Joshua ’s Comments (group member since Feb 14, 2014)

Joshua ’s comments from the Dystopian Reading List group.

Galápagos (1985) by Kurt Vonnegut



Date: 12.15.14
Location: Arlington, Va

The next Dystopian Bookclub gathering will be Saturday the December 15th at 11am. We will be discussing the Kurt Vonnegut 1985 Darwinian dystopian novel, Galápagos. This story approaches the dystopian future of humankind in the light of natural selection.

An Amazon Summary:

"Galápagos takes the reader back one million years, to A.D. 1986. A simple vacation cruise suddenly becomes an evolutionary journey. Thanks to an apocalypse, a small group of survivors stranded on the Galápagos Islands are about to become the progenitors of a brave, new, and totally different human race. In this inimitable novel, America’s master satirist looks at our world and shows us all that is sadly, madly awry–and all that is worth saving."

If you do not possess a copy of this novel and your local library fails, as well, Amazon.com can provide you with many a option: http://www.amazon.com/Galapagos-Novel...

The Machine Stops (1909) by E. M. Forster



Date: 5.15.14
Location: Arlington, Va

The next Dystopian Bookclub gathering will be Thursday the May 15th at 12pm. We will be reading the E.M. Forster short story, “The Machine Stops.” This story is a response to other works of the period by H.G. Wells. In 1947, Forster wrote, “The Machine Stops is a reaction to one of the earlier heavens of H.G. Wells.” In the main, Forster displays openly his concerned about human dependence on technology.

Two Amazon Summaries:

“First published in 1909, Forster’s short science fiction work, ‘The Machine Stops,’ posits a technology-dependent humanity now living underground, its every need serviced by machines. But what happens if--or when--the machines stop? ‘The Machine Stops’ was named one of the greatest science fiction novellas published before 1965 by the Science Fiction Writers of America.”

“The Machine Stops is a short science fiction story. It describes a world in which almost all humans have lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual lives in isolation in a ‘cell,’ with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. Most humans welcome this development, as they are skeptical and fearful of first-hand experience. People forget that humans created the Machine, and treat it as a mystical entity whose needs supersede their own. Those who do not accept the deity of the Machine are viewed as ‘unmechanical’ and are threatened with ‘Homelessness.’ Eventually, the Machine apocalyptically collapses, and the civilization of the Machine comes to an end.”

The Librivox link below contains links to further information on the book and author, as well as an online text. Also, you can purchase one of three versions for your Kindle or Kindle App for only $0.99.

Link: https://librivox.org/the-machine-stop...

The Iron Heel (1908) by Jack London



Date: 5.1.14
Location: Arlington, Va.



There will be a Dystopian Bookclub gathering on May the 1st at 12pm. We will be reading the Jack London novel, “The Iron Heel.” Many know London for his dog stories only, yet during his time he was a noted science fiction writer, as well. The Librivox link below contains links to further information on the book and author, as well as an online text. Remember the *FREE* Kindle version is available. Also, remember audiobooks only work if one listens to them.

Link to Librivox: www.librivox.org/the-iron-heel-by-jac...

Link to Kindle version: www.amazon.com/Iron-Heel-Jack-London-...

In The Year 2889 (1889) by Jules Verne, Michel Verne



Date: 4.8.14
Location: Arlington, Va.



The next Dystopian Bookclub gathering will be Tuesday the 8th at 12pm. We will be reading the short story, “In The Year 2889.” Even though credited to Jules Verne, many believe the story to have been penned by his son Michel Verne. Nevertheless, it is short and it is available out there somewhere on the world wide web. I personally purchased the *FREE* Kindle version.

“Story summary: To tell us how this future looks like, story selects a random date – ‘September 25th of this present year 2889.’ It’s a diary describing details of the day of one Fritz Napoleon Smith, ‘editor of the Earth Chronicle’ – an influential futuristic newspaper. And one with wealth that ‘reaches the almost unimaginable figure of $10,000,000,000!’”

Link to ProjectGutenberg: www.gutenberg.org/files/19362/19362-h...

Link to Kindle version: www.amazon.com/Year-2889-Jules-Verne-...

Link to Story Summary: www.variety-sf.blogspot.com/2007/12/j...

A Modern Utopia (1905) by H. G. Wells



Date: 3.27.14
Location: Arlington, Va.


The link below has additional links to Wikipedia (for both the author and the work, itself) and Project Gutenberg (for online text). I personally purchased the *FREE* kindle version of the text on Amazon.com. And of course, there is no shame in just listening to the book whilst driving, cooking, or exercising.

Link: https://librivox.org/a-modern-utopia-...

