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• Reputation: 166 Q&A: 6 0 0 46 0 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Expert: 5 topics Books & Writing Book Recommendations General Book Discussion Other Books & Writing Book Club- A Visit from the Goon Squad Follow Following 0 Abby Bass

  2 0 Ooooh, dystopian fiction, one of my favorite genres! Have you read Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake and/or the companion novel, The Year of the Flood? They’re a little more on the post-apocalyptic side of dystopian fiction, but I think you’ll enjoy them if you liked The Dispossessed and Butler’s Parable novels.  It looks like the Seattle Public Library has ebook versions of both. Unfortunately, most of SPL’s ebooks are not compatible with Nooks unless they’re in PDF format, which these two are not. But the fact that SPL has an ebook version makes me think that you should be able to find a digital version compatible with your ereader elsewhere. Other dystopic novels to check out: Jonathan Lethem’s first novel, Gun, With Occasional Music, which mashes up hard-boiled detective noir fiction with a futuristic dystopian setting and dark humor.  The Children of Men by P.D. James might also work for you. Feed by M.T. Anderson is a great teen dystopian novel, set in a future in which everyone has the Internet plugged directly into their brains. The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon is set in a future where all diseases has been eradicated, but for a lost generation of autistic people, the cure came a little too late. Or did it? Lastly, try Jennifer Government by Max Barry for a dark , fast-paced satire of a future in which everyone takes the last name of the company they work for and corporate ad campaigns have gotten more than a little out of control. SPL  offers some of these titles as e-audio books, but not e-books. However that doesn’t mean they don’t exist in digital form elsewhere. This list is barely just scratching the surface: there are tons of fantastic dystopian novels out there. For more lists of good dystopian reads, check out some of the lists in SPL’s new catalog. Here’s one example; you can find more lists by looking at the side bar for the record of any book you like where you will find links to lists that include your book. As for small presses, looks like my colleague David Wright has got you covered there. One press that he didn’t mention, that I think you’d probably enjoy, is Small Beer Press, run by author Kelly Link and Gavin Grant. If you haven’t yet checked out Link’s short stories, do give them a try – she’s got a very unique voice and distinctive style that blends together science fiction, horror, mystery, fantasy, and much much more in truly inventive and delightful ways. Small Beer Press does offer some excerpts from their printed works online, not sure how that’ll read on the Nook, but could be a good way to get a feel for their authors on your e-reader. Abby Bass answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by David Wright… 0 0 Amen, Abby, on Small Beer and Kelly - and also other titles by them - the Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, and some other folks they publish - Howard Waldrop, etc. David Wright commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  1 0 I cut my dystopian fan teeth on Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and it's still one of my favorites. The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake, both by Margaret Atwood, are also not to be missed. Also, don't write off young adult fiction, which has had a lot of excellent dystopian novels lately (the Uglies series and The Hunger Games are two that come to mind). The concepts are just as original and well-developed as those in an adult novel, they just don't take as long to get to the point. For short stories, check out Neil Gaiman's two collections Smoke and Mirrors and Fragile Things. Some of those knocked me right on my ass. Sacrelicious answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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• Reputation: 639 Q&A: 22 0 0 205 6 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Expert: 5 topics Books & Writing Book Recommendations General Book Discussion Other Books & Writing Book Club- A Visit from the Goon Squad Follow Following 2 David Wright

  0 0 I know you're going to get some great dystopic suggestions here, so I'll just slip in with a link to a good recent questionland post on this, and also to today's post on Shelftalk, and another earlier one on good dystopic stuff, as well. Of all those, I might especially suggest The Pesthouse, by Jim Crace. I'm guessing between loving small presses - me too - and Kevin Sampsell - you love to browse the small press area at Powell's that he oversees. If you haven't - oh, you'll have a great time: why not take the train down and treat yourself. We have tons of good small press stuff at the library, and do a small press display each year that is always very popular. And again, I'm pretty sure Paul will chime in w/ some brilliant suggestions in this category, but I'll just mention a few: Have you ever looked at the annual Pushcart Prize anthologies ("Best of the Small Presses"). It is a terrific and fun way to do exploratory reading leading to some wonderful writers that you'll love. Similarly diverting annual collections include the Best Non-required reading series, and the Best American New Voices (from writing programs). There's a new Best of the Web, though I haven't looked at it yet. But again, the kinds of things that lead you off in all sorts of interesting directions. You may also find it fun to explore the library catalog by publisher name, which you can find in the catalog's advance search mode. Plugging in interesting houses like Soft Skull or Two Dollar Radio or Dalkey Archive or Arsenal Pulp, or imprints such as Little House on the Bowery, can make for a fun browsing experience. (The trick is that while the library has a lot of downloadable books that will work with your nook, I'm not sure how much small press stuff we have access to that way). Some of my favorite short story anthologies featuring consistenly interesting writers off the beaten track are the Anchor Book of New American Short Stories, and - as you mention - the Sudden Fiction and Flash Fiction series. (If you'd like, I'll read you some short-shorts, in the first few links here).  For some stories reaching into the more fantastical realms of slipstream, you might try Paraspheres or Feeling Very Strange. Great question, G ~ I look forward to seeing what else arrives in your goody basket. David Wright answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report 2 comments by Ginger Twinkle and David Wright… 0 0 Wow, thanks for the suggestions. I'll begin clicking through all of these and exploring. :) As for the small press section at Powell's, I feel as though I grew up in that little corner. During my teen years one could almost always find me sprawled out on the concrete floor, pulling piles of books off the shelves to flip through. I've probably spent days of my life cultivating my interest in that type of literature right there. Ginger Twinkle commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 Yay. I know the site was down for maintenance earlier, so Abby couldn't post until later, but she's got some dystopias for ya. On the Little House on the Bowery link, you might take a look at Trinie Dalton's "Wide Awake," which is one of my favorite collections of stories. Have you tried Etgar Keret's stories - typically ultra short and very inventive and wierd. Jack Pendarvis is another one, and Aimee Bender's stories, though we're getting odder and odder here... I'm curious to see about how the intersection of small press and ebooks is going to play out, and haven't really looked into it beyond the library's offerings, which are from suppliers that don't happen to have much small press - are you finding there are small press things available as ebooks? David Wright commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 Some good answers already here - based on your mention of Butler, LeGuin and Never Let Me Go (which I actually just finished myself), I would like to suggest a similarly gripping sci fi novel (though not really dystopian, it's pretty dark) by Connie Willis, called the Doomsday Book. It's the story of a future grad student of history in a future where time travel allows historians to study their subject up close and personal. Something goes wrong, and our young heroine is trapped in a medieval village threatened by the Black Death as her future grad school tries to find her without compromising the timeline. Peter F answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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