Chronic City

The Remaking of Sigmund Freud

Barry N. Malzberg1985

In a future where the dead are reconstructed, Sigmund Freud is brought back to life to treat a galaxy-wide neurosis.

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The Wanting Seed

Anthony Burgess1962

In an overpopulated future, a couple navigates a society that enforces infertility. The state eventually collapses into cannibalism and war.

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Roderick

John Sladek1980

The first sentient robot is born into a world of bureaucratic absurdity and human incompetence. It is a picaresque satire of modern life.

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Bête

Adam Roberts2014

A farmer kills a cow that has been given artificial intelligence. He navigates a future where animals can argue for their own right to live.

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Empty Space

M. John Harrison2012

Three interlocking timelines follow a widow in London, a detective in a neon city, and a pilot in deep space. The prose is dense and surreal.

sardonic → dreamlike

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Nova Express

William S. Burroughs1964

An experimental narrative uses the cut-up technique to depict a war between intergalactic criminals and the police. It is a collage of imagery.

Same sardonic register, still satire

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This Girl

Colleen Hoover2013

A husband retells the story of his early relationship to his wife. It uses dual timelines to revisit events from the first book in the series.

sardonic → earnest

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Redshirts

John Scalzi2012

Low-ranking crew members on a starship realize they are disposable characters in a sci-fi television show. They attempt to escape their fate.

sardonic → playful, still satire

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Get Jiro!

Anthony Bourdain2012

In a future Los Angeles, master chefs rule as warlords. A sushi chef who kills rude customers is caught between two warring food factions.

Same sardonic register, still satire

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The Martian

Andy Weir2011

A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.

sardonic → wry

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Dhalgren

Samuel R. Delany1975

An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.

sardonic → dreamlike

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Invisible Cities

Italo Calvino1972

Marco Polo describes fifty-five imaginary cities to Kublai Khan. The book is a series of short, prose-poem meditations on urban existence.

sardonic → meditative

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A Clockwork Orange

Anthony Burgess1962

A teenage gang leader is imprisoned and subjected to state-mandated psychological conditioning. The story is told in a slang called Nadsat.

Same sardonic register, still satire

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The Stepford Wives

Ira Levin1972

A photographer moves to a suburb where the wives are unnervingly submissive. She investigates whether the local men are replacing them with robots.

sardonic → tense, still satire

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