I saw this quote the other day and haven’t stopped thinking about it since: “Dystopian fiction is when you take things that happen in real life to marginalized populations and apply them to people with privilege.”
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I had the same thought this morning listening to the latest episode of the “Search Engine” podcast. It starts out being about scam text messages but winds up involving human trafficking and office buildings full of captive workers. Link (Spotify only right now — I think it publishes elsewhere later)
It’s like a (more) politicised version of William Gibson’s line: “The future is already here - it’s just not very evenly distributed”.
That tracks with Alfonso Cuarón being asked about the Children of Men being prescient of our current situation and responding that it was about stuff that was actually happening in south America, etc, transposed to the UK. see https://www.vulture.com/2017/01/alfonso-cuaron-children-of-men-transcript.html
Wow, great callback - thanks, Pete!
Don't want to hijack the thread, because the quote is really worth the discussion. However, please add your favorite Dystopian/Post-apocalyptic Fiction here. I am always looking for good novels in the genre but struggle to find them. I loved Station Eleven but didn't finish Wool/Silo. I liked The Girl with All the Gifts but wanted a bit more. Thanks.
Based off those two books, Paul, you might check out Zone One (by Colson Whitehead) and Find Me (by Laura van den Berg). Maybe also Severance (by Ling Ma). North Woods (by Dan Mason) is not exactly post-apocalypse in the usual sense, but it gave me much the same vibe as Station Eleven did years ago.
Great list, thanks Moira. Shocked I had not encountered any of them in my searches. I dabbled in a few self published books (The Last Tribe, which was ok, kinda like The Martian for the dystopian fan) so maybe I put the algorithm on tilt.
I just finished Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice about an isolated Native American tribe dealing with a post apocalyptic situation, really excellent and there’s apparently a sequel.
Thanks Aaron and Sarah. MotCS sounds really interesting. Can't wait to dig into that Hugo list.
The article @Hugo_Book_Club follows up with in a subsequent tweet is equally excellent to think about: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/too-dystopian-for-whom-a-continental-nigerian-writers-perspective/
Thank you for sharing this. I really appreciated reading it and reflecting on the questions posed.
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