A World for the Meek: A Fantasy Novel - Harry Willson (Amador Publishers, 1987)
Post-catastrophe novel that is something of a Robinsonade and something of a last man novel. The eutopia develops as a community among a lone human survivor and advanced dolphins and octopi.
Keywords: Male author

The Year Before Yesterday - Brian W[ilson] Aldiss (1925-2017) (Franklin Watts, 1987)
Alternative history including a fascist Britain.
Rpt. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1988. Contains his “The Impossible Smile” first published in a different form under the pseudonym Jael Craken in Science Fantasy 23 - 24.72 - 73 (May – June 1965): 5-43, 5-44. Rpt. in SF Reprise 6 (1966): 5-43, 5-44; and “Equator” first published in New Worlds Science Fiction 25.75 - 76 (September - October 1958): 4-41; 80-121; and as Vanguard from Alpha. New York: Ace Books, 1959. Ace Double bound with Kenneth Bulmer’s The Changeling Worlds.
Keywords: English author; Male author

After the Fact - Hélène [Papachristides] Holden (Oberon Press, 1986)
Dystopia. Unexplained breakdown of civilization.
Keywords: Female author

Aiki - John Gilbert (b. 1926) (Donald I. Fine, 1986)
Future dystopia. Rigid division between rich and poor. Drugs and television used to control the masses. Rebellion.
Rpt. New York: Pocket Books, 1986.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Anarchy Comics No. 4 (Molly Steiner Collective, 1986)
The anarchist, feminist eutopia described in illustrations taken from many different comic strips with the captions providing the descriptions.

"And He Not Busy Being Born. . . ." - Brian [Michael] Stableford (1948-2024) (Interzone, 1986)
Eutopian/dystopian society of the future. Virtually immortal people remain children physically, know no difficulties. Story is about a man from the past who is revived.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Arthur C. Clarke's July 20, 2019. A Day In the Life of the 21st Century - Arthur C[harles] Clarke ed. [written by] (1917-2008) (Grafton Books, 1986)
Although Clarke gives credit to a number of people for their contributions, this is not an edited collection. Presented as a series of predictions, but the general effect is so positive that it can be called a eutopia.
Keywords: English author; Male author

"As Big As the Ritz" - Gregory [Albert] Benford (b. 1941) (Interzone, 1986)
Social science fiction depicting three societies, one of them at some length. This one is presented as a eutopia based on cloning and conditioning. Low tech world based, in part, on high tech.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Ballad of Halo Jones - Alan [Oswald] Moore (b. 1953); Ian Gibson (Titan Books, 1986)
Cartoon series. Includes a dystopia near New York where all the unemployed are sent.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Band of Angels - Julian F. Thompson (Scholastic, 1986)
Young adult quest novel with a dystopian background. A group of anti-nuclear teenagers set off across the U.S. followed by government agents intending to kill them.
Keywords: Male author

Beyond Capitalism - J[ohn] B[ernard] Ball (b. 1911) (Ballmark Publications, 1986)
Detailed eutopia similar to his early works but more fictionalized in that it is presented as an explanation to emissaries from a nation that has chosen not to join the Technomic Alliance. Automation used only where it does not take jobs away from people or in hazardous situations (49). The indigenous population has been fully integrated into the new system (86). All religious officials are now elected by church members on a national basis and are completely self-funded (49). In 1957 the author ran in the Canadian federal election as a candidate in Regina, Saskatchewan for the National Credit Control Party, a party of his own creation. His purpose was to publicize the monetary system he developed. See “J.B. Ball National Credit Control” within “Six Candidates Offer Final Election Message.” The Leader-Post (Regina, SK, Canada) 48.132 (June 8, 1957): 3. Another fictionalized version is Technomics in one corporate world. By Barney Ballmark [pseud.]. [Foremost, AB: Author], [1983]. See also 1956 Ball Ahoy for Eternity and National Credit, The Handbook of the Universal Monetary System, and Universal Monetary System of National Credit Control, and The Universal Monetary System of National Credit Control: A Financial Revolution With Nationalized Accounting Merchandising at Cost; 1961 Ball, Cosmocracy: The Universal Monetary System. Regina, SK, Canada: J.B. Ball; 1978 Ball, Permacredit. Universal Finance for Government & Industry. World Government without Trade Deficits. A Cash System of Accounting without Debt in Industry or Government or Taxes Against Industry or Credit Cards. Foremost, AB: Author; 1980 Ball, The Cosmic Laws of the Spectrum: Evolution and Government. By Barney Ballmark [pseud.]. [Foremost, AB: Ballmark Publications];1982 Ball, Technomics. A Better Economy. International. By Barney Ballmark [pseud.]. [Foremost, AB: Ballmark Publications]; and 1988 Ball, The Laws of the Micro Giants. An Odyssean Classic. Foremost, AB: Ballmark Publications. Other versions include The Technomic Alliance [subtitle on the cover No Taxes on property or income, the obvious solution, total employment]. 3rd ed. By Barney Ballmark [pseud.]. Foremost, AB: Ballmark Publications, 1984; Pathway to the Stars: Industrial Democracy Beyond Democracy and Christianity Plus the Photon Theory of Creation. Foremost, AB: Ballmark Publications, 1986. [New ed.] as The Pathway to the Stars. The Photon theory of Creation. Poetry. Foremost, AB, Canada: Ballmark Publications, 1987. Rpt. as Pathway to the Stars. Industrial Democracy Beyond Capitalism and Christianity Plus the Photon Theory of Creation. Includes Poetry Selections. Foremost, AB, Canada: Ballmark Publications, 1989. Another ed. as The Pathway to the Stars. By The Hobo Poet [pseud.]. Foremost, AB, Canada: Ballmark Publications, 1990 in four sections, [“Memoirs, Poetry, and Stories] (1-164),” “Industrial Capitalism--Beyond Capitalism” (165-213), “Gleaning from Prairie Art Shows” (214-29), and “Radiation Properties of Creation” (230-51); Technomics International. Perpetual Payroll Financing for Government and Industry. Rev. October 1986. [Foremost, AB, Canada: Ballmark Publications, 1986; Industrial Democracy. Beyond Capitalism and Christianity. Includes the Photon Laws of Creation. Foremost, AB, Canada: Ballmark Publications, 1989; and Industrial Democracy. Beyond Capitalism. This concept of world marketing explains how nations can finance total employment, without international debt, or taxation on property and income. New Economic System. Foremost, AB, Canada: Ballmark Publications, 1990. 53 pp.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author

Beyond Tomorrow, A Rational Utopia - Burnham P[utnam] Beckwith Ph.D. (b. 1904) (B. P. Beckwith, 1986)
Detailed eutopia set in Los Angeles 500 years in the future. World federal government of thirteen countries. New language. Government by experts, no government worker can earn more than twice as much as the average worker. Monetary incentives to perform better or take on certain jobs common.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Bones of God - Stephen [Walter] Leigh (b. 1951) (Avon, 1986)
A theocracy faces a new Messiah.
U.K. ed. London: Headline, 1988.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Captive Planet - Gregory J[on] Smith (Bethany House Publishers, 1986)
Christian science fiction. Authoritarian dystopia and the battle of good and evil. Good wins.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Children of Arable - David [Corderoy] Belden (b. 1949) (New American Library, 1986)
The novel is about a future genderless society when a woman is born, and the woman becomes an advocate for revolutionary change. The second volume and final volume in the series is To Warm the Earth. New York: New American Library, 1988. Rev. with the subtitle Book II of the Gendering Series. Poughkeepsie, NY: Vivisphere Publishing, 2002 is set in a future frozen Earth and a woman from that Earth finds a man from another world who can help Earth. In this volume, the author says that he was at work on the third volume, which does not appear to have been published, and had revised both previous volumes in light of that work.
Rev. ed. as Children of Arable. Book 1 of the Gendering Series. Revised version of the formerly published novel. Poughkeepsie, NY: Vivisphere Publishing, 2001.
Keywords: Male author; UK author; US author

Circuit - Melinda M[arilyn] Snodgrass (b. 1951) (Berkley Books, 1986)
Space law and courts in conflict with political power. The protagonist is a judge of space law who believes that justice rather than political power should determine decisions, which leads to an attempt to impeach him. See also her Circuit Breaker. New York: Berkley Books, 1987, which continues the same theme and the same protagonist with the focus on a conflict between the residents of Mars and a wealthy conglomerate; and Final Circuit. New York: Ace Books, 1988, in which the circuit court on which the protagonist sat has been disbanded, and his impeachment is ordered as war breaks out.
Keywords: Female author; US author

