Welcome to Dystopia is a collection of 45 dystopian short stories that are dark, politically charged, and unsettlingI rarely read short stories because they almost always leave me wanting more. It's hard for me to resist dystopia, however, so I had to see what this collection had to offer.In case the title didn't give readers a hint, the editor makes it plain that the current U.S. president served as inspiration for this anthology and the stories within it. That may dissuade some people from rea...

-POTENTIAL SPOILERS~ I was actually quite excited to read this one. It's a collection of forty-five possible dystopian futures and I'm always up to see different ideas of what makes a dystopia. However, a vast majority of the stories fell flat to me. It was a wild ride reading this in the future year of 2021, a year some of these stories do take place in. The collector of these stories said he originally did so because of how frustrated he felt about Trump winning and wanted to showcase some oth...

Gordon Van Gelder says in his preface that he wanted lots of short stories for this anthology rather than just a few long ones. He succeeded. There are forty-five tales packed in here and even the most meticulous reviewer isn’t going to cover all of them, though I have read them all. My favourites are listed below in no particular order.Everyone knows immigrants are the source of all a country’s problems so in the future the crackdown on foreigners - except those needed as cheap labour - will be...

Perfect for any distopia fan, this eclectic collection of end-of-the-world stories is fascinating and at times, terrifying. A glimpse of potential futures, horrific political landscapes and natural disasters will satisfy any short story lover.

Sneakers (Libling, Michael): Two Canadians are stopped at the US border and harassed.Re: Your Wedding (Nestvold, Ruth): An email conversation between a family where one of the sisters is living on the Russian border and the other sister can’t get real news about what is going on.Everything is Fixed Now (Anderson, KG): After whistleblower laws expire, three techs wearing medical devices aren’t told about their crippling heart problems.His Sweat Like Stars on the Rio Grande (Ian, Janis): After the...

What a great bunch of stories about what will happen when different things go wrong. Really liked this!

I was unfortunately let down by this anthology. I was really looking forward to reading it and even asked for it for a gift, so I was really let down by the content. There were a few gems in here with creative storytelling and sharp insight, but the majority of it was dull, overused tropes, unclear plots, or, at its worst, an excuse for male writers to write women being sexually assaulted. Overall I wasn't very happy with this collection aside from a few stand outs, and I don't think I would rec...

There are a lot of good short stories in here.The editor introduces the volume by stating that he decided it would be better to include a large number of very short stories rather than 10-12 longer ones. I'm not sure I agree that that was the right choice. I will admit that reading such short pieces was a nice change of pace - but there were simply too many of them, and most followed the same theme. So, if you want to read 40 short stories about slight variations on how thing could go horribly w...

The number of stories structured as email conversations or letters makes this feel like it collates stories written as part of a creative writing course. It's probably intended to feel intimate, but after the first 3 or 4, the format becomes dull. This feeling of cliche also goes for some of the stories themselves, with several feeling like rip-offs of much better works.A further problem is how small, yet hysterical, many of the stories feel within just a couple of years of Trump's inauguration....

A wide variety of styles on display in this well put together book. Some of them work perfectly at this length; some would make great full length stories, and some are so short I'd barely got to grips with them before I was on to the next. As in all anthologies, the quality varies, but none are less than good and most are very good. Americans might not be too happy with several of them, though.An interesting read, leaves me with plenty to think about.Receiving an ARC did not affect my review in

I tried sooo hard to finish this mess. But I finally had to throw in the towel around 80%. After the execrable story about the White House dog. I mean, just awful and embarrassing. My creative writing professor would most assuredly had failed me if I had submitted it. While there were some decent stories, the over-reliance on Holocaust imagery by about 2/3 of the authors shows both a lack of imagination and a lack of respect. (IMO) I simply didn’t need story after story of lazy, mostly poorly wr...

- Title: Great.- Individual Authours: Some have some real chops- Contents in Aggregate: 45 writers penned 45 very short stories, mostly about (and, it feels like, mostly by) Americans who don't like Trumpism, but aren't in communities targeted by it.- Pros: Clearly written and snappy.- Cons: Repetitive and superficial- Fun fact: 13 are written as emails or attachments.- Conclusion: Browse it in the library if you want to see some new authoursDetails:Some of the stories are clever. Some are very

All very short and original stories. Political themes mostly. Was good.

I am a complete sucker for dystopian literature, and for short stories, so a combination of the two should be perfect for me. Unfortunately these stories aren't really *my* type of dystopia. They're (mainly) all a bit too close to the present and, quite frankly, too American. It's like blinkers are on for every author and none can see past their own country and the absolute shitstorm they're in (I'm British, we're in our own political shotstorm here). I like to read for escapism, not to be remin...

I'm a sucker for short stories and dystopia, and overall this book delivered. Some were too satirical for my taste, and a couple of stories didn't feel like the world was completely thought through, but most of the stories were compelling and made me think of the current American political landscape in a different light. I personally gravitated to more generic dystopian stories like "Burning Down the House" and "Designed for Your Safety." I also liked stories tied into current events like "The R...

I was given a free eBook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review by NetGalleyWelcome to Dystopia is a selection of stories by various writers about the horrors that await us in the near and far future. I really liked the amount of short stories in this book...in the intro, the editor says he chose shorter ones deliberately and I think it was a good idea.I love a good dystopia and some of these stories were really good. The one page tale of random executions in a train stati on that av...

When you love dystopian fiction it’s tough to resist a book that literally welcomes you to it. But then again maybe it would have been smart to exercise some caution…because this isn’t quite the sort of dystopia I enjoy. For one thing it’s set predominantly in near present or immediate future. For another it’s all one note, one theme…a nightmarish interpretation of the current US politics. And I’m not saying the world doesn’t need to be warned or cautioned of frightened about the situation. I’m

This is a really interesting collection of stories and range from humorous to heartbreaking.The stand outs to me are Burning Down The House by Ted White,Loser by Mathew Hughes,Welcome to Triumph Band. By Yoon Ha Lee,Application for Asylum by Eileen Gunn and Newsletter by Jennifer Marie Brissett.I look forward to reading more by these authors.I received an arc from the authors.

One of my favorite adages of making a rap song is don't drop the year in your jammy because it dates the work immediately. This book of short stories, while enjoyable is a bit of a thematic one-trick; compiled in the era of Trump, all of the stories imagine sort of worst case scenarios of the era played out. There were some fun stories in the set, but on the whole it already feels a bit dated/targeted.Having narrowly navigated the Trump reign, and still digging out the mess nationally, the dysto...

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.dnf @ 38%i don't like leaving books unfinished, especially i feel bad doing so with arcs, but at this point in my life my time is valuable, and i just can't keep pretending like i give a damn about this book anymore.anthologies are interesting because they contain many different stories tied together by some vague topic. this anthology read like a collection of stories from one...