Dystopian Science Fiction

The best science fiction scrutinizes our culture and politics, examines the limits of the human condition, and zooms across galaxies at faster-than-light speeds, moving from the very near future to the far-flung worlds of tomorrow in the space of a single sentence. Neil Clarke has selected the short science fiction (and only science fiction) best representing the previous year's writing, showcasing the talent, variety, and awesome "sensawunda" that the genre has to offer.

Thousands of years in the future, Earth is a desolate ruin. The first human ship to return in millennia discovers an abandoned wasteland inhabited by only a few degenerate or mutated human outcasts. But among them is a boy of immense native intelligence and determination who grows up to become the force behind a plan to make Earth flower again.

For dinosaurs, it was a big rock. For humans: Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). When the Earth is hit by the greatest CME in recorded history (several times larger than the Carrington Event of 1859), the combined societies of the planet's most developed nations struggle to adapt to a life thrust back into the Dark Ages. In the United States, the military scrambles to speed the nation's recovery on multiple fronts including putting down riots, establishing relief camps, delivering medical aid, and bringing communication and travel back on line. Just as a real foothold is established in retaking the skies (utilizing existing commercial aircraft supplemented by military resources and ground control systems), a mysterious virus takes hold of the population, spreading globally over the very flight routes that the survivors fought so hard to rebuild.

In the bleak, not-too-distant future, most people who could fled to the virtual reality OVR World Online. Zachary "Zee" Jones will never be able to afford to become a player of the game. After committing a crime in order to save his mother's life, he was arrested and included in the Inmate Player Program. Even without perception filters to limit his pain, it was better than the alternative. He has the opportunity to earn more money in a five-year sentence then he could have in his entire life as a hospital janitor.

You wake up floating. Not in the air, but horizontally in a coffin-sized chamber filled with blue gelatinous fluid. You do not remember what this is. You do not remember why you are here. You do not remember who you are.

In a United States not so unlike our own, the Department of Balance has adopted a radical new form of law enforcement: rather than incarceration, wrongdoers are given a second (and sometimes, third, fourth, and fifth) shadow as a reminder of their crime—and a warning to those they encounter. Within the Department, corruption and prejudice run rampant, giving rise to an underclass of so-called Shadesters who are disenfranchised, publicly shamed, and deprived of civil rights protections.

When Theo meets Kylee at the beach, it is love at first sight...but everything is about to change. As they share their first kiss, the ground trembles beneath them and a gigantic tidal wave strikes the beachfront, demolishing everything in its path. Theo, Kylee, and their friends now battle to stay alive as they realize everything outside their island is gone. The small group now faces a growing evil which threatens to make survival impossible. On Atlantic Island, there are no games....

Disorder and chaos ravage London when thousands are contaminated by the accidental discharge of an experimental bio-weapon. The disease robs its hosts of rational thought, giving them a singular desire - find more living flesh to infect. Cut off from information and senior leadership, one squadron of soldiers under the command of their senior NCO, Sergeant Major Johnson, finds itself forced to operate independently until the remnants of military and government command re-establish themselves safely at sea in the English Channel.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The thrilling sequel to the beloved worldwide bestseller Ready Player One, the near-future adventure that inspired the blockbuster Steven Spielberg film. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST “The game is on again. . . . A...

Water. Man’s most precious commodity is a luxury of the past. Radioactive waste from years of industrial dumping has caused the sea to form a protective skin strong enough to devastate the Earth it once sustained. And while the remorseless sun beats down on the dying land, civilization itself begins to crack.

Upon discovering the unawakened are a primary source of sustenance for dae without a bonded human, Alexa must come to terms with her status as Rob’s lover and provider. To complicate matters, Kenneth and his dae are convinced she belongs only to them. Unless she can rise up from her station and become a player in the games the dae play, she will remain a pawn and a victim.

For many billions of years, humans - having conquered the curse of aging - spread throughout the entire Milky Way. They are able to live all their dreams, but to their great disappointment, no other intelligent species has ever been encountered. Now, humanity itself is on the brink of extinction because the universe is dying a protracted yet inevitable death.

¡Prepárate para una emocionante experiencia con esta nueva historia que trae de regreso el clásico Libro Vaquero! Con una serie Neo-Western cargada de acción y aventuras, serás testigo de un mundo postapocalíptico en el año 2100, donde la humanidad se enfrenta al borde de la extinción tras múltiples pandemias y experimentos médicos que han causado una infertilidad masiva.

In the wake of defeating Gornath of the Ontishog, above the streets of Manhattan, and saving Earth from a devastating plague, Wic and Phantom Team believe their work is done. But Major Insarka Kindesh has other plans for the heroes and invites them back to Karkin Four. Phantom Team cross through New York’s origin ring to find the Blood Guard orchestrating covert operations against an Androchidan Empire in the throes of war. But galactic battle is not this trip’s focus.

It was just a random mutation - one of a billion that happen in viruses every day. But this one was different. It exploded out of Somalia and spread across the oceans before anybody thought to look up from their cell phones to see what was going on. The infected breathed the virus into the air around them, spreading it through the cities faster than anyone thought possible. Hospitals were overwhelmed. Police lines crumbled. Quarantine sites disintegrated. Cities started to collapse.

The year is 2425 and London is underwater. Three hundred years ago, rising oceans drowned a vast majority of the English Isle. London is now a jungle of dead skyscrapers and submerged streets. Fighting over the scraps of a world none can remember, two Houses—the Crowns and the Rogues—have been at war for three centuries.

The world is a deeply troubled place—years of crippling unemployment, a collapsed economy, and rampant crime have left people feeling desperate, but Adam Wesley and his friends don't care about that. They've finished classes for the final time and are looking forward to a carefree summer of parties, camping, and enjoying their first authentic taste of freedom after high school!

Hannah Evans startles awake, covered in gore, in a place she doesn't know. Captured and restrained in the hands of strangers, she struggles frantically to remember who she is. And then she sees the needle she was injected with...and the bodies. Before long, she's thrust into a desperate struggle to survive. Navigating a crumbled landscape, fighting for her breath and her humanity, Hannah clings to the shallow hope that her family is still alive.

Sixteen-year-old Jimi knows people change, but nothing could prepare her for what's about to happen to her best friend, Del. Del is obsessed with becoming a chimera: a person who pays back-alley geneticists, known as "genies", to illegally splice animal genes into their own. The resulting physical changes have scared lawmakers into drafting legislation declaring chimeras officially nonpersons, so when Del goes missing, Jimi is desperate to find him before he alters himself forever.

The gods have been angered. Hell will rain down. After Wic and the Phantom’s successful operation on Karkin Four, the team learns of the enemy’s plans for a swift retaliation: an all-out assault on New York City. Together, Wic must rally the team’s resources to plan an emergency counter-assault that will push the Phantoms to their limits. With help from unexpected places, mission success seems all but assured. But when a new terrifying technology emerges, Wic must face the most challenging choice of all: sacrifice his teammates for the fate of Earth.