Cod Streuth - Bamber Gascoigne (b. 1935) (Jonathan Cape, 1986)
Humor. A Puritan minister equipped with sections of Rabelais leads a tribe who take to Rabelais with great enthusiasm.
Rpt. London: Paladin, 1987.
Keywords: Male author

The Coming of the Prophet Bird - Ted Sheasby (b. 1920) (Author, 1986)
Catastrophe story with survivors in which those most in touch with nature do best.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Male author

The Coming of the Quantum Cats - Frederik [George] Pohl [Jr.] (1919-2013) (Bantam Books, 1986)
Presents a number of alternative societies, mostly dystopian. A central one has the United States dominated by Islam with the F.B.I. [Federal Bureau of Investigation] a major political force.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Confessions of Madame Psyche: Memoirs and Letters of Mei-li Murrow - Dorothy [Calvetti] Bryant (b. 1930) (Ata Books, 1986)
Primarily an historical novel but includes a description of an intentional community that was designed to be a “Garden of Eden”, and one section of the novel traces its rise and fall. Female author.
Rpt. New York: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 1998 with an “Afterword” by J.J. Wilson (377-92).
Keywords: Female author; US author

Corpse - Mick [Michael Anthony] Farren (1943-2013) (New English Library, 1986)
Future dystopia. Corporate control with corporations fiercely competitive, to the extent of putting arranging to have competitors killed. Large scale permanent unemployment. Lots of violence, conflict among groups struggling for power.
U.S. ed. as Vickers. New York: Ace Books, 1988.
Keywords: English author; Male author

"Count Zero" - William [Ford] Gibson (b. 1948) (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, 1986)
Future surreal dystopia of huge corporations. See also his 1984 Neuromancer.
Repub. London Victor Gollancz, 1986.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author; US author

Crisis! - James E[dwin] Gunn (1923-2020) (Tor, 1986)
The novel is about a man from a dysfunctional future sent to the past to try to change enough to create a better future, but every change changes both past and future, with little positive change.
Sections originally in Analog as “Child of the Sun” 97.3 (March 1977): 74-90, 92-98; “End of the World” 101.1 (January 1984): 70-88; “Man of the Hour” 104.10 (October 1984): 106-28; “Touch of the Hour” 105.2 (February 1985): 106-29; “Mother of the Year” 105.4 (April 1985): 138-58; and “Will of the Wisp” 105.5 (May 1985): 54-76.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Cry Wolf - Aileen La Tourette (b. 1946) (Virago, 1986)
Post-catastrophe novel about a controlled dystopia gradually becoming freer.
Keywords: Female author; UK author; US author

“The Day of No-Judgement” - W[alter] Warren Wagar (1932-2004) (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1986)
The first of three dystopian stories in which an unexplained “effect” unravels reality. Seen through the eyes of a professor who appears to be immune to whatever is causing the problem who is trying to understand the changes in things and people, including one of his female students who seems to both hate and love him, and with whom he falls in love. See 1987 and 1988 Wagar for the other stories.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Deathwish World - Mack [Dallas McCord] Reynolds (1917-83); Dean Ing (1931-2020) (Baen Books, 1986)
Authoritarian dystopia. Story of the ultimate gamble where one becomes the target for hired killers in exchange for great wealth for life, albeit usually a short one. One who survives and, as a result, is targeted by the government, plots, successfully to overthrow it.
Keywords: Male author; US author

A Door Into Ocean - Joan [Lyn] Slonczewski (b. 1956) (Arbor House, 1986)
Complex feminist and ecological eutopia on an ocean planet with no men that practices cooperation and nonviolence in conflict with a male dominated, authoritarian society that wants to take the knowledge that the women have by force and control the planet. Her eutopian Daughter of Elysium (1993) is also part of her Elysium Cycle as are her non-utopia “The Children Star.” Illus. Darryl Elliott in Analog 118. 4 – 7/8 (April – July/August 1998): 10-16, 18-59; 10-54; 58-97; 180-218, 220-222; rpt. without the illus. New York: Tor, 1998; and Brain Plague. New York: Tor, 2000.
Collector's Edition illus. Michael Mariano and with an "Introduction" by Pamela Sargent (v-ix). Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, 1992.
Keywords: Female author; US author

Double Nocturne - Cynthia [Lindgren] Felice (b. 1942) (Bluejay, 1986)
Background of an authoritarian dystopia in which women suppress men.
Rpt. New York: DAW, 1986
Keywords: Female author; US author

"Down and Out in the Year 2000" - Kim Stanley Robinson (b. 1952) (Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, 1986)
Dystopia of being poor in a future failing <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Rpt. in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Fourth Annual Collection. Ed. Gardner [Raymond] Dozois (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1987), 530-43 with an editor’s note on 529; in Robinson’s Remaking History (New York: Tor, 1991), 198-215; and in Cyberpunk: Stories of Hardware, Software, Wetware, Revolution and Evolution. Ed. Victoria Blake (Portland, OR: Underhand Press, 2013), 089-106.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Dream Catcher - Monica [Mary] Hughes (1925-2003) (Methuen, 1986)
Sequel to 1984 Hughes. Continuing struggle for freedom from a girl's perspective. Young adult.
Keywords: Canadian author; Female author

Dreams of an Unseen Planet - Teresa [Irene] Plowright (b. 1952) (Arbor House, 1986)
The novel is about the interactions between humans and planet Gaea, which is alive. The novel deals in particular with the responses of women. Canadian female author.
Keywords: Canadian author; Female author

Escape Plans - Gwyneth [Ann] Jones (b. 1952) (Orion, 1986)
Eutopia for elites; effectively slavery for the rest. See also 1985 Jones.
Keywords: English author; Female author

Ethan of Athos - Lois McMaster [Joy] Bujold (b. 1949) (Baen, 1986)
While the focus of the novel is adventure, it is unusual in presenting a male homosexual society as a eutopia.
U.K. ed. London: Headline, 1989.
Keywords: Female author; US author

The Eye of the Earth (Poems) - Niyi Osundare (b. 1947) (Heinemann Educational Books, 1986)
Poems that present the African past and environment in eutopan terms. While the poetry can be read in non-eutopian terms, the author makes this reading clear in the "Preface" (xi-xiv).
Keywords: Male author; Nigerian author

Faithful Rebecca - Janice Eidus (b. 1951) (Fiction Collective, 1986)
Feminist eutopia including an Amazon community in South America. Much of the novel is about a complicated relationship between two women and a man.
Keywords: Female author; US author

Foundation and Earth - Isaac Asimov (1920-92) (Doubleday & Co, 1986)
Continuation of the Foundation series that continues the eutopia of the sentient planet Gaia in 1982 Asimov. See also 1988 Asimov.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Free - M. Gilliland (Hooligan Press, 1986)
Mostly an anarchist revolution and the reaction to it, but there is a description of an anarchist eutopia.
Rpt. London: Attack International, 1990.

"Freeforall" - Margaret [Eleanor] Atwood (b. 1939) (The Toronto Star, 1986)
After the world is ravaged by sexually transmitted diseases, breeding is controlled to guarantee disease free children. The Freeforalls are where anyone who is outside the breeding program is sent. In these walled compounds, food is dropped in daily by helicopter, and there is no limit on sex, but it is expected that most will die fairly soon.
Rpt. in Tesseracts2. Ed. Phyllis [Fay Bloom] Gotlieb and Douglas Barbour (Victoria, BC: Porcépic Press, 1987), 130-38; and Northern Suns. Ed. David G. Hartwell and Glenn Grant (New York: Tor, 1999), 17-24.
Keywords: Canadian author; Female author

The Freeman - Jerry [Jerome Morrell] Ahern (1946-2012); Sharon Ahern (b. 1948) (Bantam Books, 1986)
Dystopia in which the United States has become a totalitarian state through the cancellation of the Second Amendment on the right to bear arms and appeasement of the Soviet Union. Survivalists resist.
Keywords: Female author; Male author; US author