Dystopian Reading List



380s (BC)

• Republic (ca. 380) by Plato, Translated by G.M.A. Grube, Revised by C.D.C. Reeve [+*]

1510s

• Utopia (1516) by Thomas More [+^#]

1600s

• The City of the Sun (1602) by Tommaso Campanella [+^#]

1620s

• The New Atlantis (1627) by Francis Bacon [$^#]

1710s

• Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe [^]

1720s

• Gulliver’s Travels; or, Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships (1726, amended 1735) by Jonathan Swift [^#]

1750s

• Micromégas (1752) by Voltaire [$^#]

1820s

• The Last Man (1826) by Mary Shelley [+^#]

1870s

• The Coming Race, or Vril, the Power of the Coming Race (1871) by Edward Bulwer-Lytton [^]
• Erewhon: or, Over the Range (1872) by Samuel Butler [+^]

1880s

• The Republic of the Future (1887) by Anna Bowman Dodd
• Looking Backward: 2000-1887 (1888) by Edward Bellamy [^]
• In the Year 2889 (1889) by Jules Verne, Michel Verne [$+^#]

1890s

• News from Nowhere (1890) by William Morris [^]
• The War of the Worlds (1898) by H. G. Wells [+#]
• When The Sleeper Wakes (1899) by H. G. Wells [+#]

1900s

• Erewhon Revisited Twenty Years Later, Both by the Original Discoverer of the Country and by His Son (1901) by Samuel Butler
• The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904) by G. K. Chesterton [^]
• A Modern Utopia (1905) by H. G. Wells [+^#]
• The Jungle (1906) by Upton Sinclair [+^]
• The Iron Heel (1908) by Jack London [+^#]
• The Machine Stops (1909) by E. M. Forster [$+^]

1910s

• The Scarlet Plague (1912) by Jack London [^]
• The Machine (1912) by Upton Sinclair [!^]
• The World Set Free (1914) by H. G. Wells [^]

1920s

• We (1921) by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Translated by Clarence Brown
• The Driver (1922) by Garet Garrett
• The Waste Land (1922) by T. S. Eliot [π+*]
• Men Like Gods (1923) by H. G. Wells
• The Trial (1925) by Franz Kafka [+]
• Metropolis (1926) by Thea Von Harbou

1930s

• Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley [+*]
• The Shape of Things to Come (1933) by H. G. Wells
• It Can’t Happen Here (1935) by Sinclair Lewis [+#]
• Invitation to a Beheading (1938) by Vladimir Nabokov
• Anthem (1938) by Ayn Rand [+*^]

1940s

• Swastika Night (1940) by Katharine Burdekin
• The Aerodrome (1941) by Rex Warner
• By the Waters of Babylon (1943) by Stephen Vincent Benét
• Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell [+*]
• Bend Sinister (1947) by Vladimir Nabokov
• The Lottery (1948) by Shirley Jackson [$]
• Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) by George Orwell [+]

1950s

• The Illustrated Man (1951) by Ray Bradbury [+]
• Player Piano (also known as Utopia 14) (1952) by Kurt Vonnegut
• Childhood’s End (1953) by Arthur C. Clarke [*]
• Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury
• The Syndic (1953) by C. M. Kornbluth
• I Am Legend (1954) by Richard Matheson
• Night (1955) by Elie Wiesel [+*]
• Minority Report and Other Stories (1956) by Philip K. Dick
• Howl (1956) by Allen Ginsberg [π+*]
• Atlas Shrugged (1957) by Ayn Rand [+*]
• On the Beach (1957) by Nevil Shute
• Alas, Babylon (1959) by Pat Frank

1960s

• A Canticle for Leibowitz (1960) by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
• A Clockwork Orange (1962) by Anthony Burgess [+]
• The Wanting Seed (1962) by Anthony Burgess
• Man in the High Castle (1962) by Philip K. Dick
• The Simulacra (1964) by Philip K. Dick
• Farnham’s Freehold (1964) by Robert A. Heinlein
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966) by Robert A. Heinlein [*]
• Logan’s Run (1967) by William F. Nolan & George Clayton Johnson
• The Zap Gun (1967) by Philip K. Dick
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) by Philip K. Dick [+*]

1970s

• Lathe of Heaven (1971) by Ursula K. Le Guin
• The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas (1973) by Ursula K. Le Guin [$+*]
• City of Churches (1973) by Donald Barthelme [$#]
• I Brought a Little City (1974) by Donald Barthelme [$#]
• The Dispossessed (1974) by Ursula K. Le Guin
• The Memoirs of a Survivor (1974) by Doris Lessing
• Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (1974) by Philip K. Dick
• Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia (1976) by Samuel R. Delany
• The Crisis (1977) by Donald Barthelme [$#]
• A Scanner Darkly (1977) by Philip K. Dick
• 1985 (1978) by Anthony Burgess
• The Stand (1978/1990) by Stephen King

