http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/future dystopias http://io9.com/tag/future dystopias It's Banned Books Week, and the American Library Association has a list of the most frequently "banned or challenged" books of each year, from 2001 to 2010. And the list is pretty interesting reading — the Harry Potter books were on top of the list in 2001 and 2002, then dropped to number two in 2003, only to vanish off the list in 2004. (Obviously all that sorcery paid off eventually.) More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5844568&view=rss&microfeed=true

The market is being flooded with dystopian and post-apocalyptic novels aimed at tweens and teens, thanks to the success of Hunger Games and similar books. But Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick seems to stand out from the pack, by virtue of its weird premise and its author's background: Bick is a former Air Force Major and child psychologist, who's done a lot of research into Electromagnetic Pulses (EMPs). More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5835875&view=rss&microfeed=true

Want to see why we're excited about Andrew "Gattaca" Niccol's In Time? Check out this international trailer, which shows just how harsh a critique this futuristic thriller is of the gap between rich and poor. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5834947&view=rss&microfeed=true

There's something so thrilling and electrifying about dystopian cityscapes — and this concept art of cyberpunk Paris totally hits our sweet spot. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5831819&view=rss&microfeed=true

If you loved the post-apocalyptic prison saga of Incarceron, then you'll be excited to know Catherine Fisher has a new series, publishing monthly. We've got an exclusive excerpt for you: the first six chapters of Fisher's Relic Master Book One. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5802565&view=rss&microfeed=true

Concept artist Diego Gonzalez created tons of art based on Paolo Bacigalupi's dystopian young adult novel Ship Breaker, and now he's edited it together into a harrowing, intense trailer. It will make the novel's environmental collapse feel all too real. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5788933&view=rss&microfeed=true

Our teens are living in horrible oppressive conditions — in their imaginations, at least. Dystopian fiction, which has never been more than a minor sub-genre in the past, has become a runaway success in young-adult publishing. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5753537&view=rss&microfeed=true We're just guessing that the bioengineered paradise where a teenage girl and her clone fight over the same guy will turn out to be less than perfect once the truth is revealed, in the new young adult novel Beta by Rachel Cohn. Beta, coming Fall 2012 from Disney-Hyperion, will be the first of four books in a new series from Cohn, who's moving into YA fiction after having written several successful children's books, including the Cyd Charisse books. Here's how the press release describes the new series that starts with Beta: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5753694&view=rss&microfeed=true

This is the greatest scene in cinematic history. A dystopian overlord is getting his face whacked with a flogger by his personal dominatrix, when a hapless underling interrupts him. So the dominatrix teaches him a lesson... with fists and nipples. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5744428&view=rss&microfeed=true

Prose books could become a lot more like comic books, if a new experiment from the author of Incarceron achieves success. Catherine Fisher's next series, Relic Master, is coming out monthly starting in May. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5737960&view=rss&microfeed=true

Peter Crowther's PS Publishing has put out some of the UK's most cutting-edge books of late, and now he's publishing his own trilogy with Angry Robot Books. In Darkness Falling, a blinding light covers the Earth... then the nightmare begins. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5736056&view=rss&microfeed=true

Now that we know the Rapture is coming on May 21, it's time to prepare. So what will life be like after the Rapture? Judging from this awesome post-Rapture movie, it'll be just like other dystopian futures... only campier. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5732229&view=rss&microfeed=true

A girl goes into cryo-suspension for an interstellar trip, only to wake early into a dystopian hell in Beth Revis' Across The Universe. Here's an exclusive look at the first 111 pages of this "Titanic meets Brave New World" novel. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5730243&view=rss&microfeed=true

As you may have noticed, we're obsessed with the Kowloon Walled City. Prior to the labyrinthine city's demolition, a Japanese research team drew up this huge cross-section map. It's in Japanese, but it's nonetheless astounding. [Deconcrete via William Gibson] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5723698&view=rss&microfeed=true

This week's New Yorker features a new story by the master of postmodern alienation, George Saunders. In "Escape from Spiderhead," a man named Jeff serves as a guinea pig for a love potion... and then things get really weird. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5715461&view=rss&microfeed=true

More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5713565&view=rss&microfeed=true

Think the dystopian young-adult novel craze has died down? Guess again. A post-apocalyptic dystopian trilogy just scored over half a million dollars from a major publisher, plus a movie deal. We talked to author Julianna Baggott about her PURE trilogy. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5694604&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's election day, and all indications are that the GOP will sweep Congress. What's the worst that can happen under the Republicans? Science fiction has the answer, with a wealth of stories about right-wing policies taken to horrendous extremes. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5679684&view=rss&microfeed=true

Now that the Hunger Games trilogy is over, what's the next dystopian saga for teens (and loads of adults) to sink into? One title that's being mentioned is Ally Condie's Matched. Here's your exclusive first look at the book trailer. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5668369&view=rss&microfeed=true