Ghost - [Piers Anthony Dillingham] [Jacob] (b. 1934) (Tor, 1986)
Dystopia of an energy-depleted earth as a background.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Gilpin's Space - Reginald Bretnor (1911-92) (Ace Science Fiction Books, 1986)
Earth is a dystopia with three factions, corporations, the Soviets, and a group forcing conformity that calls itself the Individualist People’s Party. A group of people manage to leave Earth and find another Earth-like planet to settle where they begin to create a better world.
Book I “Owl’s Flight Geoffrey Cormac” (1-77) was originally published as “Gilpin’s Space.” The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 64.2 (February 1983): 4-60.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Goodman 2020 - [John] Fred[erick] Pfeil (1949-2005) (Indiana University Press, 1986)
Future dystopia of corporate power, drugs, and friendship as a commodity for sale. Some hope is held out at the end.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Hard Wired - Walter Jon Williams (b. 1953) (Tor, 1986)
Cyberpunk dystopia. See also his Voice of the Whirlwind. New York: Tor, 1987; and Solip:System. Eugene, OR: Axolotl Press, 1989.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Hard Work or, The Secrets of Success" - Thomas M[ichael] Disch (1940-2008) (Interzone, 1986)
Corporate dystopia.
Rpt. in Mississippi Review, no. 47/48 (16.2 & 3) (1988): 170-93.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Heir - John Preston (Caliente Press, 1986)
Sadomasochistic eutopia.
An earlier version appeared as an issue of Drummer, no. 82 (1985).
Keywords: Male author

"Hush My Mouth" - Suzette Haden Elgin (1936-2015) (Alternate Histories: Eleven Stories Stories of the World As it Might Have Been, 1986)
Alternate history in which during the U.S. Civil War both North and South refuse to allow Blacks to serve and the war ends in a stalemate with neither side winning. The depleted southern forces return home riddled with disease and all whites die or, in a few cases, are killed. New Africa, the old South, was populated by people divided by their place of origin, without a common language, and unwilling to work together. A sect of Silents, who vow never to speak, arise to remind people of the sin of Pride.
Rpt. in Women of Other Worlds: Excursions Through Fiction and Feminism. Ed. Helen Merrick and Tess Williams (Perth, WA, Australia: University of Western Australia Press, 1999), 311-18.
Keywords: Female author; US author

Isaac Asimov Presents The Man Who Pulled Down the Sky - John [Allen] Barnes (b. 1957) (Congdon & Weed, 1986)
Conflict between the Orbital Republics, created by Earth but now dominating it, free colonies from around Jupiter and Saturn, and Earth, which has to be provoked to rebel. At the end the possibility of cooperation among all three groups exists.
U.K. ed. as The Man Who Pulled Down the Sky. An Isaac Asimov Recommendation. London: New English Library 1988.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Isaac Asimov Presents Through Darkest America - Neal [Patrick] Barrett Jr. (1929-2014) (Congdon & Weed, 1986)
Dystopia of a post-catastrophe America. The sequel Dawn’s Uncertain Light. New York: New American Library, 1989 is about a young man trying to find his sister in the devastation.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Islay. A Novel - Douglas Bullard (1937-2005) (T. J. Publishers, 1986)
Humorous utopia written by a Deaf American about the establishment of a homeland for the deaf in which the protagonists are mostly deaf
Rpt. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 2013, with a “Foreword” by Cynthia Pettie (ix-xvii). The reprint is a volume in Gallaudet Classics in Deaf Studies.
Keywords: Deaf author; Male author; US author

The Keeper - Barry Faville (b. 1939) (Oxford University Press, 1986)
Young adult post-catastrophe novel. Authoritarian dystopia focused on the continuing dangers of radiation sickness. The people are sliding into ignorance even though they assign one person, known as "the Keeper," to be a teacher and oversea the copying of past writing, in the hope that they will be understood again in the future.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Male author

Lacey and His Friends - David [Allen] Drake (1945-2023) (Baen Books, 1986)
Dystopia of constant surveillance and ruthless police.
Originally published as “Nation Without Walls.” Analog Science Fact--Science Fiction 97.7 (July 1977): 10-14, 16, 18-38; rpt. in his Grimmer Than Hell (New York: Baen, 2003), 268-98; “The Predators.” Destinies 1.5 (October-December 1979): 254-94; rpt. in his Grimmer Than Hell (New York: Baen, 2003), 299-328; “Underground.” Destinies 2.1 (February-March 1980): 218-72; “Travellers.” Destinies 3.1 (Winter 1981): 234-86; rpt. in his Grimmer Than Hell (New York: Baen, 2003), 329-73; and “Time Safari.” Destinies 3.2 (1981): 182-270.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Last Election - Pete Davies (b. 1959) (André Deutsch, 1986)
Dystopia of a future Britain under the policies of Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013; Prime Minister 1979-90).
U.S. ed. New York: Vintage, 1987.
Keywords: Male author; Welsh author

The Last Ranger - [Jan] [Stacy] (1948-89) (Popular Library, 1986)
Post-nuclear war survivalist dystopia. A single heavily armed man fights against a different evil force in each volume as he single-handedly saves America. At the end of the last volume the Earth is completely destroyed.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Last War - Martyn Godfrey (1949-2000) (Collier Macmillan, 1986)
Young adult dystopia set after a nuclear war.
US ed. Illus. Greg Ruhl. New York: Collier Books/Macmillan, 1989. 91. pp.
Keywords: Canadian author; English author; Male author

Lear - Mike Johnson (b. 1947) (Hard Echo Press, 1986)
Post-catastrophe dystopia in which a group of individuals travel around a devastated New Zealand performing Lear and taking on the roles they play. The author also wrote an environmental political novel aimed at Monsanto's herbicide Roundup--Lethal Dose. Onehunga, Auckland, New Zealand: Hard Echo Press, 1991.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Male author

Less Than Human - [Charles] [Platt] (b. 1945) (Avon Books, 1986)
Humor set in a future New York City dystopia. The main character is a flawed robot.
Keywords: English author; Male author; US author

The Man for the Job - Laurie Graham (b. 1947) (Chatto & Windus, 1986)
Humor. Future dystopia of violence and human degeneration as the setting.
Rpt. London: Penguin, 1988.
Keywords: English author; Female author; Irish author

The Megastructures of Earth - J. Richard Williams (Millennium Publishers, 1986)
Technological eutopia focusing on the engineering of immense structures that allowed a massive increase of the human population and the technology that makes a good life in these structures possible. The author says that the technology described is currently available or in development.
Keywords: Male author

Milwaukee The Beautiful - [Bernard] [John] James (b. 1922) (Donald I. Fine, 1986)
Small is beautiful eutopia plus various dystopias.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Nature's End: The Consequences of the Twentieth Century - James [William] Kunetka (b. 1944); [Louis] Whitley Strieber (b. 1945) (Grafton Books, 1986)
Ecological dystopia of an overpopulated, polluted world set in 2025.
Keywords: Male author; US author

New Jerusalem - Len Jenkin (Sun & Moon Press, 1986)
Two dystopias. One is the future United States in which the story focuses on journalism that is all fiction of sex and violence. The second is an ex-penal colony called New Jerusalem that is to be evacuated. Violence, drugs, consumerism.
Keywords: Male author

"The News From D Street" - Andrew [Simon] Weiner (1949-2019) (Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, 1986)
Authoritarian dystopia in which people are unable to remember.
Rpt. in his Distant Signals and Other Stories (Victoria, BC, Canada: Porcépic Books, 1989), 9-38.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author

Nineteen Ninety-Four - William Osborne (b. 1960); Richard Turner (Arrow Books, 1986)
Satire on Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four complete with an appendix on Adspeak.
Keywords: Male author

"Not in Front of the Children" - George [Reginald] Turner (1916-97) (Aphelion (Adelaide, SA, Australia), 1986)
Dystopia. Generational conflict in a society with eight generations alive at the same time. Presents the radical separation between the generations of the extremely wealthy who could afford longevity treatments and between them and the majority who could not.
Rpt. in Matilda at the Speed of Light. Ed. Damien [Francis] Broderick (North Ryde, NSW, Australia: Angus & Robertson, 1988), 152-74; and in his A Pursuit of Miracles (North Adelaide, SA, Australia: Aphelion Publications, 1990), 37-60.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

"Orgy" - Gary Kern (Orgy & Other Things, 1986)
Dystopia of the Sovietization of the United States.
Keywords: Male author

The Others - Alison Prince (Methuen Children's Books, 1986)
Young adult authoritarian dystopia. Designer bred children. Induced mutations to fit people for jobs. Electrodes implanted at birth to condition people to fit their function and education is really continued conditioning. Marriage partners often chosen by the state; free choice possible. Some people without implants mount a struggle against the state, which will ultimately be successful
Keywords: Female author

"Our Town" - Kim Stanley Robinson (b. 1952) (Omni 9.2, 1986)
Dystopia of class divisions.
Rpt. in his Remaking History (New York: Tor, 1991), 216-23; and in Lightspeed Magazine, no. 23 (April 2012).
Keywords: Male author; US author

