Dystopian authors like dystopian books! The fine folks at Shepherd, an up-and-coming competitor to Goodreads, recently asked me to write a list of five favorites from the same genre as my debut novel, We, The Watched.
For some reason, a lightning strike seemed appropriate after that title.
And no, I didn’t just list all my novels. It’s a mix of classics and some newer books. When you finish, also check out Shepherd’s dystopia bookshelf for more great reads recommended by other authors.
Please sound off in the comments if you’ve read any of my picks, or if you’d like to make some recommendations of your own. I’m always looking for my next read… After all, dystopian authors like dystopian books!
I’m from Philadelphia, so let’s get this out of the way…
GO PHILLIES! WOOOOOOOO!!!!!
The one and only Philly Phanatic / Credit: Sports Illustrated
OK! Thank you for your indulgence. In case you didn’t know, or you’re reading this in the future and have forgotten most everything about 2022 (that must be nice), the Phillies are in the World Series! And last night, they took Game 1 from the Astros in an improbable, come-from-behind victory in Houston. Down five runs! With an amazing game-saving catch from Nick Castellanos! So yeah, I’m pretty excited!
Oh shoot, I’m still talking about the Phillies, aren’t I? Once again, I thank you for your indulgence.
All right, moving on for real this time! It’s Halloween, so I thought I’d share a cool article from the Washington Post about why haunted houses are Victorian in so many books and movies.
I haven’t written much horror, other than a kind of silly short story called “The Roommate.” But I’ve always loved the genre. My favorite recent haunted-house thing was The Haunting of Hill House miniseries on Netflix. The Haunting of Bly Manor (Mike Flanagan did both but they’re different stories) was also pretty good. I’m hoping to check out Flanagan’s Midnight Club real soon, once I finish all the other peak-TV shows in my queue.
I’ve been reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. It’s my first Murakami book though I’d been hearing good things for a while. It’s a fairly strange, yet gripping novel. It’s got a little of that David Lynch vibe where a lot of it is dream-like and you’re not entirely sure what’s really happening. If that doesn’t scare you off, I’d recommend giving it a try.
You might know I’m kind of a comic book geek. I found really fascinating a biography of Stan Lee called True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee by Abraham Riesman. It’s not exactly a glowing depiction of Stan The Man, revealing that the guy probably didn’t create the Marvel Universe all by himself as many people think. It also chronicles a lot of truly crazy sh** that happened in Lee’s later years. Even if he didn’t necessarily create all those classic superheroes, though, you definitely get the sense that Lee was a master marketer and that Marvel probably wouldn’t be what it is today without his passionate self-promotion.
On the gaming front, I just picked up Mario+Rabbids Sparks of Hope on Nintendo Switch and am absolutely having a blast playing it.
Mario+Rabbids Sparks of Hope / Credit: Nintendo
I loved the original Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and I’m happy to say the sequel has the best parts of that game with a whole lot more polish. Seriously, they couldn’t have been 100% confident when developing the original that people would embrace an XCOM-style strategy game teaming gun-wielding (ray guns, but still) Mario characters with weird bunny-things from Ubisoft’s Rayman series. However, it was obviously a winning concept, and the powers-that-be clearly gave the developers a big budget to run away with it in Sparks of Hope. It’s a pretty addictive videogame, and just writing about it makes me want to leave you mid-sentence to—
When I’m not writing, I’m reading … or doing other stuff. But let’s go with reading.
It seems like I’ve been reading a lot of dark, surreal takes on the world lately, which maybe speaks to the times. Please see my recent Goodreads reviews below, and let me know in the comments if you’ve read any of these books or recommend others (Maybe something lighter, like Utopia PR)
The Ballad of Black Tom is an engaging Lovecraftian tribute with a refreshing Black perspective. While running errands for purveyors of the dark arts, protagonist Charles Thomas Tester shows us the unfair prejudices and dangers he experiences in everyday life just because of the color of his skin. This novella by Victor LaValle may contain a demonic Sleeping King, but its true horror comes from police who shoot first and justify their violence after the fact. It was a quick read but not a story that will be forgotten fast. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author.
The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A beautifully bleak and surreal dystopian novel. The concept of people unwillingly forgetting objects, animals and more everyday things is compelling, and the disappearances become more horrifying as the book goes on. I enjoyed the natural and small village imagery — it was a nice contrast to the typical futuristic city in the genre.
The book reminded me a little of Kafka in the way that the people of this world seem frustratingly helpless to fix their situation. A novel within the novel similarly follows an utterly trapped character.
The conclusion left me with more questions than answers. Luckily, I read this with a discussion group — there’s certainly a lot to discuss here! It’s not exactly a book to lighten one’s spirits, but it’s a haunting story that will keep you thinking about it long after you finish.
Lakewood by Megan Giddings
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In the way that The Handmaid’s Tale used the dystopian genre to address women’s issues, Lakewood taps the horror genre to probe a lesser known history of medical experimentation on African Americans.
In an impressive debut, Megan Giddings shows how poor-paying job options and high medical bills can combine to leave people vulnerable to exploitation. Giddings writes in an approachable style with likable characters that pulled me into the story and kept me excited to read more.
