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334

Thomas M. Disch · back to the book

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24 books with the same feel

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Soylent Green

Harry Harrison · 224 pages

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The Sheep Look Up

John Brunner · 461 pages

In a near future, the air pollution is so bad that everyone wears gas masks. The infant mortality rate is soaring, and birth defects, new diseases, and physical ailments of all kinds abound. The water is undrinkable—unless you’re poor and have no choice. Large corporations fighting over profits from gas masks, drinking water, and clean food tower over an ineffectual, corrupt government. Enviro

DystopianNear FutureBleakScience Fiction
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Sleepless

Charlie Huston · 353 pages

Parker T Haas is a straight-arrow LAPD cop whose cast-iron sense of right and wrong has made him a lone wolf on the force. But when a plague of sleeplessness attacks Los Angeles and the world beyond, his philosophical certainties are tested to destruction.

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One Second After

William R. Forstchen · 352 pages

*New York Times* best selling author William R. Forstchen now brings us a story which can be all too terrifyingly real...a story in which one man struggles to save his family and his small North Carolina town after America loses a war, in one second, a war that will send America back to the Dark Ages... A war based upon a weapon, an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP). A weapon that may already be in the

BleakNear FutureDystopianEnsemble Cast
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Oryx and Crake

Margaret Atwood · 389 pages

Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey–with the help

Near FutureDystopianBleakScience Fiction
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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Philip K. Dick · 216 pages

It was January 2021, and Rick Deckard had a license to kill. Somewhere among the hordes of humans out there, lurked several rogue androids. Deckard's assignment--find them and then..."retire" them. Trouble was, the androids all looked exactly like humans, and they didn't want to be found!

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The Children of Men

P.D. James · 279 pages

"The year is 2021, and the human race is - quite literally - coming to an end. Since 1995 no babies have been born, because in that year all males unexpectedly became infertile. Great Britain is ruled by a dictator, and the population is inexorably growing older. Theodore Faron, Oxford historian and, incidentally, cousin of the all-powerful Warden of England, watches in growing despair as society

DystopianNear FutureBleakScience Fiction
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The Sea and Summer

George Turner · 384 pages

DystopianNear FutureBleakScience Fiction
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World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Max Brooks · 352 pages

“The end was near.” —Voices from the Zombie War The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to th

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Blindness

Jose Saramago · 327 pages

A city is struck by an epidemic of "white blindness." The first man to succumb sits in his car, waiting for the light to change. He is taken to an eye doctor, who does not know what to make of the phenomenon - and soon goes blind himself. The blindness spreads, sparing no one. Authorities confine the blind to a vacant mental hospital secured by armed guards under instructions to shoot anyone tryi

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Brave New Worlds

Cory Doctorow, Paolo Bacigalupi, Orson Scott Card, Ursula K. Le Guin, M. Rickert, Kate Wilhelm, Geoff Ryman, Neil Gaiman, Bryan Talbot, J.G. Ballard, Carrie Vaughn, James K. Morrow, Alex Irvine, Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Genevieve Valentine, Sarah Langan, Kim Stanley Robinson, Matt Williamson, P · 489 pages

Collects short stories on civilization invading and dictating citizens lives, from authors including Shirley Jackson, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., and Geoff Rymann.

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Parable of the Talents

Octavia E. Butler · 420 pages

Environmental devastation and economic chaos have turned America into a land of depravity. Taking advantage of the situation, a zealous bigot wins his way into the White House. Lauren Olamina leads a new faith group directly opposed to the new government. This is the story of the group's struggle to preserve its vision. As the government turns a blind eye to the violent bigots who consider a bl

DystopianBleakNear FutureScience Fiction
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A Clockwork Orange

Anthony Burgess · 188 pages

A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian satirical black comedy novel by English writer Anthony Burgess, published in 1962. It is set in a near-future society that has a youth subculture of extreme violence. The teenage protagonist, Alex, narrates his violent exploits and his experiences with state authorities intent on reforming him. The book is partially written in a Russian-influenced argot called "Na

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The Running Man

Richard Bachman · 352 pages

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Neuromancer

William Gibson · 288 pages

The first of William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy, *Neuromancer* is the classic cyberpunk novel. The winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards, *Neuromancer* was the first fully-realized glimpse of humankind’s digital future — a shocking vision that has challenged our assumptions about our technology and ourselves, reinvented the way we speak and think, and forever altered the landscape of

Near FutureDystopianBig CityScience Fiction
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Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury · 184 pages

Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. Often regarded as one of his best works, the novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and "firemen" burn any that are found. The book's tagline explains the title as "'the temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns": the autoignition temperature of paper. The lead character, Guy Montag,

Near FutureDystopianBleakScience Fiction
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The Kill Order

James Dashner · 384 pages

Before WICKED was formed, before the Glade was built, before Thomas entered the Maze, sun flares hit the earth, killing most of the population. Mark and Trina were there when it happened. They survived. But now a virus is spreading. A virus that fills humans with murderous rage. They’re convinced that there’s a way to save those who are left—if they can stay alive. Because in this new, devas

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I Who Have Never Known Men

Jacqueline Harpman · 207 pages

A work of fantasy, I Who Have Never Known Men is the haunting and unforgettable account of a near future on a barren earth where women are kept in underground cages guarded by uniformed groups of men. It is narrated by the youngest of the women, the only one with no memory of what the world was like before the cages, who must teach herself, without books or sexual contact, the essential human emot

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Super Sad True Love Story

Gary Shteyngart · 334 pages

A dark tale of America's dysfunctional coming years, and of the timeless and tender feelings that just might bring us back from the brink. "In the near future, America is crushed by a financial crisis and our patient Chinese creditors may just be ready to foreclose on the whole mess. Then Lenny Abramov, son of a Russian immigrant janitor and ardent fan of 'printed, bound media artifacts' (aka boo

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Utopia

Ahmed Khaled Towfik · 176 pages

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Lord of the World

Robert Hugh Benson · 296 pages

As creeping secularism and godless humanism triumph over traditional morality, it creates a world that has been divided into three powerblocks, where religious doctrine is not tolerated and euthanasia is practiced widely. In Britain, the Royal Family has been deposed; institutions of higher learning have been closed, and a politician intent on power in the name of peace is intent on the destructio

DystopianNear FutureBleakScience Fiction
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Soft Apocalypse

Will McIntosh · 368 pages

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House of Stairs

William Sleator · 166 pages

Set in a dystopian America in the near future, the story tells of the experiences of five 16-year-olds who were living in orphanages who wake up to find themselves in a strange building that has no walls, no ceiling, and no floor: nothing but endless flights of stairs leading in every direction, seemingly infinite, so that it is impossible to get one's bearings or have perspective. On one landing

DystopianBleakEnsemble CastScience Fiction
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The Water Knife

Paolo Bacigalupi · 384 pages

The American Southwest has been decimated by drought. Nevada and Arizona skirmish over dwindling shares of the Colorado River, while California watches, deciding if it should just take the whole river all for itself. Into the fray steps Las Vegas water knife Angel Velasquez. Detective, assassin, and spy, Angel "cuts" water for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, ensuring that lush, luxurious arco

DystopianBleakNear FutureScience Fiction

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