Dystopian Science Fiction

Collected here for the first time is every piece of short fiction from New York Times best seller Mira Grant's acclaimed Newsflesh series, with two new never-before published novellas and all eight short works available for the first time. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, a man-made virus taking over bodies and minds, filling them with one, unstoppable command...feed.

Quand Thomas reprend connaissance, sa mémoire est vide, seul son nom lui est familier... Il se retrouve entouré d'adolescents dans un lieu étrange, à l'ombre de murs infranchissables. Quatre portes gigantesques, qui se referment le soir, ouvrent sur un labyrinthe peuplé de monstres d'acier. Chaque nuit, le plan en est modifié. Thomas comprend qu'une terrible épreuve les attend tous. Comment s'échapper par le labyrinthe maudit sans risquer sa vie ?

Welga Ramirez, executive bodyguard and ex-special forces, is about to retire early when her client is killed in front of her. It’s, 2095 and people don’t usually die from violence. Humanity is entirely dependent on pills that not only help them stay alive but allow them to compete with artificial intelligence in an increasingly competitive gig economy. Daily doses protect against designer diseases, flow enhances focus, zips and buffs enhance physical strength and speed, and juvers speed the healing process.

Set in the 26th century A.D., Yevgeny Zamyatin's masterpiece describes life under the regimented totalitarian society of OneState, ruled over by the all-powerful "Benefactor." Recognized as the inspiration for George Orwell's 1984, We is the archetype of the modern dystopia, or anti-Utopia: a great prose poem detailing the fate that might befall us all if we surrender our individual selves to some collective dream of technology and fail in the vigilance that is the price of freedom.

Trois cents ans ont passé, les États-Unis ont sombré dans l'oubli. De leurs ruines est née Illéa, une monarchie de castes. Mais un jeu de téléréalité pourrait bien changer la donne. Elles sont trente-cinq jeunes filles : la "Sélection" s'annonce comme l'opportunité de leur vie. L'unique chance pour elles de troquer un destin misérable contre un monde de paillettes. À condition d'être celle qui conquerra le cœur du prince Maxon, l'héritier du trône.

In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.... Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.

Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked - and given the ultimate choice. Die or become one of the monsters.

Eli and his family have lived in the Compound for six years. The world they knew is gone. Eli's father built the Compound to keep them safe. Now, they can't get out. He won't let them.

Having obliterated entire civilizations, the Torth Majority is now threatening humanity itself. Barreling through deep space—and hunted every dark mile by armadas, saboteurs, and kamikaze armies—the passengers of a refugee streamship must outrun everything they left behind if they hope to stay alive.

We meet 16-year-old Vali on the eve of a raid of her small Vermont town that sends her, her mother, and her younger brother on the run from the Deportation Forces. In this near-future America, all citizens are chipped at birth and this chip is used to track their movements from bus stops to schools to grocery stores. Vali and her mother are undocumented, but at least Vali has a counterfeit chip—until it starts malfunctioning. Now on the run, Vali and her family are desperately trying to make it to California, a sanctuary state that is being walled off from the rest of the country.

The best of the year's science fiction and fantasy stories as selected by the multiple award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan. Distant worlds, time travel, epic adventure, unseen wonders, and much more! The best, most original and brightest science fiction and fantasy stories from around the globe from the past 12 months are brought together in one collection by multiple award winning editor Jonathan Strahan.

China thought it would be a quick war, an easy war. But now, years later, as the insurgency on the streets of Los Angeles escalates but the propaganda never changes, a Chinese officer can’t keep silent any longer. Torn between loyalty to his country and loyalty to his troops, he writes a brutally honest—and possibly suicidal—letter home to unmask the truth. Brooks combines his signature meticulous research with unforgettable characters in this landmark work of speculative fiction.

In the late 21st century, Earth is on the brink. In the shadow of the Italian Alps, as flames consume the land around her, archaeologist Olivia Tate unearths a ground-breaking discovery: ruins of a long-lost civilization—one that bears no resemblance to known human history. Meanwhile, high in the mountains, far above the climate catastrophe, billionaire Kieran Cowl, is making his plans to colonize Mars. And when the ruins of a structure that matches Olivia’s discovery are found on the Red Planet, Cowl is determined to take her with him to the new Martian colony.

No sirens. No countdowns. One morning… everything goes quiet. Armies freeze. Phones die. Control… slips away. And then it begins. Not a takeover. An invitation. Wear the bracelet. Accept the update. Everything feels easier — until it’s too late. Your mind is still yours. Or so you think.

The Rage Wars are over. Society has fallen. Untold millions are dead. The survivors are faced with a horrible, chaotic future. Except in the domed city of Altor, where life is safe and good. There is plenty of food and fresh water, and crime is essentially unheard of. But there is a threat to even that oasis of safety. A threat that will come from within the dome.

Marcus Battle is tired of the world. And he's certain the world is tired of him. But when an old friend needs his help, he steps back into the violence and corruption he's fought for so long to avoid. A decade after he disappeared north of the wall that separated his Texas from the rest of what used to be his country, an oppressive government threatens the only people alive for whom he cares and who care about him.

Jason is grief-stricken after his loss and considers giving up, but his community of tenacious survivors needs his leadership. The threats to the group are growing, and they must abandon their compound to return to a setting from their past. In the darkened, chaotic world, the weak and the suffering look to Jason's fighters for hope, but are they up to the challenge?

In a near-future world addled by climate change and inhabited by intelligent robots called “hums,” May loses her job to artificial intelligence. Desperate to resolve her family’s debt and secure their future for another few months, she becomes a guinea pig in an experiment that alters her face so it cannot be recognized by surveillance. Seeking reprieve from her recent hardships and her family’s addiction to their devices, May splurges on passes for her family to spend three nights respite in the Botanical Garden: a rare green refuge where forests, streams, and animals still thrive.

While just a few days have passed since the initial attack, the group finds that its country is quickly descending into a vicious, chaotic landscape where nothing comes easy. While they fight to close the distance between them and their loved ones, they cannot avoid the steadily growing number of people who have realized that they can get away with whatever they want in a world where there are no longer any legal consequences for their actions.

Conor Maguire nearly lost his daughter Barb when she was three years old, injured by the drunk driver that killed his wife. When the justice system failed him, Conor, the son and grandson of IRA bombers, retaliated against the driver in dramatic and gruesome fashion. For over 25 years, Conor designed and built custom weapons of death and destruction at his compound in the mountains of Virginia. Then a series of devastating terror attacks brought down the United States. Conor and Barb assumed they were safe in their secure compound. Then Barb was kidnapped.

Science fiction is a portal that opens doors onto futures too rich and strange to imagine. Fantasy takes us through doorways of magic and wonder. For more than a decade award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan has sifted through tens of thousands of stories to select the best, the most interesting, the most engaging science fiction and fantasy to thrill and delight readers.