Dystopian Short Stories

The 'best short story writer in English' (Time) is back with a masterful collection that explores ideas of power, ethics, and justice, and cuts to the very heart of what it means to live in community with our fellow humans. With his trademark prose—wickedly funny, unsentimental, and perfectly tuned—Saunders continues to challenge and surprise: here is a collection of prismatic, deeply resonant stories that encompass joy and despair, oppression and revolution, bizarre fantasy and brutal reality.

Eight short stories that span many times and places and do not fit neatly into any genre pigeonholes. Titles include "Reflections in a Plate Glass Window," "Skeet's Revenge," "Raging Against the Machine," "The Snow in Cheyenne," "Seeds of Insurrection," "A Change of Season," "Mutant Trappers," and "After the Flood."

Step into the decaying halls of Grimwood and feel your grip on reality slip away. Every whisper, every shadow, every creaking floorboard will set your nerves on fire! A sweet warning: This psychological thrill ride will shatter your perceptions and leave you questioning everything you thought you knew! Is it real? Is it delusion? You won't know until it's far too late! Face the horrors lurking in the depths of your own mind! But remember - in Grimwood, escape is just another cruel illusion. So are you brave enough to lose your mind?

Can they survive a post-apocalyptic world filled with evil? Heartbroken, Kim decides to move on with her life and return to the surface. She assumes the threat she faced in her underground shelter is gone, but she’ll soon find out that evil has no boundaries and face her greatest test when she discovers what remains. Bestselling author Scott W. Kimak delivers another nail-biter in part two of his prequel to the “I Call him HIM” trilogy. A survival thriller perfect for fans of Kyla Stone, Ryan Schow, Grace Hamilton, and Jack Hunt. Buy What Remains today!

Rise of the Gender Clones in a World With Only Men Jon Berringer is your typical male in the year 2240 – smart, comfortable, and very confused by the sudden announcement that females will be returning. After females stopped being born in 2042, the world quickly became dominated by the male population. At some point, someone realized no new women were being born, and that's when the New World Order Initiative began. After the last female on the planet died in 2173 at the age of 131, the program to fix the problem took off in earnest as it was realized that with no women on the planet, the ...

One sunny day in the middle of a pandemic, Posey Pig decides her life would better serve others if she ended it. However, a chance meeting with an unlikely friend encourages her to reconsider, and they both discover something worth fighting for.

Into the darkness within; or else the light.... When Margaret Atwood wrote these words, she left open the possibility that even our darkest tales may harbor a glimmer of hope. In Or Else the Light, the third and final entry in the Dystopia Triptych, more than a dozen of the best minds in science fiction conclude their stories with a descent into darkness, or perhaps a ray of light.

The first collection by writer Matthew Hughes, and the perfect companion to his acclaimed novel Black Brillion, The Gist Hunter and Other Stories features nine stories taking place in the universe of The Archonate, as well as four non-series stories. The stories of Henghis Hapthorn, Old Earth's "foremost freelance discriminator", combine mystery and science fantasy while simultaneously recalling the arch irony of Gene Wolfe and the sly fancies of Jack Vance.

A runaway biological effect begins to rapidly increase oxygen levels across the planet, transforming the very air we breathe into a ticking time bomb. Forests ignite spontaneously, and fires rage unchecked as the increased oxygen feeds their voracious appetites. The world plunges into chaos, with cities becoming infernos and the natural order spiralling out of control. High above the stricken planet, two astronauts aboard the International Space Station bear witness to the unfolding catastrophe. Ellie and Sergei, left alone in orbit due to the increasingly hazardous atmosphere, have little ...

Chicken Little was right after all. The sky literally is falling. In a cataclysmic turn of events, the ambitious venture of asteroid mining spirals into a nightmarish scenario that no one saw coming—except perhaps, the fabled Chicken Little. It began with a boom as colossal machines drilled deep into the heart of a massive asteroid, seeking the treasures within. But what followed was a catastrophe of cosmic proportions. The failure was spectacular, an explosive mishap that sent the asteroid shattering into a million pieces, unleashing a torrent of carbon flakes upon the Earth. These ...

