![]() Most societies do not start out, Adams notes, intending to rule as dystopias. Those controlling networks in many stories gradually elaborate upon what we already encounter under the increasing overlap of state with corporation, boss with politician, judge with supervisor. Future systems may be totalitarian or authoritarian, but in many newer contributions, surveillance creeps in via the personal device that may be our iPad or BlackBerry or laptop, a few generations later but with far more efficient apps. He reminds us that, unlike post-apocalyptic stories (another anthology of his), society plays the antagonist, not the protagonist. He defines dystopia from the Greek for “bad + place”. John Joseph Adams, a prolific anthologist of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, introduces his 33 entries from 32 visionaries. They hint at rather than highlight coming danger. Many stories extrapolate from where we are now. Perhaps the impact of 9/11, the Internet and smartphones, and especially the Patriot Act have seared into recent contributors’ imaginations dangers that creep up on these inhabitants of worlds gone wrong. ![]() ![]() Two-thirds of these cautionary tales have been published the past decade all of them regarded as classic stories by leading writers. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |