different styles. But these works have been beautifully curated to balance one another in form and pacing. Some are full of a creeping horror. Some are fast and brutal. And some have the gentle banality of a son trying to tell his father that it’s okay that everyone has a good life now without working themselves to death for it. All of them will take you somewhere
Plot
Using current events as a jumping off point, these stories spin out possible permutations of our future. There isn’t one American dream, but many. Some are deeply grounded in science, some skewer social and political fears. And some let us see what it’ll look like when things get better.
Overall Rating
This is a book we need right now: a collection of dire warnings and beautiful dreams, hopes and fears. We’re at a crossroads in history. This book reminds us that we can take a turn into the dark or the light. And wherever we go, we’ll be taking our whole selves and all our facets along for the ride: good and bad, kind and cruel, genetic and historical.
Strap in.
“This anthology in your hands… is inspired by countless generations of offspring who lost the right to forge futures of their own making.”- from the introduction
This is a series of 25 short stories of primarily speculative fiction edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams. Speculative fiction means stories of the “what if’s” in life: things like what if morality dies; what if birth was regulated; what if we put the sun on trial in hopes it will be exiled.
The call went out to the creme de la creme of the SciFi and speculative fiction crowd. What came back were some of the best riffs on a world that has regulated itself almost out of business. One of my favorite stories tells about the first child born after IMBALANCE killed all but 1% of the people. One of my least favorites is the last story that bounces off the movie “Groundhog Day” where one woman’s birthday week happens over and over and how she eventually cashes in on it. In between the new “Underground Railroad” runs through a bookstore at “the end of America”, and a story about “the history of barbed wire” that surrounds the “Sovereign Wall” built by the Cherokee to keep the law IN.
This is a great read overall, and I give it 4 1/2 stars, and recommend it as a conversation started and a celebration of speculative fiction
Book Review
A People’s Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction From 25 Extraordinary Writers
Thanks to @oneworldbooks @netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Contributors include: Violet Allen, Charlie Jane Anders, Ashok K. Banker, Tobias S. Buckell, Tananarive Due, Omar El Akkad, Jamie Ford, Maria Dahvana Headley, Hugh Howey, Lizz Huerta, Justina Ireland, N. K. Jemisin, Alice Sola Kim, Seanan McGuire, Sam J. Miller, Daniel José Older, Malka Older, Gabby Rivera, A. Merc Rustad, Kai Cheng Thom, Catherynne M. Valente, Daniel H. Wilson, G. Willow Wilson, and Charles Yu.
In general, I’m not a fan of short story collections. I never read them. The title immediately caught my attention. I read the synopsis and knew I had to read this one. I’m glad I did because it’s an amazing collection of stories by 25 talented authors who vary in so many ways. All 25 stories are speculative fiction exploring the future United States. They run the spectrum from women’s rights, race, to plague, robotic takeover, brainwashing, gender bias and government control. Some are more plausible than others. It’s frightening, however, to realize every story is possible on some level. Some are bleak. Some are hopeful. There are a couple that are downright weird. Just like reality. My favorite is The Bookstore at the End of America by Charlie Jane Anders. Something about that one spoke to me and stayed with me. Each story will allow you to see and feel some aspects of life differently. Thought provoking and well written, these stories address numerous issues relevant to society at this moment. I hope you gain as much from this collection as I have. If you are hesitant about reading a short story collection, don’t be. It’s well worth the time.
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