Dystopian Young

If the melt-down, flood, plague, the third World War, new Ice Age, Rapture, alien invasion, clamp-down, meteor, or something else entirely hit today, what would tomorrow look like? Some of the biggest names in YA and adult literature answer that very question in this short story anthology, each story exploring the lives of teen protagonists raised in catastrophe's wake - whether set in the years soon after the change, or in decades far in the future.

When her grandmother is cast out as unworthy after facing Hamelin’s annual Shunning, Scarlett knows she must brave the dangers of Darkwood Forest if she’s to have any chance of saving her. Her perilous adventure becomes a race against time; she needs to find Gran before the previously shunned get to her first. Scarlett’s efforts come too late. As her magic dwindles the farther into the forest she ventures, she becomes hopelessly lost and is forced to accept help from Greyson, the shapeshifting wolf who is stalking her every footstep—and who Scarlett suspects of knowing Gran’s location.

In the final moments of The Fracturing, Reagan Scott was taken. While the rest of the country casts their votes for the next Presidential Couple, Reagan must now fight to survive. It's no longer just about winning the Culling, it's about ending the war with the drifters once and for all. As the darkness spirals out of control and threatens to destroy everyone and everything she loves, Reagan will be forced to make some difficult choices.

Serenity Ward is the golden girl of Kaycie. She never questioned her city's status as the last dry land on earth. The Establishment takes care of its citizens . . . or so she thought. But now she's seen the map! Why would they lie about other islands just beyond the horizon? In a city built on falsehood, figuring out who to trust is its own challenge, but Serenity pulls together a feisty group who all want the same thing—an end to the government which has hidden a world from them.

It’s been four years since the events of GONE. The Perdido Beach dome is down, but the horrors within have spread. The alien virus-infested rock that created the FAYZ is creating monsters - monsters that walk the cities and countryside, terrorizing all. There are tanks in the street and predator drones in the sky, doomed efforts to stop the disintegration of civilization. Into this chaos comes a villain with the power to control anyone with just the sound of his voice. Dillon Poe wanted to be a comedian once...but everyone made fun of him. Now he’s sending thousands to their death.

The dark clouds of war are gathering on the horizon, and to win, the citizens of Safe Haven are going to need help. Fresh from battle with Olsen’s forces, Robyn, Wren, and Mila are thrust into a new nightmare. On a mission to recruit allies, a sequence of events turns the tide against them. Now, with no supplies, no help, and little hope, they must navigate hostile territory in order to survive. Is this one fight too many? Has their luck finally run out? Everything comes to an end. But is this the end of everything?

In this fast-paced survival story set in Hawaii, electronics fail worldwide, the islands become completely isolated, and a strange starscape fills the sky. Leilani and her father embark on a nightmare odyssey from Oahu to their home on the Big Island. Leilani's epilepsy holds a clue to the disaster, if only they can survive as the islands revert to earlier ways.

Shinganshina has been breached, and humanity has retreated to Wall Rose - for the most part. Quintra District, situated at the western end of Wall Maria, is holding out despite being hemmed in by the Titans on both the exterior and the formerly interior sides. In this concluding half of this side story, Rita Iglehaut, acting commander of the local forces, struggles to turn her isolated hometown into something of a city of its own. Her draconian methods, however, shock the residents, not least Mathias Kramer, her childhood friend.

The new American government does everything “for the greater good”. Or, does it? When Claren Greenwood is identified as an Empath during her aptitude test, she’s offered a rare position among the Peacemakers in her city. Becoming a Peacemaker may finally be Claren’s ticket to a better life, allowing her to overcome a turbulent family history.

When mankind’s attempts to control nature backfire, Texas descends into a wasteland. Storms rage and ravenous beasts roam the Outer Grid. The only safe havens rest inside the tech-obsessed domed cities. But when her parents are murdered inside the Plex City dome, seventeen-year-old Juniper Conway wants revenge. Ties to her extended family threaten to pull her back as she runs from city to city. The Plex is endangering its citizens by legalizing a deadly nano drug, and Juniper’s family needs her help to deliver the counteragent.