Brace yourself. You will begin to listen to all kinds of stories, from zombie-killing individuals to spooky warnings from ghosts. Most of these are not heavy, gory horror stories but lightly sprinkled humorous ones with casual plot twists that most people will enjoy. Murder is definitely one of the main themes as is survival in a post-apocalyptic era. Ghosts and beasts in different forms will adorn the elements of these psychological and action-packed stories.

A fresh post-apocalyptic anthology: the end of the world seen through the salvage and ruins, featuring Emily St. John Mandel, Carmen Maria Machado, and more.

In the world of the Stymph, humans have become prey. Survivors must hide every day and night, praying the Stymphs don't find them. If they do, there's no escape. Technology helps them to come back, to Reawaken after a Stymph feasts upon them... ...but what price does Reawakening exact? Follow Captain Yuen as he journeys to a place he never expected. Into the minds of fellow humans, once people he knew, now mentally damaged and trying to heal. But Captain Yuen will discover something on this journey...something that could rock all of humanity to its core. (This story takes place within the ...

He doesn’t know how to love and cannot bring himself to hate her, so all he can offer is tender cruelty. A boy who was never taught how to love. A man bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders. A villain who holds the power to destroy the very girl he cannot let go. Who is Asher Rudd? In this raw and compelling prequel, fully narrated from Asher’s perspective, discover the secrets behind the man who commands Kiara Bennet’s world. Haunted by a childhood he can’t escape and a promise he refuses to break, Asher lives a life ruled by control—until Kiara storms into his life. ...

It’s the hottest winter on record, but Raymond’s demanding, bedridden mother doesn’t mind. She likes it warm. Lately, however, control over the thermostat has become a nasty struggle. And each morning that she’s still alive is a suffocating new challenge for Raymond. How high can the mercury climb before he boils over?

Three years after a series of massive waves takes out New York City and apocalyptic weather continues to shrink US coastlines, Julian and Kate's daughter returns to their Midwestern home...what's left of it. They should be thrilled, but while Kate is happy to have her daughter home, Julian can't quite believe it's really her. Since their daughter worked in New York City at the time of the first disaster, it seems impossible for her to be alive.

Meet Simion, who navigates a landscape where familiar faces vanish from the ballot, replaced by a spectrum of virtues. Loyalty, confidence, and honesty—these virtues redefine the criteria for leadership, challenging traditional notions - vote for traits, not people. As the votes are cast, how will the moral compass guide our new leader? Join Simion as he grapples with existential questions: Will forgiveness soften justice? Will righteousness reign supreme? Or will chaos concoct a cure for society's ruin?

In this darkly comic and surreal collection from celebrated author Alissa Nutting, misfit women scramble for agency in a series of uncanny circumstances. Throughout these breathtakingly creative 17 stories spread across time, space, and differing planes of reality, we encounter a host of women and girls in a wide range of unusual jobs. A space cargo deliverywoman enlists the help of her cybersex partner to release her mother from cryogenic prison.

Jim travels to northern Michigan to decompress and deal with his feelings in a rustic log cabin owned by his deceased girlfriend's family. Not only is the cabin off the grid, it is a place of peace and solitude, that is, until the Ebola virus is unleashed upon the USA. In a panic, the CDC and the FDA release a vaccine that's only just started testing.... Now the infected roam the world, and even in northern Michigan, Jim isn't safe. He eagerly awaits Janie's family to join him; they are preppers, who may be the key to his survival, and they are the only family he has left.

Now the Congress of Animals is in control, unforgiving, and debating the fate of the planet’s most reviled species. The popular ruling: Exterminate humankind without exception. But a curious mare, coming of age, is making a case for a seemingly gentle person she longs to save - a wish for mercy that could once again unbalance the new and righteous nature of the world.