Dystopian bookshelf

After a long dry summer of not much fiction to interest me my nightstand has piled up with a number of titles which all seem to be in the dystopian satire genre. Perhaps it's due to the current state of the world or that publishers are just on a dystopia kick but I'm not complaining.

I just finished reading Stephenson's Interface in preparation for Quicksilver coming at the end of September. Interface is a fun, quick read since it is Stephenson in his pre-Pynchon phase, which means it's less than 1000 pages and doesn't require you to keep a dictionary or an encyclopaedia handy. It's somewhat plausible fiction which may someday even be regarded as prescient.

I haven't seen any reviews or mention of J.G. Ballard's new book, Millenium People, but from the blurb on Amazon it promises to be another terrific story. A middle-class revolt is my kind of dystopian satire.

And I'm currently reading Max Barry's Jennifer Government, another dystopian satire where much of the world is now owned and run by American corporations. The United States Federation Economic Blocs are filled with people whose last names are the name of the corporation they work for, e.g. Hack Nike, Violet ExxonMobile, Jennifer Government. It is described as "Catch-22 by way of The Matrix" which is a bit lofty but it's a terrific bit of satire. Apparently it is already going to be made into a movie.

Perhaps I should spend more time with Paul Brian's post-apocalypic fiction bibliography to find more dystopia while I'm on a roll. :)