Outside the Gates - Molly Gloss (b. 1944) (Atheneum/Argo, 1986)
Young adult fantasy novel in which a young boy is expelled from a walled area into the surrounding area, where, he has been told, there are giants and monsters.
Keywords: Female author; US author

O-Zone - Paul [Edward] Theroux (b. 1941) (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1986)
Complex dystopia set in the early 21st century. The O-Zone or Outer Zone is what used to be called the Ozarks and is an area that was contaminated with nuclear waste. The novel focuses on New York City and the idle rich, known as Owners, who inhabit it in contrast with the poor, who are the overwhelming majority and are kept in check by the Owners.
A limited first edition signed by the author, with a frontispiece by Douglas Smith, and a lengthy “A Special message for the first edition from Paul Theroux” for the members of The Signed First Edition Society. Franklin Center, PA: The Franklin Library, 1987.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Partnership - Graeme Doel (b. 1940) (Hexagon Press, 1986)
Detailed Christian eutopia following a nuclear war with specific plans on how to achieve it. The eutopia is based on a Christian commercial enterprise, specifically manufacturing. Pacifist.
Keywords: Male author

Perfect People - Robert [Howard] Lieberman (b. 1941) (Dell, 1986)
Flawed utopia presenting supposedly perfect people who aren't.
Keywords: Male author

Politicana - Julian Lloyd (Grosz & Lloyd Newsprint Novels, 1986)
Authoritarian dystopia set in an unnamed city which has fallen into poverty and violence. A dictator emerges, but as people work against him, apathy disappears, and political life re-emerges.
Keywords: Male author

"Prologue to Freedom" - A[lfred] E[lton] van Vogt (1912-2000) (Worlds of If, 1986)
Satire. California divided between a capitalist South and a communist North.
Rpt. in Lamps on the Brow. Ed. James Cahill (Aliso Viejo, CA: James Cahill Publishing, 1998), 169-200.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author; US author

Promise of the Rose Stone - Claudia McKay (New Victoria Publishers, 1986)
Feminist eutopia emerges after experience with a dystopia.
Keywords: Female author

Rankin: Enemy of the State - John Osier (b. 1938) (St. Luke's Press, 1986)
Post-World War 3 U.S. authoritarian dystopia ruled by the Secret Police. The novel is about one man's struggle against the state.
Rpt. New York: Penguin, 1988.
Keywords: Male author

"Reichs-Peace" - Sheila [Rosemary] Finch (b. 1935) (Hitler Victorious: Eleven Stories of the German Victory in World War II, 1986)
Germany wins World War II, but Eva Hitler survives and moderates its aggressiveness.
Rpt. in Women of Wonder, The Contemporary Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s. Ed. Pamela Sargent (San Diego, CA: Harcourt, Brace, 1995), 172-90.
Keywords: English author; Female author; US author

"Renaissance Man" - Lesley [Willis] Choyce (b. 1951) (Dream Auditor, 1986)
Authoritarian dystopia. A world in which people are regularly re-made physically and mentally to fill social needs and to correct perceived psychological or physical problems.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author; US author

The Settlement - Russell Haley (1934-2016) (Hodder and Stoughton, 1986)
Dystopia. New Zealand being taken over by its military. The novel focuses on an old man living in a hospital complex and observing the activities around him; thus, the developing dystopia is largely in the background except for times when it directly affects his life.
Part originally published as "The Middle of the Mere." Landfall, no. 155 (39.3) (September 1985): 269-88.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Australian author; English author; Male author

Shining Steel - Lawrence Watt-Evans (b. 1954) (Avon, 1986)
Religious planet known as Godsworld in conflict with traders from Earth.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Shore of Women - Pamela Sargent (b. 1948) (Crown, 1986)
Separate society for each sex. Women control science and technology.
Rpt. Dallas, TX: BenBella Books, 2004.
Keywords: Female author; US author

"Shut the Door When You Go Out" - George [Reginald] Turner (1916-97) (Aphelion (Adelaide, SA, Australia), 1986)
Development of the hypothesis that the earth is a living entity. All of humanity has become a part of the Nexus, which, together with the earth, acts as one being.
Rpt. in his A Pursuit of Miracles (North Adelaide, SA, Australia: Aphelion Publications, 1990), 85-91; in Glass Reptile Breakout and Other Australian Speculative Fiction. Ed. Van Ikin ([Perth, WA, Australia]: The Centre for the Study of Australian Literature, University of Western Australia, 1990), 139-43; and in Eidolon: The Journal of Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy (Perth, WA, Australia), no. 25/26 (October 1997): 53-57.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

The Songs of Distant Earth - Arthur C[harles] Clarke (1917-2008) (Ballantine, 1986)
Includes a description of a eutopia of abundance.
The first version of what became the novel was published as “The Songs of Distant Earth.” If. Worlds of Science Fiction 8.4 (June 1958): 6-29. This was rpt. in Science Fantasy 12.35 (June 1959): 99-128; in his The Other Side of the Sky (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1958), 207-45; and in his From the Ocean, From the Stars (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962), 295-320. A second version was published as a short movie outline in Omni 12.3 (September 1981): 77-79, 132; and rpt. exp. with an introduction (291-93) in his The Sentinel: Masterworks of Science Fiction and Fantasy Illus. Lebbeus Woods (New York: Berkley Books, 1984), 295-99 and illus. on 294.
Keywords: English author; Male author

The Star Country - Michael [Joseph] Cassutt (b. 1954) (Doubleday & Co, 1986)
Dystopia of a post-catastrophe America that has disintegrated into warring regions. Visiting aliens have supposedly brought a plan to rejuvenate Earth but one of the aliens flees with the plans. The rest of the novel is mostly set in the areas occupied by outlaws, well-protected communes, and other warring factions.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Staring at the Sun - Julian [Patrick] Barnes (b. 1946) (Jonathan Cape, 1986)
The novel traces the life of a woman from her childhood to old age (99), much of it in her own voice. The last section (139-97) is set in a future that has seen a revolt of old people demanding respect after a spate of Old People’s Suicides taking place outside the official voluntary euthanasia system. This is a very small part of the novel, with most of the third section reflections on death and religion through the eyes of her son, who is in conversation with the General Purpose Computer, then the supposedly more advanced, The Absolute Truth computer.
U.S. ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987. 197 pp.
Keywords: English author; Male author

"Strangers on Paradise" - Damon [Francis] Knight (1922-2002) (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1986)
Eutopia built upon the suffering of the previous inhabitants of a planet.
Rpt. in his One Side Laughing: Stories Unlike Other Stories (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991), 1-19.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Sweet Dreams, Sweet Princes - Mack [Dallas McCord] Reynolds (1917-83); [Alan] [Gould] (b. 1951) (Baen Books, 1986)
A Universal Disarmament Treaty has supposedly eliminated war by banning all weapons developed after 1900, but gladiatorial contests using pre-1900 weapons have become the means of settling disputes between both corporations and governments. But nuclear weapons still exist, and a situation arises in which they might be used, but in the end the three main power-blocs, the Western bloc, the Soviet bloc, and Common Europe agree to cooperate.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Symmes Hole - Ian Wedde (b. 1946) (Penguin Books, 1986)
A complex novel that weaves together the history of whaling and contemporary New Zealand among other threads. One of the threads is a near future dystopia of the Americanization of New Zealand.
U.K. ed. London: Faber and Faber, 1986.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Male author

Taronga - Victor [Michael Kitchener] Kelleher (b. 1939) (Viking Kestral, 1986)
Young adult post-catastrophe dystopia set in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Australia</st1:place></st1:country-region>. The catastrophe, which is not described, has left people fighting to survive and turning to cannibalism. Taronga, which is the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sydney</st1:place></st1:city> zoo, looks like a food source to some but others protect the animals. At the end, after an epic battle, the animals are freed and move out into the countryside as do the central characters, a girl and a boy.
U.K. ed. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1988.
Keywords: Australian author; English author; Male author; South African author

Texas On the Rocks - Daniel da Cruz [Jr.] (1921-1991) (Ballantine Books, 1986)
Dystopia. Soviet dominated world of 2008 as background. See also 1982 and 1987 da Cruz.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Time-Slip - Graham Dunston Martin (b. 1932) (Unwin Paperbacks, 1986)
Post-catastrophe religious dystopia.
Keywords: English author; Male author; Scottish author

