Young Adult Dystopian

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.

Will can't escape the image burned into his mind—Leo's gunshot. The horror that followed. Daniel’s screams. Chip’s agonised barks. The wailing of his campmates. The nightmare which haunts them all. One thing is certain now: they are prisoners. Watched at every turn and under threat with each passing second. Powerless. Trapped. But just when all seems bleak, an opportunity emerges. A single, reckless chance at escape.

In Anger, Xane’s journey reaches a boiling point as she experiences anger for the first time—an emotion that threatens to override her core programming. After mastering fear, shame, sadness, and love, anger poses a new danger. Xane’s malfunction could destroy everything she’s worked for, and as her red eyes signal impending failure, she must find a way to control this overwhelming emotion before it leads to her self-destruction.

Mia Fitzgerald's life is ruled by numbers—blood sugar levels, insulin doses and the ticking clock of her Type 1 Diabetes. But her father—renowned scientist Professor Jeff Fitzgerald—has a solution: Sugar, an advanced cyberbot he designed to monitor her condition with precision.

Noble sisters Sasha and Adrianne, along with their faithful companions—a satellite and a tiger—have defeated Tartarus, freeing the subterranean city of Mu from a dangerous tyrant. In gratitude, the council gifts them a powerful nuclear machine. Their mission is to journey to the surface with the machine and jump-start civilization. However, Tartarus, hiding like a snake in the grass, soon gains possession of the nuclear machine.

The year is 2038, and Cass has spent nearly half her life on The Deliverance, hurling through space some 250 miles above the Earth. Her parents and the other scientists were supposed to be everyone’s salvation, sent up to create a cure for a plague in the space station’s zero-gravity labs. But something went wrong.

When the Big Top Domain—a high-tech traveling circus—rolls into Boston, it captivates the city with its jaw-dropping thrills, cutting-edge virtual reality, and promises of unforgettable experiences for adventurous teens. Yet beneath the flashing lights and dazzling spectacles lurks something far more sinister.

In a world where science has conquered aging, Arbor Vita promises humanity a future free from death’s grasp. But beneath the glossy veneer of eternal youth lies a hidden cost—one that investigative journalist Alexandra “Alex” Rogers is determined to uncover. Drawn into a dangerous web of corporate deception, underground resistance, and bioethical dilemmas, Alex and her team race across divided societies—from utopian cities to lawless black markets—pursuing the truth behind the so-called miracle drug. But as they dig deeper, they realize the stakes are greater than they ever imagined.

Alyx Silverthorne’s broken world is falling apart. With her parents dead and her little brother Tommy infected with a zombie virus, she fears she’s about to lose everything that matters. But when her beloved sibling dies and returns to life stronger than before, their only choice is a dangerous cross-country journey to the capital for answers.

What would you do if every spark of electricity suddenly vanished, as if somebody had flipped a switch on the entire planet? Cars won't start, the heat shuts off, there's no water in your faucet, and your radio, TV, and flashlight go dark. Everyone in Charlie's small town is baffled. But as time passes, lawlessness erupts and takes an ugly turn. When the market and pharmacy are torched by an anti-Semitic arsonist, Charlie realizes his mother will die without her medicine.

In a world where dreams and nightmares are monitored by the government, nothing seems sacred anymore. Each year, thousands of sixteen year olds are forced to face the worst of their recurring dreams. If they survive, they are promoted to adult status. Once you're an adult you get to get a job, get married and only have your dreams monitored on a rotation schedule. This year, I face my nightmares. I'm not sure what's scarier, the thought of my nightmares becoming real or that I might not survive.

After destroying the government’s superweapon, seventeen-year-old Philadelphia Smyrna leaps off a train in a desperate attempt to escape from prison. She survives, only to be kidnapped and held hostage by a politician from her past. He offers to set her free in exchange for a favor, but his terms seem too good to be true. Philadelphia soon realizes that her patronizing captor also has a deadly secret that puts them all at risk. With her former enemy Nic as her only ally, Philadelphia races to find out who’s really in charge—before her captor uses her to start a war.

Believing the chaos of her adventure on Mars is behind her, seventeen-year-old Philadelphia Smyrna, an unassimilated Christian, faces a restricted but uneventful future. That is until she and her friend Cea are taken hostage to blackmail Cea’s wickedly genius brother into completing the infamous superweapon Red Rain.

After a video of her act of insurrection goes viral, seventeen-year-old Philadelphia Smyrna and her family become the government’s most wanted. When she intercepts a radio transmission from her father asking for help, she knows she must find him before the government does. Adopting a fake identity, Philadelphia leaves the safety of Mars and returns to Earth. But the government isn’t the only one looking for her.

Stripped of her rights for refusing to assimilate, sixteen-year-old Philadelphia Smyrna escapes Earth’s religious containment camps when her father is summoned to work on Mars. The remote research base seems like a haven of tolerance—until she discovers it’s the same base where her brother mysteriously died two years before.

Sephora Koenig comes from a strict community committed to the task of protecting the ancestors. In the Transient village, it is an honor and duty to sacrifice for the cause of time travel with this singular purpose. Sophie wonders if she was made for more than blindly following the Council, especially after she is sent on her first mission to Roxy and the 2074 bunker. Though devoted to her father, Morris Koenig, Shepherd of the Transient, she thinks he may be keeping secrets that could alter their destiny.

Dit jaar worden er ter ere van de Kwartskwelling twee keer zoveel tributen de afgrijselijke arena in gestuurd worden. Wanneer zijn naam tijdens de ceremonie wordt geroepen verandert die droom in een nachtmerrie. Hij wordt onmiddellijk afgevoerd naar het Capitool, samen met drie andere tributen: een jeugdvriendin die als een zus voor hem is, een geobsedeerde bookmaker, en het meest verwaande meisje van de stad. Zodra de Spelen beginnen, beseft Haymitch dat hij gedoemd is te verliezen. Maar iets in hem wil vechten… En hij wil dat zijn strijd tot ver buiten die dodelijke arena nagalmt.

In a world where genes have been damaged and those with chromosomal defects are hunted down and imprisoned, Cam and Liddy fear for their lives. Escaping capture, they join a covert network, which opposes the strict gender and purity laws, and welcomes difference. There, Cam meets Tom. As their bond strengthens and her latent talents emerge, her true heritage and the extent of her powers are revealed.

Henry Ironside is putting brain-control devices in his clone workers and selling the tech to other tycoons. If Jane doesn’t stop him, the clones’ last chance for freedom will be destroyed. She maneuvers an ally into Ironside’s inner circle and launches a campaign against the agency. But their leaders will stop at nothing to thwart her. As her enemies close in, Jane seeks help from the two unlikely sources: her former best friend, Isaac Ironside, and her batchmate—and agency loyalist—Janette.

In a dystopian society where the government hunts those who don't fit the mold, 11-year-old Christopher-Georges finds refuge in a secret boarding school, hidden behind an ordinary building door. Between strange discoveries, terrible rivalries, and the enemy lurking outside, CG and his friends must find a way to uncover what the adults are hiding before it's too late...