The Literate Kitty

  It’s the   end of the world as we know it... but only the super-rich feel fine. (Well, closer to fine, anyway.)   In an America that could exist in the not-so-distant future, every nightmare scenario has become reality. The oceans have encroached on the coasts, submerging entire cities.  The fertile farmlands of the country’s midsection have completely dried up—no longer fit to produce either crops or livestock—leaving them nearly-unlivable dust bowls. Unable to afford even the basics—ample food, safe housing, medicine, modern technology and equipment—and being refused government assistance, the general populace is stirring. Angry. Hungry. Tired. Restless.  Millions of powder kegs set to ignite. The government is well aware of the imminent danger—as are the multi-billionaires whose money runs all of the men in power. And those wealthier-than-Croesus individuals? They’ve been planning for this eventual outcome a very long time... building luxury bunkers for the...

Pollution. Overcrowding. Poverty. Disease. Hunger. Rampant crime. Political upheaval and uncertainty. A pandemic. People struggling to survive just one more day, and then another.   And a few of them, here and there, deciding—for one reason or another—that they’re not gonna take it any more [ hopefully you just started bobbing your head to Twisted Sister, but if you weren’t, until right this second, you’re welcome ]. It could be today, tomorrow, or at some point not so far into the future, as in A.D. Enderly’s serpentine, dystopian sci-fi series debut, Complex . _______________ Everything basically sucks, in this dog-eat-dog world—especially if you’re just a nobody, trying to live your life—and Val knows that better than most. At 18, she’s already been the “parent” in her family for a couple years, responsible for food, shelter, and the general well-being of not only herself, but also of her younger sister, Kat. Sure, things could be easier… if she agreed to basically si...

Imagine you, but on a different Earth… one perhaps not so very much changed, just not quite the same. Now, imagine you in a dozen such worlds. In a hundred. Or, in The Space Between Worlds (Micaiah Johnson’s dazzling debut), 382 different versions of you, on 382 different Earths.   _______________ In a not-so-distant, dystopian future, traveling within the multiverse is possible—not for the average Joe, mind you, being crazy-expensive—but doable .  [Let’s back up for a sec, though, to break down “multiverse”: consider our universe, then assume that—since space is literally infinite —multiple universes essentially identical to ours probably exist within that vast expanse, including multiple earths populated by our doppelgängers… who may— or may not —behave as we do, given the vagaries of human decision-making, behavior, and whatnot. Yeah?] Anyway, back to traversing the multiverse. For the few people allowed to do so, it’s a job: go to whatever Earth the assignment calls ...

A recent entry in the dystopian sci-fi thriller arena—with undertones of “Logan’s Run”, a bit of “Blade Runner”, and, borrowing most heavily from “Orphan Black”—Netflix’s “What Happened to Monday?” turns out to be a pleasant surprise. The quandary for government and scientists: How to deal with an epic food shortage for a massive population explosion… just bio-engineer more food, right? Yeah, bad plan.  Mucking around in Mother Nature’s genetic pool always seems to lead to unexpected hinky-ness in the consumers of all that not-so-natural food, and in this case, causes an epidemic of multiple births… basically the exact opposite of how to solve a burgeoning population.  So, part two of the brilliant plan ( with Glenn Close playing the role of mastermind at the sci-tech conglomerate responsible for solving the problem )? Cryogenically freeze any additional babies from multiple births, so every family has but one child. Problem solved! Until, of course, some family d...