To Stand Beneath the Sun - [William] Brad[ley] Strickland (b. 1947) (Signet, 1986)
Gender-role reversal dystopia on a planet with no technology. The women rule and are warriors, the men kept married to multiple women. A lone man from Earth rejects being part of such a system and brings about change.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"A Transect" - Kim Stanley Robinson (b. 1952) (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1986)
The dystopia of apartheid.
Rpt. in his Remaking History (New York: Tor, 1991), 224-35; and in Future Earths: Under African Skies. Ed. Mike [Michael Diamond] Resnick and Gardner [Raymond] Dozois (New York: DAW Books, 1993), 160-73.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Triad - Sheila [Rosemary] Finch (b. 1935) (Bantam Books, 1986)
Some elements of a gender-role reversal as background to the novel.
Keywords: English author; Female author; US author

Utopia II: An Investigation into the Kingdom of God - John Schmidt (Sun Books, 1986)
Detailed Christian eutopia centered on the Second Coming of Christ in 3000, who will rule until 4000. Ideal, efficient city and architecture. Gender equality. Technologically advanced. Reincarnation. Said to be “for practical idealists” (2).
Keywords: Male author; US author

"The Utopia of Fido T. Farnsworth" - Randy Maxson (The Geek Book: Cartoons and Stories, 1986)
Cartoon strip that begins in an authoritarian dystopia but moves to a cockaigne-like eutopia.
Keywords: Male author

Venus of Dreams - Pamela Sargent (b. 1948) (Bantam Books, 1986)
The first volume of a trilogy about the Venus Project, a proposal to terraform Venus, which will take generations. The first volume lays out the beginnings of the project and some of the key people involved and suggests some of the problems to come. See also 1988, 2000, and 2001 Sargent.
Collectors' Edition. Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, 1990 illus. Ron Miller and with an "Introduction" (v-vii) by Gregory Benford.
Keywords: Female author; US author

Watchmen - Alan [Oswald] Moore (b. 1953); Dave [David Chester] Gibbons (b. 1949) (DC Comics, 1986)
Dystopia based around the actual events of the period but with superheroes being suppressed by the government but also used by the it. A film, Watchmen: The End Is Nigh, directed by Zach Snyder, was released in 2009. An HBO series  created by Damon Lindelof (b. 1973) was broadcast in nine episodes beginning October 20, 2019.
Rpt. in one vol. New York: DC Comics, 1987; and as Watchman. The Deluxe Edition. New York: DC Comics, 2013.
Keywords: English author; Male author

“The Whore of Babylon” - Leon [Léon] Zeldis (The Penguin World Omnibus of Science Fiction. An Anthology, 1986)
The story is set in an extremely authoritarian dystopia in Israel, with one of the first things learned in school is “I am free to obey, and I am happy to be free.” In the story his father takes him to the slums for his first visit to a prostitute, which has almost nothing to do with sex.
Keywords: Chilean author; Israeli author; Male author

Wickwyn: A Vision of the Future - Robert Van de Weyer (SPCK, 1986)
A religious eutopia based on revived village life. The book presents the history of England up to the 1980s and then projects a future in which, while technology made it possible to eliminate economic insecurity, automation put people out of work. This led to a movement to the countryside and the revitalization of village life.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Womonseed: A Vision - Sunlight [pseud.] (Tough Dove Books, 1986)
A women-only feminist eutopian community. The novel is told through a “Prologue” (1-7) the stories of sixteen women told at the summer solstice in 1999. After the failure of the U.S. government, local communities gradually became independent. In the pollution-free future, the women tell of their lives before finding the Womonseed community, except for one was born in the community and one who took a journey to the world outside the community, finding both positive experiences with other women and the remains of patriarchy.
Parts were originally published as "Prologue to Womonseed." Common Lives/Lesbian Lives, no. 6 (Winter 1982): 10-13 [A somewhat different version and the cover illustration were rpt. in Sinister Wisdom, no. 72 (Winter 2007-2008): 41-46]; "Manzanita's Story." Woman Spirit, no. 35 (Spring 1983): 4-6; "This Language Without Words." Woman Spirit, no. 40 (Summer 1984): 10; and "Firefly." Common Lives/Lesbian Lives, no 17 (Fall 1985): 71-76.
Keywords: Female author

Wrack & Roll - Bradley [Clayton] Denton (b. 1958) (Popular Library, 1986)
Alternate history dystopia in which Franklin Delano Roosevelt died in 1933 and the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. cooperate against China and the U.K. Fans of rock save the world.
U.K. ed. London: Headline, 1987.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Yonder Comes the Other End of Time - Suzette Haden Elgin (1936-2015) (DAW Books, 1986)
Libertarian eutopia in conflict with a bureaucratic eutopia.
Keywords: Female author; US author

After the Bomb - Gloria [Dubov] Miklowitz (b. 1927) (Scholastic, 1985)
Young adult post-catastrophe dystopia with a young survivor struggling to help his family and friends. See also 1987 Miklowitz.
Keywords: Female author; US author

"All This and Heaven Too" - [Alice Bradley] [Sheldon] (1915-87) (Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, 1985)
A humorous story set in an ecological eutopia, Ecologia-Bella, that is contrasted with an environmental dystopia, Pluvia-Acida. The eutopia uses clean electric power, has full employment, and the people care for the land, the flora and fauna, and each other. The dystopia is capitalist with a high rate of industrial accidents, extreme pollution, no trees, little vegetation, and a good supply, of rats and cockroaches but few other animals.
Rpt. in her Crown of Stars (New York: Tor, 1988), 96-129. U.K. ed. (London: Sphere, 1990), 96-129.
Keywords: Female author; US author

Altogether Elsewhere - Anna Wilson (b. 1954) (Onlywomen Press, 1985)
The novel is set in a dystopian world in which a variety of women act as vigilantes to protect other women.
Keywords: Female author; UK author; US author

Always Coming Home - Ursula K[roeber] Le Guin (1929-2018) (Harper & Row, 1985)
Complex utopia described from inside the utopia but with, in The Back of the Book” (409-525), the sort of detail about the society that might be part of an anthropological report. One focus of the novel is the life story of a woman known as “Stone Telling” that illustrates both the positive and negative aspects of life produced by the many-faceted interactions among the people.
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.K.</st1:place></st1:country-region> ed. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city>: Victor Gollancz, 1986. Rpt. without the cassette. London: Gollancz, 2016, with an “Introduction” by John Scalzi (ix-xi). The Author’s Expanded Edition without the cassette. Ed. Brian Attebery. New York: The Library of America, 2019 includes “Pandora Revisits the Kesh and Comes Back with New Texts” (619-87) [Dangerous People (621-68), which was first published as Dangerous People. Ed. Brian Attebury. New York: Library of America eBook Classic, 2019, was completed by Le Guin in December 2019 from material she had drafted in 1983 or 1984. Rpt. in her The Space Crone. Ed. So Mayer and Sarah Shin (Np: Silver Press, 2023), 195-224. The book includes extensive notes by the editor and a very detailed chronology of Le Guin’s life and works; “Some Kesh Meditations: Sitting in the Ninth House” (669-71); “Blood Lodge Songs” (672-81), and “Kesh Syntax” (682-85)], “Other Writings Related to Always Coming Home” (689-702) [May’s Lion” (691-98); Navna: The River-running by Intrumo of Sinshan” (699)], “Essays” (703-89) [“World-Making” (700-02); “A Non-Euclidian View of California as a Cold Place to Be” (703-24); “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction” (725-30); “Text, Silence, Performance” (731-40); “Legends for a New Land” (741-57); “The Making of Always Coming Home” (758-80); and “Indian Uncles” (781-89), a Chronology (793-807), a Note on the Texts (808-11), and Notes (812-26). Parts published previously as “Time in the Valley.” Hudson Review 37.4 (Winter 1984-5): 536-48; “The Trouble with the Cotton People.” The Missouri Review 7.2 (1984): 86-95; rpt. in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection. Ed. Gardner [Raymond] Dozois (New York: Bluejay Books, 1985), 410-19 with an editor’s note on 409 “The Visionary.” Omni 7.1 (1984): 100-02, 104, 106-07, 154, 157-60, 162-63 [Rpt. in The Visionary: The Life Story of Flicker of the Serpentine. Santa Barbara, CA: Capra Press, 1984. Vol. 1 of Capra Back-to-Back; and in The Sixth Omni Book of Science Fiction. Ed. Ellen [Sue] Datlow (New York: Zebra Books, 1989), 19-53]; “Dira.” Parabola 9 (Winter 1984): 53-55; and four poems--”It Was Never Really Different. Given to the Red Adobe heyimas of Wakwaha by Ninepoint of Chumo”; “A Song Used in Chumo When Daming a Creek or Diverting Water to a Holding Tank for Irrigation”; “A Bay Laurel Song”; and “An Exhortation From the Second and Third Houses of Earth. A calligraphed poster-scroll from the Serpentine heyimas of Wakwaha-na.” Whole Earth Review (July 1985): 20-23.
Keywords: Female author; US author

