In these tumultuous times, in our deeply divided country, many people are angry, frightened, and hurting. Knowing that imagining a brighter tomorrow has always been an act of resistance, editors Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams invited an extraordinarily talented group of writers to share stories that explore new forms of freedom, love, and justice. They asked for narratives that would challenge oppressive American myths, release us from the chokehold of our history, and give us new futures to believe in.
They also asked that the stories be badass.
The result is this spectacular collection of twenty-five tales that blend the dark and the light, the dystopian and the utopian. These tales are vivid with struggle and hardship—whether it’s the othered and the terrorized, or dragonriders and covert commandos—but these characters don’t flee, they fight.
Thrilling, inspiring, and a sheer joy to listen to, A People’s Future of the United States is a gift for anyone who believes in our power to dream a just world.
AUDIO TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction by Victor LaValle, read by the author
The Bookstore at the End of America, by Charlie Jane Anders, read by Kyla Garcia
Our Aim Is Not to Die, by A. Merc Rustad, read by Dani Martineck
The Wall, by Lizz Huerta, read by Roxana Ortega
Read After Burning, by Maria Dahvana Headley, read by William DeMeritt
Chapter 5: Disruption and Continuity [excerpted], by Malka Older, read by Prentice Onayemi
It Was Saturday Night, I Guess That Makes It All Right, by Sam J. Miller, read by Paul Boehmer
Attachment Disorder, by Tananarive Due, read by Kyla Garcia
By His Bootstraps, by Ashok K. Banker, read by William DeMeritt
Riverbed, by Omar El Akkad, read by Soneela Nankani
What Maya Found There, by Daniel José Older, read by Roxana Ortega
The Referendum, by Lesley Nneka Arimah, read by Adenrele Ojo
Calendar Girls, by Justina Ireland, read by N’Jameh Camara
The Synapse Will Free Us from Ourselves, by Violet Allen, read by Vikas Adam
O.1, by Gabby Rivera, read by a full cast (Public Broadcast, Falak Alfayed: Vikas Adam; Mala: Soneela Nankani; Deviana Ortiz: Roxana Ortega; Key: William DeMeritt; Orion: Adenrele Ojo; Luz: Kyla Garcia)
The Blindfold, by Tobias S. Buckell, read by Prentice Onayemi
No Algorithms in the World, by Hugh Howey, read by Darrell Dennis
Esperanto, by Jamie Ford, read by N’Jameh Camara
ROME, by G. Willow Wilson, read by Soneela Nankani
Give Me Cornbread or Give Me Death, by N. K. Jemisin, read by Adenrele Ojo
Good News Bad News, by Charles Yu, read by a full cast (Narrators: Prentice Onayemi & Dani Martineck; Elizabeth Chang: Nancy Wu; Darren Chang: Darrell Dennis; Cynthia Rodriguez: N’Jameh Camara; Bert Newsom: Paul Boehmer; Emma Chang: Kyla Garcia; Nicholas Chang: Nancy Wu)
What You Sow, by Kai Cheng Thom, read by Nancy Wu
A History of Barbed Wire, by Daniel H. Wilson, read by Darrell Dennis
The Sun in Exile, by Catherynne M. Valente, read by Nancy Wu
Harmony, by Seanan McGuire, read by Dani Martineck
Now Wait for This Week, by Alice Sola Kim, read by Soneela Nankani
Author
Charlie Jane Anders
Charlie Jane Anders is the author of the Unstoppable trilogy, beginning with Victories Greater Than Death. She’s also the author of the short-story collection Even Greater Mistakes, and Never Say You Can’t Survive, a book about how to use creative writing to get through hard times. Her other books include The City in the Middle of the Night and All the Birds in the Sky. She’s won the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Lambda Literary, Crawford, and Locus awards. She co-created Escapade, a transgender superhero, for Marvel Comics and wrote her into the long-running New Mutants comic. And she’s currently the science-fiction and fantasy book reviewer for The Washington Post. Her TED Talk, “Go Ahead, Dream About the Future” got seven hundred thousand views in its first week. With Annalee Newitz, she co-hosts the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct.
Learn More about Charlie Jane AndersAuthor
Lesley Nneka Arimah
Lesley Nneka Arimah was born in the UK and grew up in Nigeria and the United States. Her work has received grants and awards from Commonwealth Writers, the Elizabeth George Foundation, The MacDowell Colony, Breadloaf and others. She was selected for the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 and is the recipient of an O’Henry Award, the 2017 Kirkus Prize, and is a Society of Midland Authors 2017 honoree. Her short story collection What it Means When a Man Falls From the Sky was published by Riverhead in April 2017 and is a finalist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize and New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award. She currently lives in Minneapolis.
Learn More about Lesley Nneka ArimahAuthor
Charles Yu
CHARLES YU is the author of four books, including Interior Chinatown (the winner of the 2020 National Book Award for fiction), and the novel How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (a New York Times Notable Book and a Time magazine best book of the year). He received the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 Award and was nominated for two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work on the HBO series, Westworld. He has also written for shows on FX, AMC, and HBO. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired, among other publications. Together with TaiwaneseAmerican.org, he established the Betty L. Yu and Jin C. Yu Writing Prizes, in honor of his parents.
Learn More about Charles Yu