Brave New Worlds (anthology)

Brave New Worlds : Dystopian Stories is a 2011 anthology edited by John Joseph Adams. A number of its 33 stories feature dystopias in which reproduction or sexuality are controlled, or gender roles are constrained.

Contents

• "Introduction" by John Joseph Adams - p.1
• "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson - p.3
• "Red Card" by S. L. Gilbow - p.11
• "Ten With a Flag" by Joseph Paul Haines - p.23. A couple pregnant with their first child receive a top rating for their fetus -- "ten" -- but "with a flag", which means some parental hardship, and an option to abort. The social rankings are almost never wrong. Babies born with a flag often result in maternal death. What will the couple do?
• "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin - p.33
• "Evidence of Love in a Case of Abandonment: One Daughter's Personal Account" by M. Rickert - p.39 - A patriarchal revolution has taken place in America, and women who don't comply are publicly executed, or go "missing". Told from the perspective of a young woman whose mother has disappeared.
• "The Funeral" by Kate Wilhelm - p.47 - An old woman, who possibly knew of a hiding place, has died; her female students are interrogated to see if she told them something. Society is regimented, and these young girls are chosen to become Teachers, Nurses, Lovers (to "Citizens", presumably men), or something less-than.
• "O Happy Day!" by Geoff Ryman - p.69. Concentration camps and death trains are run by gay men, under the orders of women, killing men who display violence or criminal behavior; mostly men of color. One man tries to bring humanity back to the camp.
• "Pervert" by Charles Coleman Finlay - p.97 -- Homosexuals and hydrosexuals are the only permissible sexualities. The story features a heterosexual man on his "wedding" day, when he is supposed to exchange sperm and eggs in a mating pool, without contact.
• "From Homogenous to Honey" by Neil Gaiman & Bryan Talbot - p.107 - sequential art story about dystopia in which homosexuality has been disappeared.
• "Billennium" by J. G. Ballard - p. 113. overpopulation.
• "Amaryllis" by Carrie Vaughn - p.127 - Reproduction is licensed and available only after family-groups have proven their ability to support the extra mouth in an ecologically sustainable fashion.
• "Pop Squad" by Paolo Bacigalupi - p.139 - longevity drug leads to children being killed
• "Auspicious Eggs" by James Morrow - p.161 - An overcrowded and Catholic world in which those who cannot procreate are not valued.
• "Peter Skilling" by Alex Irvine - p.179 - A man awakened from a 95-year frozen state finds that America is now a Christian right-wing totalitarian state, in which his Green Party membership and marijuana possession are crimes.
• "The Pedestrian" by Ray Bradbury - p.191
• "The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away" by Cory Doctorow - p.197
• "The Pearl Diver" by Caitlín R. Kiernan - p.229
• "Dead Space for the Unexpected" by Geoff Ryman - p.243
• "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison - p.257
• "Is This Your Day to Join the Revolution?" by Genevieve Valentine - p.267 - A world in which fear of disease is used by the government to control everyone. Not exactly an aside: Homosexuality is illegal, and the protagonist's "boyfriend" is gay.
• "Independence Day" by Sarah Langan - p.275
• "The Lunatics" by Kim Stanley Robinson - p.293
• "Sacrament" by Matt Williamson - p.315
• "The Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick - p.327 - Thought police predict and prevent future crimes.
• "Just Do It" by Heather Lindsley - p.357 - An activist for a movement to stop "chemical advertising" is trapped.
• "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. - p.369
• "Caught in the Organ Draft" by Robert Silverberg - p.375
• "Geriatric Ward" by Orson Scott Card - p.385
• "Arties Aren't Stupid" by Jeremiah Tolbert - p.401
• "Jordan's Waterhammer" by Joe Mastroianni - p.411
• "Of a Sweet Slow Dance in the Wake of Temporary Dogs" by Adam-Troy Castro - p.431
• "Resistance" by Tobias S. Buckell - p.451
• "Civilization" by Vylar Kaftan - p.463 - "Choose-your-own-adventure" meets "Civilization: The Game".
• "For Further Reading" by Ross E. Lockhart - p.471
• Acknowledgments - p.477