The Annimar: Recent Unearthed Artifacts from An Imaginary North American Pre-Columbian Culture Department of Art Gallery, West Georgia College March 31-April 17, 1985 - Bruce Bobick (West Georgia College, 1985)
Exhibit catalog describing an early “white-skinned”, peaceful, vegetarian culture.
Keywords: Male author

"The Awakening" - [Julia] [McNeill] (b. 1939) (Despatches From the Frontiers of the Female Mind; An Anthology of Original Stories, 1985)
Authoritarian dystopia. Breeding program instituted with children cared for by multiple "parents." Restricted movement. Pollution.
Keywords: Australian author; Female author; UK author

Baaa - David Macaulay (b. 1946) (Houghton Mifflin, 1985)
A picture book that describes the world after all humans have disappeared and sheep wander into town and gradually take on all the characteristics of humans with dystopian results.
Keywords: English author; Male author; US author

Beast: A Novel of the Future World Dictator - Dan Betzer (Prescott Press, 1985)
Apocalyptic novel with the Devil as dictator.
Keywords: Male author

Between the Strokes of Night - Charles [A.] Sheffield (1935-2002) (Baen, 1985)
In 2010 the human race on Earth has been killed off in nuclear war and survives only in small colonies in space, but these humans expand further into space. The second part of the novel is set in 27,698 and deals with the colonized planets, particularly Pentecost, which comes into contact with a race of space-faring immortals with a faster than light drive, and much of the novel is hard SF concerned with the technology.
Keywords: English author; Male author; US author

Black Star Rising - Frederik [George] Pohl [Jr.] (1919-2013) (Del Rey, 1985)
Begins with a dystopia in which China rules the United States.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Broad Sunlit Uplands" - Craig Harrison (b. 1942) (New Outlook (New Zealand), 1985)
Dystopia. Technological advances make it easier for the government to control people, but there is also a culture of violence that attracts people and requires a large police and private security presence.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; English author; Male author

Brother Jonathan - Crawford Kilian (b. 1941) (Ace Books, 1985)
Future divided between disenfranchised poor and powerful corporations.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author; US author

"The Camel's Nose" - Susan Holtzer (Free Amazons of Darkover: An Anthology, 1985)
A story about technology in the anti-technology Darkover culture.
Keywords: Female author

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls; A Comedy of Manners - Robert A[nson] Heinlein (1907-88) (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1985)
A number of societies on the moon, some of which were planned to be more free than Earth, that are succumbing to struggles for power presented from a libertarian perspective.
Rpt. as vol. 27 of The Virginia Edition of his works. Houston, TX: The Virginia Edition, 2010.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Centrifugal Rickshaw Dancer - William Jon Watkins (b. 1942) (Popular Library, 1985)
Authoritarian dystopia that provides pleasure for the elite.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Child of Fortune - Norman [Richard] Spinrad (b. 1940) (Bantam Books, 1985)
Describes a number of different eutopias as seen through the eyes of a young woman on her wanderjahr, her period of wandering the galaxy, at the end of which each person chooses their "freenom". The novel is set in the same time frame as his non-utopian The Void Captain's Tale. New York: Timescape, 1983.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Child of the Heart" - Elisabeth Waters (Free Amazons of Darkover: An Anthology, 1985)
A Free Amazon story about the difficulties of giving up a child.
Keywords: Female author

Children of the Dust - [Elizabeth Rhoda Wintle] [Holden] (1943-2013) (John Lane The Bodley Head Children's Books, 1985)
Young adult post-nuclear war novel and the revival of human communities.
Keywords: English author; Female author; Irish author

Children of the Light - Susan B[rown] Weston (b. 1943) (St. Martin's Press, 1985)
Young adult post-nuclear war dystopia in which a boy from the past brings hope.
Keywords: Female author; US author

"Chrono's Christmas" - Rhea Rose (Tesseracts, 1985)
Dystopia. Most people are immortal, and aliens want the secret. The few female children are not immortal and are sold to the aliens. A dystopian daycare center tries to develop survival characteristics in children. At the end of the story the center is closed by the computer system that runs it, and the children will have to survive in the outside world.
Keywords: Canadian author; Female author

A Creed for the Third Millennium - Colleen McCullough [Robinson] (1937-2015) (Harper & Row, 1985)
Satire. Set in a future trying to adjust to a radically changed weather pattern that has disrupted the economic system. The U.S. is in the process of relocating its entire northern population, and it decides to create a new messiah who will give people a positive message.
U.K. ed. London: Macdonald, 1985. Australian ed. Artarmon, NSW, Australia: Harper & Row, 1985.
Keywords: Australian author; Female author

The Cybernetic Samurai - Victor [Woodward] Milán (1954-2018) (Arbor House, 1985)
Dystopia. The focus of the novel is the development of a sentient artificial intelligence in Japan. It is set against a background in which most countries have fallen apart and are at war. See also the non-utopian sequel, The Cybernetc Shōgun. New York: William Morrow, 1990.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Dad's Nuke - Marc Laidlaw (b. 1960) (Donald I. Fine, 1985)
Future armed U.S. suburbia.
U.K. ed. London: Victor Gollancz. Rpt. London: Grafton, 1988.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Darkling Wind - Somtow [Papinian] Sucharitkul (b. 1952) (Tiger Eyes Press, 1985)
Last volume of a series. This volume sees the defeat of the dystopia. See also 1982, 1983, and 1984 Sucharitkul.
Rpt. as The Darkling Wind: Chronicles of the High Inquest. New York: Bantam Books, 1985.
Keywords: Male author; Thai author; US author

Dayworld - Philip José Farmer (1918-2009) (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1985)
First volume of series set in the conditions of 1971 Farmer, “Sliced Crosswise Only-on-Tuesday World” in which individuals only live one day a week. This novel focuses on those who are capable of defeating the system and living seven different lives in a week. In Dayworld Rebel.  New York : Ace/Putnam, 1987 the protagonist of the first volume flees across the country with others who can live seven days a week. And in Dayworld Breakup. New York: Tor, 1990 it is revealed that the population has fallen and that the only reason for keeping people in suspended animation is so that those in power can stay in power. See also 2016 Farmer and Adams.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Diasporah - W[illiam] R[olla] Yates (b. 1950) (Baen, 1985)
Future dystopia of an Arab-Israeli conflict in space.
Keywords: Male author

"A Different Kind of Courage" - Mercedes Lackey (b. 1950) (Free Amazons of Darkover: An Anthology, 1985)
A Free Amazon story about a healer.
Keywords: Female author; US author

Dinner at Deviant's Palace - Tim[othy Thomas] Powers (b. 1952) (Ace Books, 1985)
Dystopia a generation after a nuclear war focusing on a religious cult.
U.K. ed. London: Chatto & Windus, 1986.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Dogfight" - Michael [Jürgen] Swanwick (b. 1950); William [Ford] Gibson (b. 1948) (Omni, 1985)
Dystopia. Society divided into the employed and unemployed. Drugs. Cyber-based control of individuals.
Rpt. in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Third Annual Collection. Ed. Gardner [Raymond] Dozois (New York: Bluejay Books, 1986), 51-68 with an editor's note on 50; and in William [Ford] Gibson, Burning Chrome (London: Victor Gollancz, 1986), 150-75. Rpt. (London: Grafton, 1988), 167-94. U.S. ed. (New York: Arbor House, 1987), 150-75; in The Sixth Omni Book of Science Fiction. Ed. Ellen [Sue] Datlow (New York: Zebra Books, 1989), 85-115; and in The Ultimate Cyberpunk. Ed. Pat Cadigan (New York: ibooks, 2002), 249-75.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author; US author

