After the Apocalypse
Stories
NPR Summary
This collection of dark short stories takes place somewhere in a near future where the U.S. economy has crumbled, dirty bombs are commonplace in American cities and prion diseases are eating everyone's brains. A prisoner dumped into Cleveland's "zombie preserve" sees his bloodthirsty companions not as monsters, but as a new kind of wildlife. A teenager watches her mother slipping away into madness as disease eats her brain, but worries more about how to escape her mother's girlfriend, a hoarder who is slowly filling their home with piles of junk. A woman who sells dolls on the internet has to deal with an online reputation she never asked for, and hip-hop loving Chinese factory workers are fomenting socialist-capitalist hybrid revolutions.
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NPR stories about After the Apocalypse
Best Books Of 2012
The Year's Best Science Fiction Crosses Galaxies And Genres
This collection of short stories by Hugo Award-winning author Maureen McHugh is also about humanity on the brink of massive change — but not the kind of epic, transcendent one that Kim Stanley Robinson imagines in 2312. These near-future stories imagine a future where the U.S. economy has tanked and dirty bombs are a regular feature of the urban landscape. As the world careens dangerously close to complete ruin, McHugh trains her unflinching eye on psychological catastrophes far
—Annalee Newitz
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This collection of dark, fiercely smart short stories will take you to a ragged world at the edge of dystopia. Each tale is a beautifully written character study that takes place somewhere in a near future where the U.S. economy has crumbled, dirty bombs are commonplace in American cities, and prion diseases are eating everyone's brains. Though her canvas is broad and strange, McHugh never takes us beyond the everyday experiences of her characters. A prisoner dumped into Cleveland's "zombie
—Annalee Newitz
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