The 10 Strangest Dystopias
Dystopias are everywhere these days. They’re in popular TV shows, video games, children’s novels, and—let’s be honest—the daily news. (What else can you call it when every other news story is about pandemics, environmental collapse, or ever-widening wealth inequality?) Dystopian fiction has a rich and long history in science fiction, and for good reason. By showing us the extreme outcomes, dystopian literature helps us better see the dangers of the paths we are heading down. At least that’s the hope.
Yet when the daily news feels dystopian, perhaps the standard dystopias start to feel a little tame. Perhaps we become inured to threats the books are exploring. So for this list I thought I’d write about strange dystopias. Ones that not only warn us of future dangers, but also inhabit that bizarre dreamlike space that lets our minds see more