A People’s Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers

It’s easy to write a dystopia when it feels like you’re living in one. And for many people in the United States, it’s hard not to feel like we’re either sliding toward dystopia or that we’re already there. But what if a group of writers went the other way? What if they imagined the future as it could be? One where ignorant barriers like homophobia, transphobia, nationalist jingoism, and more were being overturned, outmaneuvered, outwitted, and conquered by kindness, cleverness, courage, and individuality?

Those are the kinds of stories that populate A People’s Future of the United States. Tales of resistance, tales of peacemaking and risk taking, even the occasional ironic Twilight Zone-esque story where a cruel action meant to harm leads to a good result for those targeted. Stories of hope where love and identity in all sorts of forms survive and thrive, outlasting closed minds and regressive cowardice. Regimes are toppled, bridges built, relationships forged.

I’m a white cisgendered male. I can’t empathize with many of the protagonists in these stories, but I can sympathize. I can root them on. I can be hopeful for them. And this book doesn’t just make me hopeful for them and the writers who brought them to life, but for the world in general.

That’s what speculative fiction is all about.