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Did We Get The Dystopia We Were Promised?

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
In March, the mayor of Reggio Calabria, Italy, admonished his constituents that, "This is not a film. You are not Will Smith in 'I Am Legend.' "

Three years ago, we did a show where we asked which fictional dystopian future we were actually already living in. Now that we've arrived at, ya know, this present moment, that show has been on our minds. But we've realized we've got a new set of questions now too.

After all the dystopian and apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction there's been over the past couple decades -- and there's been KIND OF A LOT, right? -- has any of it actually prepared us for our very present, very current, actual nonfiction dystopia?

Well, mostly no. But some of it just may have.

And then: What exactly is dystopian fiction going to look like after this is all over?

GUESTS:

  • Naomi Kritzer - A science fiction and fantasy writer; she wrote "So Much Cooking" in 2015, and her novel Catfishing on CatNet just won the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel
  • Laurie Penny - An author, columnist, journalist, and screenwriter
  • Ben Winters - The author of ten novels; his new collection of short stories, Inside Jobs: Tales from a Time of Quarantine, is out tomorrow as an Audible original

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

Jonathan is a producer for ‘The Colin McEnroe Show.’ His work has been heard nationally on NPR and locally on Connecticut Public’s talk shows and news magazines. He’s as likely to host a podcast on minor league baseball as he is to cover a presidential debate almost by accident. Jonathan can be reached at jmcnicol@ctpublic.org.

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