Dream Games - Karl Hansen (b. 1950) (Ace Books, 1985)
Future pleasure oriented dystopia controlled by computers and a rebellion that overthrows the system.
The section entitled "Dreams Unwind" (119-87) was originally published in Omni 7.8 (May 1985): 62-64, 66, 98, 100, 102, 105-06, 108, 112.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Duende Meadow - Paul [Harlin] Cook (b. 1950) (Bantam Books, 1985)
After centuries underground following a war, some humans emerge to find that the Soviet Union had conquered the United States but that a spiritual awakening was occurring that might lead to a better society.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Each Prisoner Pent" - Damon [Francis] Knight (1922-2002) (Stardate, 1985)
Satire on the costs of incarceration in which criminals are given minor punishments together with degrees of support depending on their crime because it is cheaper to provide a lavish life outside jail than to imprison people. Jails are turned over to artists, authors, and poets.
Rpt. in his One Side Laughing: Stories Unlike Other Stories (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991), 76-80.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Eclipse - John [Patrick] Shirley (b. 1954) (Bluejay, 1985)
Neo-fascist dystopia and the revolt against it. Sequels are Eclipse Penumbra. A Song Called Youth—Book Two. New York: Popular Library. Rev. ed. Northridge, CA: Babbage Press, 2000; and Eclipse Corona. A Song Called Youth--Book Three. New York: Popular Library, 1990. Rev. and updated ed. Northridge, CA: Babbage Press, 2000.
U.K. ed. London: Methuen, 1986. Rev. & updated ed. Northridge, CA: Babbage Press, 1999. Part published as "Freezone." in Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology. Ed. [Michael] Bruce Sterling (New York: Arbor House, 1986), 138-77; and in The Ultimate Cyberpunk. Ed. Pat Cadigan (New York: ibooks, 2002), 200-48.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"The Effect of Terminal Cancer on Potential Astronauts" - Kirkpatrick, David (Tesseracts, 1985)
Flawed utopia. A future eutopia maintained by dystopian conditioning. Cities have become radically decentralized and groups of houses connected to make small communities. James Joyce (1882-1941) is worshiped by some and is an honored icon for others. Terminal refers to a computer terminal and terminal cancer refers to those who spend all their time in front of their terminals.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author

Emprise: Book One of the Trigon Disunity - [Michael Paul] [McDowell] (b. 1954) (Berkley Books, 1985)
Dystopia. First volume of trilogy. In this volume wars over food and fuel have left the world as isolated farming communities with a hatred of the scientists who are blamed for the situation. But one scientist makes contact with aliens. In the sequels, humanity searches for other civilizations and has to deal with aliens who have destroyed other civilizations. See his Enigma: Book Two of the Trigon Disunity. New York: Berkley Books, 1986; and Empery: Book Three of the Trigon Disunity. New York: Berkley Books, 1987.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Eye of the Child - Ruth Mueller (New Society Publishers, 1985)
Described as ecological speculative fiction. Contains a vaguely described eutopia and an even more vaguely described dystopia that could be contemporary reality.
Keywords: Female author

Faillandia - [Henry] Francis [Montgomery] Stuart (1902-2000) (Raven Arts Press, 1985)
Dystopia called Failland, which is Ireland. Faillandia is a magazine founded by the protagonist and his friends to fight the government and church. The novel follows the attempts of the government and the military to use the magazine for their own benefit.
Part originally published as “The Water Garden.” The Cork Review 1.3 (March-April 1980): 22-23; rpt. in Firebird 2: New Writing. Ed. T. J. Binding (Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin Books, 1983), 211-16. Rpt. in his States of Mind: Selected Short Prose 1936-1983 (Dublin: The Raven Arts Press/London: Martin Brien & O'Keeffe, 1984), 95-101.
Keywords: Irish author; Male author

“A Fairy Tale for the Year 2004. A Story” - Helen Lucas (Canadian Woman Studies/Les cahiers de la femme, 1985)
Brief story of the eutopia created when everyone becomes a flower.
Keywords: Canadian author; Female author

Fiskadoro - Denis Johnson (b. 1949) (Alfred A. Knopf/Chatto & Windus, 1985)
Post-catastrophe dystopia set in Florida with surrealistic elements.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Fort Privilege - Kit [Lilian Craig] Reed (1932-2017) (Doubleday & Co, 1985)
Future New York as a dystopia in which most of the middle-class has fled the city. A conflict erupts between the remaining well-off, who occupy a large building (the Fort Privilege of the title) and the have-nots.
Keywords: Female author; US author

"From Energy Island" - G[arvin] R[obert] Gilbert (b. 1917) (Untold (Christchurch, New Zealand), 1985)
Dystopia. Extract from his unpublished 839 page novel, which describes a New Zealand degenerated into military rule surrounded by savagery; see 1988 Gilbert. See also 1986 and 1992 Gilbert, Acts of Terror and Delight.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Male author

“Future Talk: Or the Visions of Chicken Little. A Story” - Donna L. Smyth (Canadian Woman Studies/Les cahiers de la femme, 1985)
Satire on capitalism in which products have lives.
Keywords: Canadian author; Female author

The Garbage Chronicles; Being an account of the adventures of Tom Javik and Wizzy Malloy in the faraway land of catapulted garbage - Brian [Patrick] Herbert (b. 1947) (Berkley Books, 1985)
Humor on the consumer society of the future. Sequel to his non-utopian Sydney’s Comet: Being an Account of the Remarkable Events Which Occurred During the Approach of the Great Garbage Comet. New York: Berkley Books, 1983.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Girls Will Be Girls" - Patricia Shaw-Mathews (Free Amazons of Darkover: An Anthology, 1985)
A story about adjusting to life among the Free Amazons.
Keywords: Female author

The Glass Hammer - K[evin] W[ayne] Jeter (b. 1950) (Bluejay Books, 1985)
A dystopia set in a violent future.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Golden Age - Louis Nowra (b. 1950) (Currency Press in association with Playbox Theatre Company, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 1985)
A play, based on an apparently true story, about the discovery in 1939 of a lost community founded by convicts in Tasmania. The community had been established to create a good life for its original inhabitants. It has degenerated over time due, among other things, to interbreeding, but there is still a system of mutual support. The speech of the descendants of the convicts is based on 1840s lower class language and slang and a glossary is provided.
Rpt. in Australia Plays: New Australian Drama (London: Nick Hern Books, 1989), 89-178. 2nd ed. of the play Sydney, NSW, Australia: Currency Press, 1989. U.S. [Rev. ed.] Woodstock, IL: Dramatic Publishing Co., 1988.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

"The Government in Exile" - Paul [A.] Collins (b. 1954) (Urban Fantasies, 1985)
Dystopia of violence and class division. A completely collapsed system in which everyone has quit trying, and the unemployed are killed for sport and food.
Rpt. in his The Government in Exile and other stories (Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Sumeria, 1994), 25-36; and in The Best Australian Science Fiction Writing: A Fifty Year Collection. Ed. Rob Gerrand (Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Black Inc., 2004), 326-34.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Australian author; English author; Male author

"Green Days in Brunei" - [Michael] Bruce Sterling (b. 1954) (Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, 1985)
A dystopian future where Brunei has run out of oil.
Rpt. Rpt. in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Third Annual Collection. Ed. Gardner [Raymond] Dozois (New York: Bluejay Books, 1986), 85-128 with an editor's note on 84; in his in Crystal Express (Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1989), 107-54; rpt. (New York: Ace Books, 1990), 113-64; and in The Ultimate Cyberpunk. Ed. Pat Cadigan (New York: ibooks, 2002), 276-340.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Growing Pains" - Susan Schwartz (Free Amazons of Darkover: An Anthology, 1985)
A story about a young woman having difficulties adjusting to the ways of the Free Amazons.
Keywords: Female author

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret [Eleanor] Atwood (b. 1939) (McClelland and Stewart, 1985)
Dystopia of the  right in power set in the Republic of Gilead, formerly the United States, a theocracy that sees all women as inferior, whose primary purpose is to produce children, and fertile women are a valuable commodity. The novel ends with Historical Notes from “The Twelfth Symposium on Gilead Studies.” 2019 Atwood, The Testaments is a sequel that begins early in the history of Gilead. Canadian female author.
U.S. ed. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1986.  Rpt. New York: Anchor Books/Penguin, 2017, with a new “Introduction” by the author (xiii-xix). There is a graphic novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. The Graphic Novel. Art & Adaptation by Renée Nault. New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2019. An audible book is available as The Handmaid’s Tale: Special Edition. Np: Audible Studios, 2017 narrated by Claire Danes and others and with addition material by Atwood.
Keywords: Canadian author; Female author

Heavenly Deception - Maggie Brooks (b. 1954) (Chatto & Windus, 1985)
Dystopia about an intentional community affiliated with the Unification Church, popularly known as the Moonies. The novel follows a young woman who visits the community to find a friend and is converted.
U.S. ed. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1987.
Keywords: Female author

"Her Own Blood" - Margaret Carter (Free Amazons of Darkover: An Anthology, 1985)
A story inspired by the Free Amazons about women in a male dominated society.
Keywords: Female author

