‘2084’: A Kickstarter for Dystopian Fiction

14 predictions of the world, 70 years in the future… this Kickstarter has just reached its stretch goals, and you still can join the fun.

Neil Gaiman said, about short-story collections:

I grew up loving and respecting short stories. They seemed to me to be the purest and most perfect things people could make: not a word wasted, in the best of them. An author would wave her hand and suddenly there was a world, and people in it, and ideas. A beginning, a middle, and an end that would take you across the universe and bring you back. I loved all kinds of short-story collections, from the anthologies of ghost and horror stories I’d pick up as a boy, to the single-author collections that would reshape the inside of my head.

I think he would enjoy this one, since it is a tribute to George Orwell’s 1984 set into the not-too-far future.

As the publishers claim:

In 1948 George Orwell saw a world in flux. After the tumult of two World Wars he saw lessons being forgotten, the slow creep of authoritarianism and the potential for our future to be a dark and oppressive place.

Now, in 2017, we’re seeing a world where Presidential staff thinks lies are “alternative facts.” Truth is becoming fluid, malleable, an annoyance more than an obligation for those in power. And all the while, the ice caps are melting and our climate is changing irrevocably.

See the flooded metropolises of the future, trek the wastelands of all that is left. Imagine the legacy of President Trump, and visit the borders of a future Europe. Say goodbye to your body as humanity joins the computers, or say goodbye to your freedom as the state takes control. All of these things may come to pass, in 2084.

The stories featured will be from these authors:

Jeff Noon
Christopher Priest
James Smythe
Lavie Tidhar
Aliya Whiteley
David Hutchinson
Cassandra Khaw
Desirina Boskovich
Anne Charnock
Ian Hocking
Oliver Langmead
Courttia Newland
Irenosen Okojie
EJ Swift

You can still join the Kickstarter and pledge to get rewards like Kickstarter-only editions, limited edition prints of the artwork, and signed limited edition hardback copies.

Featured images by Unsung Stories