Battle of the Dystopias

So here is promised post, I've been doing some research, some of my thoughts, ideas, opinions, knowledge etc... enjoy

I'll give you some examples of what I like. It's not just Dystopia-like universe, but I'm sure you won't mind, as long as it's good.

Seems like you woke my INNER SCI-FI / FANTASY geek >:- )

Raff Yes, it has Dystopian elements, but I wanted to say that 1984 is simply way beyond all other Dystopias for me. But I have few pictures (not just) for you :-)


However, that doesn't matter much. You're right that generally speaking, Do Androids (perfect book)



and Blade Runner (such an atmospheric movie) are good examples too.



P.K.Dick Talking about Dystopic things, almost everything by this author is in dark future. Or current time reality (more like 40-50 years ago, as by current I mean his reality when he wrote it), fear of nuclear war from his era etc .... Really, I've read 12 of his books (all translated to Czech) and have to say - go for him.

Canticle on Leibowitz :-) who knows this little gem. World after nuclear catastrophe.



And even Lem hated Harlan Ellison, I'll add something by him: I HAVE NO MOUTH AND I MUST SCREAM (he's screaming you know). Short story, maybe twenty pages, but it's so thrilling in a very horror sense of this word. From eponymous game. Also another gem of atmospheric gaming. These two will give you creeps for sure.



And also quite apocalyptic society.



Fried, the novel you mentioned I once read. Very special one, as it's so damn ... sinister (what if are like that often) and also it's PKD non sci-fi, which is quite ... weird (OK, it's OK, because he was weird, we like his stories to be weird)



To this, I have one contribution: Frantisek Novotny - Dlouhy den valhaly (long day of valhalla), it's seven parts (each 500 pages) story about Nazis who won WW2 with unholy mystic powers of old vikings. Really fantastic, can just recommend



War demons with regular people. Now, living in Dystopic world, threatened by powers beyond imagination, Human is on extinct



Umm, what society is DUNE ?



Prime example of CYBERPUNK, but basically it's also Dystopia



A Clockwork Orange is basically Dystopia, isn't it ? Or maybe mild Dystopia.







Source is my list of read books:

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs28/f/2008/075/0/3/Read_books__2008_03_14_by_marty_plzen.png

& Some listal.com, Top 32 Dystopian NOVELS:

http://www.listal.com/list/dystopian-novels
Top 50 Dystopian movies, also worth of checking. How many you've seen :-)

http://www.listal.com/list/top-50-dystopian-movies-all

I also like this list, seen it a year ago:

http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/the-top-50-dystopian-movies-of-all-time/

And good old wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dystopian_films
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dystopian_literature

Neuromancer wasn't easy reading for me and also, it isn't my most beloved book, but it's a good one. Added that it's understood as "father" of a genre, it has its historical value too. I like cyberpunk.

http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/cyberpunk-movies-by-decade/

This page can provide interesting information. I remember, about two years ago, how keen on these things I was. Now, prog rock reigns ;-)

But Dune, that's different case. I like it, I love it. I've read most of Czech released Herbert's work (including 5/6 Dune novels, except Saviour of Dune, which I wasn't able to pass through) & his son's, Brian Herbert's Dune-expanded and explained universe, which makes it in total 5+6.

Of course, my Dune voyage began with this:

Umm, what exactly didn't you like about Dune ? I can understand Neuromancer, I myself wasn't so interested (average, average + value), but with Dune, this book has special place in my life. I remember, six years (or seven) ago, when I had strong fever, wasn't able to do anything, just lie in my bed.

I realized that I have some Dune books near bed. I took them, opened and read. 

Le Guin, seems like it's a good writer. We shouldn't take Lem so much seriously in these views. Yes, good writer, but old-schooled in a bad way of this word - rejecting a lot of good, new things. I like American sci-fi for example. Except pulp ones.

But ... Perry Rhodan, I've read almost 1.000 issues of this ... pulp :-D it was so readable, so promising and interesting. Then.

First I "read" this when I was 6-8 (something like that), in comic form

And actually, I never read whole book. I wanted to, but this does not matter at all, as I heard dozens of analyses, people talking about it. :-D I even heard one guy re-telling it from memory, almost word to word. It's like the best from "compulsory" writers (Jan Neruda, Alois Jirásek, Božena Němcová, these from 19th century and many others). Čapek is different. He's like PROTO-SCI-FI

Really some beautiful artworks from upcoming MOVIE (yes, shocking, after all these years). It will be Czech movie though, as Karel Čapek is taken as some kind of national hero here. He's very good writer (if you have slight chance to read him, then try to do it, as it's something ... unique).

For me, probably the best Czech writer. Except Jiří Kulhánek of course, but that's another case (since 1990's, he writer brutal fantasy/sci-fi combination of humorous, un-charismatic superhero fighting with even bigger threats, reflecting modern society ... everything is dripped in satiric, surreal, insane way that I simply love)

http://kultura.idnes.cz/valka-s-mloky-ma-slibny-zacatek-podivejte-se-na-vytvarne-navrhy-psq-/filmvideo.asp?c=A091126_235420_filmvideo_jaz

Hope you can read it Moris. If not (and for others), try to use translator if you're interested.

And of course, War With Newts was some kind of warning signal that Nazi Germany is growing stronger and stronger. Karel Čapek died shortly after ... Well, WW2 started with, if not annexation of Austria, then when Germany stole our borderlands (actually, about 33% of our land). Never mind, I don't want to go into political discussion if not necessary, there's too much to say, but you probably already know it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_Čapek#Life_and_work

I wanted to quote something, but there's too much information that I'll just leave you his page. Worth reading. He's like Genesis of Czech writers.

And your second point - I think that Post-apocalyptic, Dystopic, Utopic (some people argue that Brave New World is utopia in some elements ... interesting opinion), Cyberpunk are very similar. Intelligent sci-fi, as opposed to