A fun summer read if you’re into monster stories. Follows the classic horror trope of people getting trapped somewhere with a monster, but the sasquatch mythology and found-journal / non-fiction approach makes it a lot of fun. It also feels pretty relevant to current events that are happening now after Max Brooks wrote the thing. Prescient!
I’d read it at the beach if I felt comfortable going during a pandemic! (Note: I wrote this review in September 2020. Feeling better about the beach now!)
Check out my Goodreads page for more views and visit my bookshop to buy these and other books I recommend. Happy reading!
This July 4 weekend, I’ve been thinking a lot about America — the good, the bad and the ugly.
It’s a strange time to be an American. We are seeing a lot of ugly fighting between fellow citizens — all in the midst of a deadly virus that doesn’t differentiate between races or parties.
At the same time, I feel an undercurrent of hope. Because more people are recognizing our nation’s problems, maybe we are just at the beginning of a movement toward progress and a better America.
I have been trying to widen my own eyes through reading and discussion. A few friends and I are diving deep into the issue of white privilege through Layla Saad’s workbook, Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor. It is by no means easy to confront the internal prejudices we all carry — no matter how progressive we think we are. However, I recommend giving it a try.
Here are a few other books I’ve been reading lately that have made me consider what it means to be an American.
There There reveals the very real problems of an overlooked Cheyenne population that has never recovered from America’s colonization. There are many stories about the killing of this land’s Indigenous people set in the past as it happened, but I can’t remember one that so well shows the continuing consequences today.
The subject matter can be heavy, covering poverty, alcoholism and violence. However, Tommy Orange writes with an urgency that keeps the pages moving. I enjoyed how the author mixed in pop culture references to keep the story feeling current and now.
The cast of characters is large, making the list of names at the front of the book a valuable feature, but this does offer the reader a fuller range of perspectives. The approach might work even better as a two-hour film where seeing actors might make it easier to remember who everyone is and how they are related.
This book had me from the title! What better way to make Superman relevant than to write a story about the prejudices faced by immigrants? Superman is, after all, an alien.
What’s really cool about this book is that it’s targeted at a younger audience. With art by the guys who do Avatar comics, this is a fully accessible way to start teaching your kids about America’s history with racism and hate groups like the Klan. It also provides an under-told perspective of the struggles faced by Chinese American families in the late ’40s.
This was a fun introduction to a family that fights demons that fuel racism in America. Bitter Root is like the social justice version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Creators Walker and Brown keep the pages turning with a lot of movement on each page. The characters each have their own personalities, keeping things light even in the face of true horror. I haven’t seen monsters this gruesome since Animal Man, Volume 1: The Hunt.
I’m hoping subsequent volumes go a little deeper into each Sangeyre family member’s backstory. For a cold open, volume one really gets the reader’s attention. Excited to see where the story goes from here…
A great follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale that should please fans of that book and the TV show alike. Overall, this is a more optimistic book that’s far less brutal than what we’re used to in this world. Not that bad stuff doesn’t happen, but hope permeates throughout. Probably, that is the very kind of dystopian novel we need in these unusual times.
Atwood has a fluid way of communicating that makes reading this novel a breeze, even though she never dumbs things down or writes sensationally like typical mainstream fare. This could have been a lazy money grab after the success of the TV show, but Atwood has written a worthy sequel that should stand the test of time just like its forebearer.
Great collection of fantasy and sci-fi short stories by an author with a unique, refreshing voice. Enjoyed how Jemisin brings in New Orleans and other elements unusual to the genre. Some stories are stronger than others, but there are quite a few collected here with no real clunkers in the set. If you’ve been looking for something new in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, this is for you.
What does an author read? Books, obviously. Here are some of my recent highlights! Follow me on Goodreads to see more of what I’ve been reading. Please rate and review my novels while you’re there!
A moving, surreal graphic novel about life and death. Jeff Lemire shines again! It’s a short read, but very affecting. Twilight Zone with an emotional core. You’ll want to add it to your collection for later re-reading and to show your friends and family.
Sometimes it’s nice to have a quick, breezy read, and that’s what I got in Hornby’s latest.
The author has recently had much success with screenplays, and this novella (about 130 pages) certainly reads like one. It’s mostly dialog, with the few scene descriptions reading like the setups for a theatre production. Given the ad on the cover for a Sundance TV special, maybe a quick translation to screen was the intention.
If the above doesn’t put you off (it didn’t me), you’ll find Hornby’s usual British wit in full force here, this time focusing on marriage and the challenges of maintaining a relationship for many years. It’s easy to read and hard to put down until you reach the end.
I’m no scientist, but this book sure raises some intriguing physics conundrums! This was a bit more of a math book than I expected, but the main plot kept things moving.
What really separates this from other sci-fi is the historical detail about China’s Cultural Revolution. That’s not something I learned much about in school as an American student, and reading about it from a Chinese author’s perspective adds welcome authenticity.
I also appreciated the occasional comic relief from the policeman Da Shi to break up what could have been an overly heady affair.
Think I need a break before I get to Book 2, but I probably will continue with this thought-provoking series.
I was well entertained by this novel’s unreliable, somewhat senile narrator who delights in simple wordplay. Those seeking an epic fantasy should look elsewhere–I would put this more in the genre of Vonnegut or Joseph Heller. It’s a light and easy read that brought a hearty chortle from time to time.