Chan Koon-chung's novel in which everybody in China forgets a month, The Fat Years: China 2013, will come out in the US and UK next year, Chan's agent tells io9. The truth will be revealed! More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5605053&view=rss&microfeed=true For anyone who's curious to learn more about The Gilded Age: China 2013, the political novel we blogged about the other day, there's a fantastic new essay about it in Foreign Policy. Xujun Eberlein explains more of what makes this novel so subversive, but also provides a history of political science fiction in China, going back to 1904's The Moon Colony, in which an anti-Qing Dynasty scholar flees to the Moon, and 1932's Cat Country, a novel about cats living on Mars by legendary satirist Lao She. Really fascinating stuff. [Foreign Policy] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5602994&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's 2013, and China's the only country to have survived an economic meltdown. The Chinese own Starbucks, which now serves longan dragon well lattes. So why can't anybody remember an entire month? That's the premise of a new dystopian novel. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5600012&view=rss&microfeed=true

There's an absolutely fantastic profile of Patrick Ness, author of The Knife Of Never Letting Go, over at Publishers Weekly. Find out how he sold Knife based on just a 40-page excerpt, and how he's finishing another author's book. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5590946&view=rss&microfeed=true

Writer/director Albert Brooks may have predicted reality TV with his 1979 movie Real Life, and now he's got an even more dire prediction. In his first novel, coming next May, he has some nasty visions for the year 2030. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5589118&view=rss&microfeed=true It's probably too late to stop our world from turning into a dystopia. But that doesn't mean you can't nudge society towards one type of dystopia or another. To help you decide which kind you'd prefer, Flavorwire has a hilarious quiz. Options include the dehumanizing futures of Vonnegut or Rand, a breed-then-die future like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, or a Canticle For Leibowitz-style wasteland. Best figure out your ideal future dystopia — before someone else chooses for you! [Flavorwire] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5588571&view=rss&microfeed=true

The Arab world's most prolific and best-selling science fiction author, Ahmed Khaled Taufiq, will finally appear in English, thanks to Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing. In autumn 2011, we'll get an English version of Taufiq's novel Utopia, which isn't really utopian. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5585373&view=rss&microfeed=true

The future is a beautiful place - and you can help make it that way, while picking up a paycheck at the same time. Here are 20 jobs that will help the human race avoid dystopia! More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5562433&view=rss&microfeed=true

The battle between Nigeria's haves and have-nots comes to a head amidst the post-apocalyptic, shattered landscape of Lagos some 50 years from now, in the new movie Kajola. Check out two trailers, full of explosions and crazy fight scenes. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5576103&view=rss&microfeed=true

Totalitarianism towered over the 20th century — a leader-focused, oppressive form of rule in which the individual was crushed. Now it seems to have receded as an ideal. But will it be back? We asked the expert, Zbigniew Brzezinski. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5569906&view=rss&microfeed=true

If you only read one manifesto this week, you owe it to yourself to read Maureen Johnson's amazing rantifesto about people who try to turn themselves into Brands on the Internet. It's the funniest, most cheer-worthy thing I've read lately. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5559846&view=rss&microfeed=true "I have trouble believing in a government efficient enough to keep track of us all in the way that the government in Orwell's novel was able to do. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5556972&view=rss&microfeed=true

For 12 years, Elizabeth director Shekhar Kapur has been trying to make Paani, his movie set during future water wars. Now that he's finally making it, he's tweeting photos that prove the water wars are already here. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5551769&view=rss&microfeed=true

Science fiction should pay more attention to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria and other "super bugs," argues M.G. Ellington at the Science In My Fiction blog. And one of the main breeding grounds for these super bugs may be space. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5539467&view=rss&microfeed=true

The fallout from the Louisiana oil rig explosion is continuing to be horrendous, and efforts to stop the damage aren't looking promising. But this isn't the worst fossil fuel disaster we've ever had. Here are 10 of the worst. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5526826&view=rss&microfeed=true

A dead turtle lays on the beach, its shell marked with orange paint for easy identification. This year's number of endangered sea turtle corpses found washed up from the Gulf of Mexico is double the usual amount. [Associated Press] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5528320&view=rss&microfeed=true

Cities are havens for weirdness. From communities built around garbage to dogs that ride the subway, urban environments have fostered all manner of weird patterns. Here are the 10 freakiest urban ecosystems on the planet. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5514775&view=rss&microfeed=true

A dystopian megacity, in which buildings merge together to become a single solid block, is the stuff of science fiction — but it already happened, in Hong Kong. The Kowloon Walled City was packed so tightly, it became an arcology. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5512888&view=rss&microfeed=true

The latest young-adult reading sensation, Incarceron, feels like a mash-up of a few of the genre's best-known books. Luckily, the book does have a supremely clever central conceit, which grows on you as you read it. Spoilers ahead... More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5502261&view=rss&microfeed=true

What comes after vampire teen lit? Dystopia. A pair of authors have just made deals with mainstream publishers for young adult novels about dark, romantic futures. Apparently, after the apocalypse, there will be no chocolate, nor women over 20. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5501617&view=rss&microfeed=true

We've heard a lot of hype, on both sides, about the healthcare reform bill President Obama signed today. But how will it really affect our future? Here are five dystopias it may save us from, and one it could cause. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5499549&view=rss&microfeed=true