This subgenre of science fiction explores social and political structures. They draw on aspects of our own world. Mirroring elements of society, the environment, religion, politics or technology, these books present a world that, though eerily familiar, is much more frightening than our own.
The Marriage Act
John Marrs
Britain. The near-future. A right-wing government believes it has the answer to society’s ills—the Sanctity of Marriage Act, which actively encourages marriage as the norm, punishing those who choose to remain single. But four couples are about t
Read More View in CatalogSnow Crash
Neal Stephenson
In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he's a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that's striking down hackers everywhere, he races
Read More View in CatalogCircle Series, Book 1
The Circle
Dave Eggers
When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world's most powerful internet company, she feels she's been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users' personal emails,
Read More View in CatalogThe Big Dark Sky
Dean Koontz
A group of strangers bound by terrifying synchronicity becomes humankind's hope of survival in an exhilarating, twist-filled novel by Dean Koontz, the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense. As a girl, Joanna Chase thrived on Rustling
Read More View in CatalogThe One
John Marrs
A simple DNA test is all it takes. Just a quick mouth swab and soon you'll be matched with your perfect partner-the one you're genetically made for. That's the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that th
Read More View in CatalogChain Gang All Stars
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Loretta Thurwar and Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly-popular, highly-controversial, profit-raising program in America's i
Read More View in CatalogThe Ferryman
Justin Cronin
Founded by the mysterious genius known as the Designer, the archipelago of Prospera lies hidden from the horrors of a deteriorating outside world. In this island paradise, Prospera's lucky citizens enjoy long, fulfilling lives until the monitors
Read More View in CatalogThe Power
Naomi Alderman
All over the world, women are discovering they have the power. There's Roxy, a white British teenager and the daughter of a gangster. There's Allie, a mixed-race girl who runs away after years of abuse and finds herself at a convent, revere
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Michelle Min Sterling
In remote northern Canada, a team led by a visionary American architect is break-ing ground on a building project called Camp Zero, intended to be the beginning of a new way of life. A clever and determined young woman code-named Rose is offered a ch
Read More View in CatalogTender Is the Flesh
Agustina Bazterrica
Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans—though no one calls them that anymore. His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a l
Read More View in CatalogKlara and the Sun
Kazuo Ishiguro
Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopef
Read More View in CatalogRed Rising Saga Series, Book 1
Red Rising
Pierce Brown
Red Rising is the story of a society in a desolate future, riven by class conflict and shaken by the tremors of an impending revolution. But more than that, it's the story of Darrow--a secret revolutionary who is inspired not only by a longing f
Read More View in CatalogPandora's Star
Peter F. Hamilton
When the twenty-fourth-century arrival of human colonists in a faraway system unleashes a race of aliens formerly imprisoned within a giant force field, the aliens, having fought for centuries over scarce resources, turn to human space to fulfill the
Read More View in CatalogEarthseed Series, Book 1
Parable of the Sower
Octavia E. Butler
The time is 2025. The place is California, where small walled communities must protect themselves from hordes of desperate scavengers and roaming bands of people. When one small community is overrun, Lauren Olamina, an 18 year old black woman with th
Read More View in CatalogReady Player One Series, Book 1
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline
In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's
Read More View in CatalogHandmaid's Tale Series, Book 1
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood
Life in what was once the United States and is now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Purita
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