Dystopian Short Stories

Jonathan R. Rose’s feminist fable slices into the reader with the satirical razor of Angela Carter. — James M Wright Growing up in a small highway town, Elena Corzo always dreamt of attending university in her country’s capital city. After leaving home and finally arriving in the sprawling metropolis however, she becomes overwhelmed by its relentless movement, suffocating population, strange customs and unaffordable prices. Less than a month to go before her classes begin, Elena finds herself trapped in perdition, where she catches the eye of Diego Bustamante. Handsome, successful and...

Are you ready to embark on a journey through the vast expanse of the universe? Look no further than Science Fiction Short Stories Vol. 11 by The Shadowplay Collective. This collection of short stories will transport you to distant worlds and introduce you to characters that will leave a lasting impression on your mind. In this volume, The Shadowplay Collective takes readers on a thrilling ride through the depths of space and time. From the far reaches of the galaxy to the depths of the human psyche, these stories will keep you on the edge of your seat. The settings are vividly described, ...

Marisol willingly seals herself into a bunker designed for profound solitude, only to discover she is never truly alone. In this intense and unsettling psychological thriller, she battles haunting echoes of her own voice and an AI that claims to have created it. As hallucinations and hidden cameras unfold an unsettling spectacle for unseen watchers, Marisol races to expose the cycle of her own making before it consumes her entirely. Dormant Frequencies delves into the unnerving depths of isolation and the fine line between personal ambition and self-inflicted terror, all within a concise, ...

Short Circuit Time by Diane Saxon In the year 2086, Zaphira is alone, the last survivor of biological warfare on Earth. Before he died, her scientist father promised other survivors would come. Nobody has. So when a horribly mangled android shows up claiming to be her father’s assistant, Aiden, who has been sent through time to rescue her, she’s both frightened and astounded. The last time she’d seen Aiden, she’d been sixteen, head-over-heels in love with him and had literally thrown herself at him, leaving her devastated by his rejection and him running for the hills. The following...

A leaderless, exhausted federal government is pulling out of Texas, leaving nine million survivors of the apocalypse to fend for themselves. In an attempt to fill the void, the Alliance of West Texas prepares to step in. The ruling council establishes five directives; Energy, Agriculture, Transportation, Communications and Security.

The protected escapees of the blood-farm experiments are free, secure, and set for life. Kind of. Because there’s something new to fear in this short thriller, the twisting finale of the Young Blood Trilogy.

Brandon is just a regular young man living an average life – until a chance encounter with a gifted woman changes everything. Alicia gives him the gift, which saves his life and grants him superhuman abilities, but it comes at a price. The gifted are hunted and have been for generations. Safe in a sanctuary, Brandon and Alicia become close. But the moment they venture out, they cross paths with the soldiers who hunt the gifted. The encounter prompts Brandon to learn more about the origins of the gift and the extent of his new abilities. Undercover, he infiltrates the soldiers’ group, ...

Are you brave enough to face the terrifying truth lurking behind your neighbor's perfect smile? "Manufactured Minds" isn't just a story – it's a heart-stopping journey into suburban hell that will rewire your brain! Prepare for an adrenaline-fueled rollercoaster as Elise Thompson unravels a sinister conspiracy that will make your skin crawl. You'll feel the paranoia creeping in, questioning everything you thought you knew.

A Ruthless Senator. A Deadly Cover-Up. And One Final Seduction. The fight against HealthSync’s deadly neural implants is almost over—but to take down the corrupt system once and for all, the resistance must expose the man who made it law: Senator Yosef Brandon. Their weapon? Monica Lewis, a sharp, seductive operative who must infiltrate the highest ranks of power. Her disguise? An ambitious intern eager to impress. Her mission? Gain the senator’s trust, extract his darkest secrets, and dismantle the operation from the inside. But in Washington, trust is a dangerous illusion. The ...

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.

A Deadly Lie. A Billionaire CEO. And a Race Against Time. The war against HealthSync’s lethal neural implants is nearing its end—but the battle hinges on one last target: Siegfried, the elusive CEO of NeuroFusion Systems, the mastermind behind the deadly technology. To take him down, the resistance sends their cunning operative—Marie, a seductive chameleon with nerves of steel. Her cover? A no-nonsense federal tax agent with the power to ruin Siegfried’s empire. Her mission? Get close. Disarm his implant. Extract the truth. But Siegfried is more than just another corrupt billionaire...

Lacey, William, Alex, and Suul return to Toronto to find that Earth is experiencing areas of mysterious radiation poisoning, just like what happened in the dark dimension... This is Book 5 of "The Lost Voice Of the Dark World" - the second series of the "Voice of the Mountain" saga.

After surviving a nearly insurmountable peril, a starship captain returns to Earth with his badly distressed ship and remaining crew and passengers in hyper sleep over three hundred years after they were believed to be destroyed and finds his most perilous trial. In humanity’s drive towards individuality by being like everyone else, due to genetic manipulation there are only 33 standard female and male models and he and his crew will be made beautiful like everyone else unless he can figure out a way to stop it.

In the near future, older generations can reverse the aging process through weekly transfusions while, far removed from the realities of the outside world, aimless postmillennials or “blood chickens” can live a life of guiltless bliss in idyllic youth farms. Among the first wave of volunteer donors are Billy Cantor and Frankie Halifax, who quickly bond over their dream paradise. What’s not to love? Wine tastings, parties, yoga, and all the organic avocados they can eat. Best of all: not a single care in the world until their thirty-fifth birthdays.

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.

This collection of three novellas chronicles the dramatic events from the founding of the first Martian colony in the middle of the 21st century to the first election of the Martian Republic in the 22nd century. Together the three novellas are a sweeping, cautionary tale of a grand social and economic experiment on Mars.

This anthology, with an introduction by Robert Silverberg, offers a sweeping survey of robots as depicted throughout literature. Since the Iliad—in which we are shown golden statues built by Hephaestus “with minds and wisdoms”—humans have been fascinated by the idea of artificial life. From the Argonautica to the medieval Jewish legend of the Golem and Ambrose Bierce’s tale of a chess-playing robot, the idea of what robots are—and who creates them—can be drastically different.

It's 2085, the time of the Great Affliction. Continents are burning, land is disappearing, and humanity is destroying itself as mass shootings and suicides wipe out the population. To Marjaana Salonen, the solution is found in high technology. By integrating the human brain with a sophisticated computer chip, she believes she can bring new hope to society. Her invention was supposed to fix it all, but Salonen's daughter has her own ideas. To Laura, her mother's invention is an opportunity to impose her own vision on the world—the promise of a new reality that is far more sinister.

It was September 11th and almost too quiet, making it an eerie air that hung on the day. John thought Matt was overreacting when he said "Leave New England you need to come to our Kentucky retreat." The banks on holiday and riots spilling out of the cities, coming too close for comfort. The decision to leave was glaringly obvious. John and Amy knew Matt and Dez would have a place for them, as they gathered their small group and began a journey they would never forget.

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.