When Ashen heads east to New York City to find Finn's brother, she finds herself confronted by an entirely new set of problems. The city is a war zone overshadowed by the Behemoth, the largest arcology in existence. Few are allowed entry and those who go in never leave. She soon discovers that the power in New York is held entirely by one young man. Known only as the Bishop, he's mysterious, unnervingly handsome, and smooth-voiced. His allure is undeniable, despite his tendency toward cruelty. Who is the Bishop really? What exactly goes on inside the Behemoth?

In this exhilarating, explosive, and heart-rending conclusion to the Insignia trilogy, Catalyst brings Tom and his intelligent, passionate, and brave young friends stunning tests and dangerous confrontations, and through to an impossible future they could never have predicted.

Magic fuels privilege. Robots enforce oppression. One young doctor will ignite a revolution. Doctor Aldrich Durante has everything—prestige, wealth, and the comfort of Upper Cairnisle. But when he meets Fia, an illegal mage orphaned in the slums of Dirt Town, his eyes are opened to the harsh realities of his society. Their chance encounter leads to a risky rescue mission, and Aldrich is faced with a choice—stay in his sheltered world or join forces with Fia to fight against the corrupt Magisters who use magic as a weapon. With injustice fueling their fire, Aldrich and Fia become a ...

Huck Jones, the son of the admiral of the Soaker fleet, has a legacy to live up to. Haunted by the distorted memories of his mother's untimely death, he must face his demons and the man who raised him as he strives to take the courageous step forward into manhood. When he's transferred to the worst-performing ship in the fleet, everything he believes is called into question when he meets a lowly brown-skinned bilge rat girl. Huck walks a deadly rope.

National Book Award winner M. T. Anderson returns to future Earth in a sharply wrought satire of art and truth in the midst of colonization.

The zombie outbreak is affecting more than just the Evans Family. Book 2 dives into not just what is happening to Mike and his family but begins to fall further into the zombies on the block, or better said, those that are not yet zombies. The heart-pounding action continues as does the humor and sarcasm. Who will survive? Who will perish? What obstacles will they need to overcome? Find out in Zombies on the Block: There Goes the Neighborhood.

Eighteen-year-old Sil Sarrah is determined to die a legend. But with only twelve months left before the supercomputer grafted to her brain kills her, Sil's time is quickly running out. In the ten years she's been rescuing field agents for the Syntex corporation—by commandeering their minds from afar and leading them to safety—Sil hasn't lost a single life. And she's not about to start now. But when a critical mission goes south, Sil is forced to flee the very company she once called home.

I volunteered to be a spy, not an assassin. I know this is war...but I just want to do what's right. If you ask me, none of us should be here - but no one gave me a choice. And I won't blindly follow orders. I am essential to the plan. And I will be a hero for my country. If I were normal, I wouldn't be old enough to join the army. But I'm not normal. I'm a weapon.

Ever since leaving Salvation and escaping the quarry, things had got better and better for Callie and the rest of the community. But now a single afternoon has turned their world upside down. The clock is ticking to save one of their own, and a simple plan becomes a foreboding quest. They’re about to learn just how much the world has changed. They’re about to learn that they didn’t know what real fear was. New friends, old foes, and a treacherous journey mean not everyone will make it home. If they get through today, none of their lives will be the same again.

Ever since the world filled with portals to hell and bloodthirsty demons started popping out on the reg, Jasper’s life has gotten worse and worse. A teenage nobody with no friends or family, he is plagued by the life he can’t remember and the person he’s sure he’s supposed to be. Jasper spends his days working as a checkout clerk at the Here for You discount mart, where a hell portal in aisle nine means danger every shift. But at least here he can be near the girl he’s crushing on—Kyle Kuan, a junior member of the monster-fighting Vanguard.