A Peoples Future of the United State..., Victor LaValle
A Peoples Future of the United State..., Victor LaValle
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A People's Future of the United States
Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers

Author: Victor LaValle, John Joseph Adams

Narrator: Kyla Garcia, Dani Martineck, Roxana Ortega, William DeMeritt, Prentice Onayemi, Paul Boehmer, Soneela Nankani, Adenrele Ojo, N'Jameh Camara, Vikas Adam, Darrell Dennis, Nancy Wu, Various

Unabridged: 15 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/05/2019

Synopsis

A glittering landscape of twenty-five speculative stories that challenge oppression and envision new futures for America—from N. K. Jemisin, Charles Yu, Jamie Ford, G. Willow Wilson, Charlie Jane Anders, Hugh Howey, and more.

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

About The Author

Victor LaValle is the author of seven works of fiction: four novels, two novellas, and a collection of short stories. His novels have been included in best-of-the-year lists by The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, The Nation, and Publishers Weekly, among others. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Book Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Key to Southeast Queens. He lives in New York City with his wife and kids and teaches at Columbia University. John Joseph Adams is the editor of John Joseph Adams Books, a science fiction and fantasy imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He is also the series editor of Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, as well as the bestselling editor of more than thirty anthologies, including Wastelands, The Living Dead, and The Apocalypse Triptych. Adams is also the editor and publisher of the magazines Nightmare and the Hugo Award–winning Lightspeed, and is a producer for Wired’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jamie on November 16, 2018

There are certain collections of speculative fiction that are tattooed on my brain. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison, and Futures on Fire, edited by Orson Scott Card, in particular. This one now joins that gallery of mind-bending, imagination-stretching stories, but there's something soul-......more

Goodreads review by Sahitya on December 26, 2018

This anthology boasts of some amazing authors and I just couldn't resist from requesting it as soon as I heard about it the first time. And what a thought provoking, sometimes infuriating and sometimes hopeful collection of stories this is. Right from the Foreword by Victor LaValle, we get an insigh......more

Goodreads review by Bradley on September 17, 2019

I got into this book with the expectation that at least some of the stories by these well-known writers would be hopeful or optimistic in the face of obvious injustice. After all, the whole collection IS a tribute to Howard Zinn's classic, A People's History of the United States. So of course, an SF......more

Goodreads review by Jim on September 02, 2020

This anthology is edited by LaValle & John Joseph Adams. I've liked previous anthologies edited by the latter. There were few gems in this collection. As usual, Howey didn't disappoint, I liked Wilson's offering, & there were a couple of authors new to me, so that made it worthwhile - barely. Well n......more

Goodreads review by Drew on March 22, 2019

Some of these stories actually don't work -- they feel too hard like they're trying to address the fucked-up-edness of our present without actually imagining a future. And the collection as a whole is far darker than the jacket copy makes you believe: there's an implication that these are stories im......more

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