Skip to main content
The Morning Star 2026 Conference
Flawed visions of unwelcome times ahead
An anthology of dystopian fiction disappoints ANDY HEDGECOCK

Welcome to Dystopia: Forty-five Visions of What Lies Ahead
Edited by Gordon Van Gelder
(OR Books, £16)

WITH jobs automated out of existence, Facebook used to influence elections and computer programmes managing state surveillance, military invasion and social control, the late Stephen Hawking rightly warned us about technology, particularly that it is driving “ever-increasing inequality.”

Unsurprising, then, that there has been a spate of dystopian fiction anthologies, with the Morning Star in recent months covering two relentlessly pessimistic and impressive collections, 2084 (Unsung Stories) and Exit Earth (Storgy).

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
(L to R) How many Aunties?, Back Hares Mount, Leeds, 1978; M
Photography / 14 April 2025
14 April 2025

Peter Mitchell's photography reveals a poetic relationship with Leeds

The crowd at Manchester Punk Festival 2024
Culture / 11 April 2025
11 April 2025
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
Tower of Babel, 1982
Culture / 10 April 2025
10 April 2025
This is poetry in paint, spectacular but never spectacle for its own sake, writes JAN WOOLF
MURDER AFORETHOUGHT: The execution of 56 Poles in Bochnia, n
Books / 28 March 2025
28 March 2025
RON JACOBS welcomes the long overdue translation of an epic work that chronicles resistance to fascism during WWII