More like 334
anchored on:science fictionnorth americanear futureshort story cycledystopialiterary & general+5 more
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- Player Piano
Kurt Vonnegut & Jr.standalone novel1952
similar byclass conflictnear futurescience fictiondarknorth americadystopia+1 more
In the near future, when cybernetic automation has effectively separated people into two castes, the "engineers and managers", and the remainder of the population who can find work only in "recycling and reclamation" or the largely useless military, an underground movement arises with the intention of rolling back those changes and giving the masses the dignity of owning their own, productive, work once more.
- Stand on Zanzibar
John Brunnerstandalone novel1968
similar bynear futurescience fictionchallengingdarkdystopiabig city+1 more
Stand on Zanzibar is a dystopian New Wave science fiction novel written by John Brunner and first in part published in New Worlds magazine in 1967 and in book form in 1968. The book won a Hugo Award for Best Novel at the 27th World Science Fiction Convention in 1969, as well as the 1969 BSFA Award and the 1973 Prix Tour-Apollo Award.
- High-Rise
J. G. Ballardstandalone novel1975
similar byclass conflictnear futuredarkdystopialiterary & generalscience fictionbig city+1 more
High-Rise is a 1975 novel by British writer J. G. Ballard. The story describes the disintegration of a luxury high-rise building as its affluent residents gradually descend into violent chaos. As with Ballard's previous novels Crash (1973) and Concrete Island (1974), High-Rise inquires into the ways in which modern social and technological landscapes could alter the human psyche in provocative and hitherto unexplored ways. It was adapted into a film of the same name, in 2015, by director Ben Wheatley.
- Make Room! Make Room!
Harry Harrisonstandalone novel1966
similar byclass conflictnear futurescience fictiondarkdystopianorth americabig city
Make Room! Make Room! is a 1966 science fiction novel written by Harry Harrison exploring the consequences of both unchecked population growth on society and the hoarding of resources by a wealthy minority. It was originally serialized in Impulse magazine.
- Space Merchants
series2 books1953
completed
similar byclass conflictnear futurescience fictiondarkdystopia+1 more
The Space Merchants (1953) is a satirical science fiction novel by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth that follows an advertising executive navigating a future where aggressive consumer capitalism has swallowed politics and daily life. The authors reunited three decades later for a direct sequel, The Merchants' War (1984), returning to the same satirical world. Together the two books form a compact bookend pair rather than an ongoing series.
- New York 2140
Kim Stanley Robinsonstandalone novel2017
similar byclass conflictnear futurescience fictionnorth americadystopiabig cityreflective+1 more
New York 2140 is a 2017 climate fiction novel by American science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson. The novel is set in a New York City that has been flooded and altered by rising water.
- Zone One
Colson Whiteheadstandalone novel2011
similar bylonelinessnear futurescience fictiondarknorth americaliterary & generalbig cityreflective
Zone One is a 2011 novel by American author Colson Whitehead. Blending elements of genre fiction and literary fiction, the novel takes place in a post-apocalyptic United States ravaged by zombies. Whitehead has stated that the novel was partly an attempt to return to his adolescent fascination with horror writer Stephen King and science fiction icon Isaac Asimov.
- Oath of Fealty
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournellestandalone novel1981
similar byclass conflictnear futurescience fictionnorth americabig citydystopia+1 more
Oath of Fealty is a 1981 novel by American writers Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, published originally by Phantasia Press, then by Timescape Books, with numerous reprints. Set in the near future, it involves an arcology, a large inhabited structure, called Todos Santos, which rises above a crime-ridden Los Angeles, California, but has little beyond casual contact with the city. The novel popularized the phrase "think of it as evolution in action", which occurs elsewhere in Niven's books. The novel anticipated the building of the Los Angeles subway. It was included in David Pringle's book Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels.
- On Wings of Song
Thomas M. Dischstandalone novel1979
similar byclass conflictnear futurescience fictionchallengingdarknorth americadystopia
On Wings of Song is a 1979 science fiction novel by American writer Thomas M. Disch (1940-2008). It was first published as a serial in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in three installments in February to April 1979. Like Disch's previous novel 334, it is a bitter satire that depicts a near-future America falling into worsening economic and social crisis. It was critically well received and is often considered Disch's best work. It was, however, a commercial failure.
- The Jagged Orbit
John Brunnerstandalone novel1969
similar bynear futurescience fictionchallengingdarkdystopiabig citynorth america+1 more
The Jagged Orbit is a science fiction novel by British writer John Brunner. It is similar to his earlier novel Stand on Zanzibar in its narrative style and dystopic outlook. It has exactly 100 titled chapters, which vary from several pages to part of one word. It was first published in 1969 with cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon, in the Ace Science Fiction Specials line issued by Ace Books.
- Gladiator-at-Law
C. M. Kornbluth & Frederik Pohlstandalone novel1955
similar byclass conflictnear futurescience fictiondarknorth americabig city
Gladiator-At-Law is a satirical science fiction novel by American writers Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth. It was first published in 1955 by Ballantine Books and republished in 1986 by Baen Books.