1980s

• Neuromancer (The Sprawl Trilogy, Book One) (1984) by William Gibson
• The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood [*]
• The Postman (1985) by David Brin [+]
• Galapagos (1985) by Kurt Vonnegut [+#]
• The Nuclear Age (1985) by Tim O'Brien
• And Still the Earth (1985) by Ignácio de Loyola Brandão, Translated by Ellen Watson
• The Last Election (1986) by Pete Davies
• When Gravity Fails (Marid Audran Trilogy, Book One) (1987) by George Alec Effinger
• In the Country of Last Things (1987) by Paul Auster

1990s

• Darcy’s Utopia (1990) by Fay Weldon
• The Children of Men (1992) by P. D. James
• Snow Crash (1992) by Neal Stephenson
• Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (1996) by Orson Scott Card
• Underworld (1997) by Don DeLillo [+]
• Blindness (1997) by José Saramago

2000s

• Altered Carbon (2002) by Richard K. Morgan
• Oryx and Crake (MaddAddam Trilogy, Book One) (2003) by Margaret Atwood
• Metro 2033 (The Metro Series, Book One) (2005) by Dmitry Glukhovsky
• The Road (2006) by Cormac McCarthy [+*]
• Next (2006) by Michael Crichton
• World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (2006) by Max Brooks
• METAtropolis: The Dawn of Uncivilization (2008) by John Scalzi, Elizabeth Bear, Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Karl Schroeder, Edited by John Scalzi [+*]
• World Made By Hand: A World Made By Hand Novel, Book One (2008) by James Howard Kunstler
• The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games Trilogy, Book One) (2008) by Suzanne Collins [+*]
• The City and the City (2009) by China Miéville
• Catching Fire (The Hunger Games Trilogy, Book Two) (2009) by Suzanne Collins [+*]

2010s

• Mockingjay (The Hunger Games Trilogy, Book Three) (2010) by Suzanne Collins [+*]
• Super Sad True Love Story (2010) by Gary Shteyngart [+*]
• Invasion: Alaska (Invasion America, Book One) (2011) by Vaughn Heppner
• 1Q84 (2011) by Haruki Murakami, Translated by Jay Rubin and J. Philip Gabriel
• The Last Policeman (The Last Policeman, Book One) (2012) by Ben H. Winters [*]


Notes: (+) = already own; (*) = read once before; ($) = short story; (!) = play; (π) = poem; (^) = available on Librivox or ProjectGutenberg; (#) = finished reading.



Save The Hunger Games Trilogy, the sequels in a series were not added to the list, since the likeliness that I will read these sequels are still contingent on the quality of and utility derived from initial books on the list. The chances are high that I will read them, though.


• The Witch of Hebron (A World Made By Hand Novel, Book Two) (2010) by James Howard Kunstler
• A History of the Future (A World Made By Hand Novel, Book Three) (2014) by James Howard Kunstler

• METAtropolis: Cascadia (2010) by Jay Lake, Mary Robinette Kowal, Ken Scholes, Karl Schroeder, Tobias Buckell, Edited by Jay Lake
• METAtropolis: Green Space (2013) by Jay Lake, Elizabeth Bear, Karl Schroeder, Seanan McGuire, Tobias S. Buckell, Mary Robinette Kowal, Ken Scholes, Edited by Jay Lake

• The Year of the Flood (MaddAddam Trilogy, Book Two) (2009) by Margaret Atwood
• MaddAddam (MaddAddam Trilogy, Book Three) (2013) by Margaret Atwood

• Invasion: California (Invasion America, Book Two) (2012) by Vaughn Heppner
• Invasion: Colorado (Invasion America, Book Three) (2013a) by Vaughn Heppner
• Invasion: New York (Invasion America, Book Four) (2013b) by Vaughn Heppner

• Metro 2034 (The Metro Series, Book Two) (2009) by Dmitry Glukhovsky
• Metro 2035 (The Metro Series, Book Three) (2014) by Dmitry Glukhovsky

• Countdown City (The Last Policeman Trilogy, Book Two) (2013) by Ben H. Winters
• World of Trouble (The Last Policeman Trilogy, Book Three) (?) by Ben H. Winters

• A Fire in the Sun (Marid Audran Trilogy, Book Two) (1989) by George Alec Effinger
• The Exile Kiss (Marid Audran Trilogy, Book Three) (1991) by George Alec Effinger

• Count Zero (The Sprawl Trilogy, Book Two) (1986) by William Gibson
• Mona Lisa Overdrive (The Sprawl Trilogy, Book Three) (1988) by William Gibson



Some Non-Fiction Works:

• Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (1878) by Friedrich Engels, Translated by Edward Aveling [^]
• Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882) by Ignatius L. Donnelly [^]
• Utopia of Usurers (1917) by G. K. Chesterton [^]
• The Limits of Growth (1972) by Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jørgen Randers, William W. Behrens III [+]
• The Assault on Culture: Utopian Currents from Lettrisme to Class War (1988) by Stewart Home
• Social Contract Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions (2005) by Fredric Jameson
• Utopianism: A Very Short Introduction (2010) by Lyman Tower Sargent