Brave New Worlds

Starred review from December 20, 2010
Familiar classics by such luminaries as Shirley Jackson, Ursula K. Le Guin, and J.G. Ballard rub shoulders with new standouts in this dark anthology of 33 dystopian futures and alternate worlds. In Joseph Paul Haines's "Ten with a Flag," a government uses confusion to manipulate the governed. Sarah Langan's "Independence Day" shows a tyrannical future U.S. through a teenager's eyes. Matt Williamson's "Sacrament" offers the torturer's perspective on his "art." Adam-Troy Castro's "Of a Sweet Slow Dance in the Wake of Temporary Dogs" asks how much of our souls we would surrender for nine days of guaranteed happiness plus one of horror. Grinding inevitability runs through Vylar Kaftan's interactive "Civilization." Most of the stories are bleak, many are hopeless, and all serve as powerful warnings of what we may let ourselves become.