- The Water Knife
Paolo Bacigalupistandalone novel2015
similar byclass conflictnear futurescience fictiondarknorth americadystopia
The Water Knife is a 2015 science fiction novel by Paolo Bacigalupi. It is Bacigalupi's sixth novel, and is based on his short story, The Tamarisk Hunter, first published in the news magazine High Country News. It takes place in the near future, where drought brought on by climate change has devastated the Southwestern United States.
- City of Bohane
Kevin Barrystandalone novel2011
similar byclass conflictnear futurescience fictiondarkdystopialiterary & generalbig city
City of Bohane is the debut novel by Ireland's Kevin Barry. The book is set in the year 2053, in a world with minimal technology. It received largely positive reviews and won the 2013 International Dublin Literary Award.
- The Power
Naomi Aldermanstandalone novel2016
similar byclass conflictnear futurescience fictionchallengingdarkdystopia
The Power is a 2016 science fiction novel by the British writer Naomi Alderman. Its central premise is of women developing the ability to release electrical jolts from their fingers, which allows them to become the dominant sex. In 2017, it won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.
- The Thousandth Floor
series3 books2016
similar byclass conflictnear futurescience fictionnorth americadystopiabig city+1 more
Katharine McGee's trilogy imagines Manhattan in 2118 as a single thousand-story tower housing every stratum of society, following five teenagers whose ambitions collide as they climb toward, or fall from, its highest floors. Across The Thousandth Floor, The Dazzling Heights, and The Towering Sky, addiction, surveillance, genetic privilege, and family betrayal play out as soap-opera drama in a meticulously built near-future setting.
- Klara and the Sun
Kazuo Ishigurostandalone novel2021
similar bylonelinessnear futurescience fictiondystopialiterary & generalreflective+1 more
Klara and the Sun is the eighth novel by the Japanese-British writer Kazuo Ishiguro, published on 2 March 2021. It is a dystopian science fiction story.
- A Clockwork Orange
series4 books1962
completed
similar bynear futuredarkscience fictionchallengingdystopiabig city
Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel is narrated by Alex, a teenage gang leader in a near-future Britain gripped by a youth subculture of extreme violence, recounting his crimes in Nadsat, an invented slang blending English with Russian-derived words. After his crimes catch up with him, Alex is made the subject of a controversial state program meant to forcibly reform his behavior, and the novel uses his ordeal to question whether imposed goodness is worth the loss of free will. It is a standalone novel.
- The Sheep Look Up
John Brunnerstandalone novel1972
similar bynear futurescience fictiondarknorth americadystopiabig city
The Sheep Look Up is a 1972 dystopian science fiction novel by British author John Brunner, dealing with the deterioration of the environment in the United States. It was nominated for the 1972 Nebula Award for Best Novel.
- Telempath
Spider Robinsonstandalone novel1976
similar bynear futurescience fictiondarknorth americadystopia+2 more
Telempath is a science fiction novel by Canadian writer Spider Robinson, set in a dystopian near-future in which human cities have fallen into ruin and the population has been sharply reduced. The novel, Robinson's first, is an expansion of his 1977 Hugo Award-winning novella By Any Other Name. It was first published under the Berkley imprint of G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1976.
- Earthseed
series7 books1993
similar bynear futurescience fictiondarknorth americadystopia
Octavia E. Butler's Earthseed novels, Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, follow Lauren Olamina as she survives the collapse of a climate-ravaged, near-future United States and founds a belief system built on the idea that "God is Change." The two-book series was left unfinished at Butler's death; a planned third novel, Parable of the Trickster, was never completed. Later graphic-novel adaptations retell the same two stories rather than continuing the narrative.
- The Shockwave Rider
John Brunnerstandalone novel1975
similar bynear futurescience fictiondarknorth americadystopiabig city
The Shockwave Rider is a science fiction novel by John Brunner, originally published in 1975. It is notable for its hero's use of computer hacking skills to escape pursuit in a dystopian future, and for the coining of the word "worm" to describe a program that propagates itself through a computer network. It also introduces the concept of a Delphi pool, perhaps derived from the RAND Corporation's Delphi method – a prediction market on world events which bears close resemblance to DARPA's controversial and cancelled Policy Analysis Market.
- By Light Alone
Adam Robertsstandalone novel2011
similar byclass conflictnear futurescience fictionnorth americadystopiabig city+2 more
In a world where we have been genetically engineered so that we can photosynthesise sunlight with our hair hunger is a thing of the past, food an indulgence. The poor grow their hair, the rich affect baldness and flaunt their wealth by still eating. But other hungers remain ...The young daughter of an affluent New York family is kidnapped.
- Super Sad True Love Story
Gary Shteyngartstandalone novel2010
similar bynear futurescience fictiondarknorth americadystopiabig city+1 more
Super Sad True Love Story is the third novel by American writer Gary Shteyngart, and was published in 2010. The novel takes place in a near-future dystopian New York where life is dominated by media and retail.
