Today SciFiMonth and Top Ten Tuesday are getting mashed together. The prompt is book titles that could be newspaper headlines but I’m thinking of this a little differently.
Most of the time when you read sci fi it is far fetched. It may be time travel or space battles in a galaxy far far away. Today I’m highlighting a few sci fi books that could happen here in the near future.
Ink by Sabrina Vourvoulias happens in a near future United States. Opposition to immigration has grown to the point that people are tattooed with their immigration status. People whose families have been here for generations are excepted, of course. This story follows several people affected by this to see how that plays out.
I spent the entirety of the Trump administration thinking, “This is going to turn into Ink.”
There is a hint of magical realism at one point but I’m claiming this one for sci fi anyway.
Maxine Justice is a young lawyer living in a New York City where trials are decided by online juries sponsored by companies. Huge billboards appear in the sky every morning. Her life is absolutely plausible in about 100 years. Then she gets hired by aliens to facilitate first contact. That may be a bit less relatable but she does approach them through contract law.
The City Inside takes place in a near future India where social media stars have full time teams of handlers to create the most “authentic” experiences. This is a world where there have been waves of pandemics. Pollution and heat waves keep people inside and watching the flows from the media stars. This author does an excellent job with imaging a world that is very likely to come about.
Oh a galactic attorney. That is pretty cool!
A fantastic collection of titles!
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/book-titles-that-would-make-great-headlines/
INK and THE CITY INSIDE both sound super compelling! I’ll have to check them out.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
A Song for a New Day (by Sarah Pinsker) was published in 2019. I read it in January 2020. Here is the goodreads blurb:
“In the Before, when the government didn’t prohibit large public gatherings, Luce Cannon was on top of the world. … Now, in the After, terror attacks and deadly viruses have led the government to ban concerts, and Luce’s connection to the world—her music, her purpose—is closed off forever. She does what she has to do: she performs in illegal concerts to a small but passionate community, always evading the law.”
Everyone, in the book, worked from home due to a pandemic(s). creepy.
Lately a lot of scifi books are close to reality or about to become reality, you know?
(This may be a duplicate — not sure what happened to my first attempt at commenting!)
I love the cover and concept for The City Inside. Going to try to find it. As far as SF books that could be real:
Dave Eggers’ The Circle and The Every come to mind, and The Warehouse is partially based on real Amazon practices!
I love the cover for The City Inside. Close to reality SF reads….hmm. Dave Egger’s The Circle and The Every come to mind — I would not be surprised to find either a reality in ten years. “The Warehouse” is actually based on things that currently happen.
I’m going to have to try The City Inside. Thanks for sharing!
I had similar thoughts when Trump was in office.
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday post.