"The Incorporated" - John [Patrick] Shirley (b. 1954) (Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, 1985)
Corporate dystopia.
Rpt. in Future Crime: An Anthology of the Shape of Crime to Come. Ed. Cynthia Manson and Charles Ardai (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1992), 11-26; and in his The Exploded Heart (Asheville, NC: Eyeball Books, 1996), 155-76, with an author's note on 155.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Infinity's Web - Sheila [Rosemary] Finch (b. 1935) (Bantam Books, 1985)
One woman at different times and places including the present world, a world of apparent sexual freedom, a dystopian world of great scarcity, and a dystopia in which the Third Reich rules where the woman is a sorceress.
Keywords: English author; Female author; US author

Inside Babel - [Andrew James] Wilson (1948-2013) (Chatto & Windus. The Hogarth Press, 1985)
Sequel to 1984 Wilson with the emphasis on the humor and various failed projects to control people and technology.
Keywords: English author; Male author

"Instructions for Exiting This Building in Case of Fire" - Pamela [Lifton] Zoline (b. 1941) (Interzone, 1985)
Non-voluntary exchange of children to ensure peace. Children are selected by computer.
Rpt. in Despatches From the Frontiers of the Female Mind. Ed. Jen Green and Sarah Lefanu (London: Women's Press, 1985), 93-110. Rpt. in her Busy About the Tree of Life and Other Stories (London: The Women's Press, 1988), 107-23; U.S. ed. as The Heat Death of the Universe and other stories (Kingston, NY: McPherson & Co., 1988), 71-88.
Keywords: Female author; UK author; US author

"Intelligence and Artifice" - M. T. Blatchford (The Best of South African Science Fiction, 1985)
Future dystopian South Africa.
Keywords: South African author

"The Intersection" - Gwyneth [Ann] Jones (b. 1952) (Despatches From the Frontiers of the Female Mind; An Anthology of Original Stories, 1985)
Authoritarian dystopia which the protagonist sees as an ideal world. The author calls this story a preview of her 1986 Jones.
Keywords: English author; Female author

It's Time: A Nuclear Novel - [Terry] [Woodrow] (Tough Dove Books, 1985)
Agrarian feminist eutopia. Some dystopian background.
Keywords: Female author

Jerusalem Fire - R[ebecca] M. Meluch (b. 1956) (Signet, 1985)
Includes an intentional community that can be considered eutopian.
Keywords: Female author; US author

Just Passing Through - Sandi Hall (b. 1942) (Tejana Films & E.E. McAllister Productions, 1985)
Video. Includes a Maori eutopia after death presented visually.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Female author

Knight Moves - Walter Jon Williams (b. 1953) (Tor, 1985)
Eutopia becomes boring.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Knives" - Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930-99) (Free Amazons of Darkover: An Anthology, 1985)
A story about an abused woman finding refuge with the Free Amazons.
Rpt. in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover (New York: DAW Books, 1993), 70-85.
Keywords: Female author; US author

"Kool Running" - Paul [A.] Collins (b. 1954) (Omega Science Digest (Sydney, NSW, Australia), 1985)
Revolt against a world dominated by computers. See the note at 1980 Collins.
Rpt. in SF International (also called International Science Fiction) (Los Angeles, CA), no. 1 (January 1987): 47-54; and in his The Government in Exile and other stories (Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Sumeria, 1994), 39-48.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Australian author; English author; Male author

Last Letters from Hav - Jan Morris (1926-2020) (Viking, 1985)
Description of a visit to an imaginary country, which the author says was intended to reflect her lack of understanding of the countries she had visited and the changes they were undergoing. The country has both eutopian and dystopian elements.
Rpt. in her Hav comprising Last Letters from Hav and Hav of the Myrmidons (London: Faber and Faber, 2006), 1-187.
Keywords: English author; Transgender author

The Limits of Green - Rachel McAlpine (b. 1940) (Viking Penguin Books (N.Z.), 1985)
An environmental dystopia with elements of a feminist eutopia in which New Zealand, called the "Sleeping Islands," is the site of nuclear and chemical plants that are destroying the environment. In addition, a missile base and warheads for the missiles have been placed in New Zealand. All are under the control of a world power, the RUSA, which has a policy of "voluntary colonization" in which small countries agree to be effectively but clandestinely controlled in exchange for investment. A group of people, but one woman and man in particular, learn to communicate with nature, which destroys both the chemical and nuclear power plants and the weapons. Presented as a memoir "The Harmony of Snails" with additional material from the RUSA embassy. See also 1987 McAlpine.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Female author

"The Lipton Village Society" - Lucy [Jane] Sussex (b. 1957) (Strange Attractors: Original Australian Speculative Fiction, 1985)
This story is tangential to Sussex's utopianism in that it posits a group of young people on the margins of society in the process of willing a utopia into existence, one that they have created collectively in their imaginations. Only brief indications of what the utopia will be like.
Rpt. in her My Lady Tongue and Other Stories (London: Heinemann, 1990/Port Melbourne, VIC, Australia: William Heinemann Australia, 1990), 213-36; and in her Matilda Told Such Dreadful Lies: The Essential Lucy Sussex (Greenwood, WA, Australia: Ticonderoga publications, 2011), 135-50.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Australian author; Female author

"Lover from Beyond the Dawn of Time" - Josephine [Mary Howard] Saxton (b. 1935) (The Power of Time, 1985)
Begins with a highly organized eutopia,but shifts to a horror story.
Keywords: English author; Female author

A Maggot - John [Robert] Fowles (1926-2005) (Jonathan Cape, 1985)
Mostly a fictional background of the parentage of Ann Lee (1736-84) of the Shakers but includes a short description of heaven as a eutopia.
U.S. ed. Boston, MA: Little, Brown. Rpt. New York: New American Library, 1986.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Married Alive - Marilyn Duckworth (b. 1935) (Hodder and Stoughton, 1985)
Dystopian setting. A future New Zealand with 20% of the population violently insane due to a faulty flu vaccine. Growing isolation through fear.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Female author

Masters of the Board. A Novel - Christopher Abani (b. 1966) (Delta of Nigeria, 1985)
Dystopia. Neo-Nazis take over Nigeria to use as a base to re-establish the Third Reich.
Keywords: Male author; Nigerian author; US author

Metacapitalism ... and the Rocket's Red Glare. A Revolutionary Primer for the Social, Economic, and Political Rebirth of America - R. Lee Zimmerman (Uxor Press, 1985)
Non-fiction eutopia aimed at saving the U.S. from decline. Specific reforms are presented including voting directly on important national issues; a flat ten percent tax with no deductions; a minimum guaranteed income; various changes to the national government, including abolishing the House of Representatives; guaranteed higher education; free medical care; federal economic planning; financing for small businesses and farms; limitations on the size of corporations; regulation of banking; financial assistance to local communities; and judicial reform. These reforms are given in detail (136-261).

"Midwife" - [Deborah Jean] [Ross] (b. 1947) (Free Amazons of Darkover: An Anthology, 1985)
A Free Amazon story about a Free Amazon in danger.
Keywords: Female author

"The Mother Quest" - Diana L. Paxson (b. 1943) (Free Amazons of Darkover: An Anthology, 1985)
A Free Amazon story about a mother searching for her lost child.
Keywords: Female author

Motherstone - Maurice [Gough] Gee (b. 1931) (Oxford University Press, 1985)
Third volume of a trilogy. In this volume the girl from Earth is kidnapped as she tries to leave O. On O evil has defeated good in the humans, and they can only be freed from it by starting over with no knowledge. This is achieved, and the girl is finally able to leave. The other inhabitants of O will help the humans. Sequel to 1982 and 1984 Gee.
Rpt. Auckland, New Zealand: Puffin Books, 1988.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Male author

The New World: An Epic Poem - Frederick Turner (b. 1943) (Princeton University Press, 1985)
Post-catastrophe eutopia/dystopia set 400 years in the future in which both fossil and nuclear fuels have been exhausted, many people have been killed in pogroms aimed at the middle class and others have left Earth altogether. The U.S. has divided into old cities that dominate the remaining suburbs, whose inhabitants are slaves, fundamentalist religious areas, and the Free Counties, which are under attack.
An excerpt was published in Future Primitive: The New Ecotopias. Ed. Kim Stanley Robinson (New York: Tor, 1994), 215-28.
Keywords: English author; Male author; US author

"News from Nowhere, 1984" - B[urrhus] F[rederick] Skinner (1904-90) (The Behavior Analyst, 1985)
Addition to his 1948 Walden Two in which George Orwell joins the community, and most of the story is in the form of conversations between Frazier, the main character in Walden Two, and Orwell.
Rpt. in his Upon Further Reflection (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1987), 33-50.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Night of Power - Spider Robinson (b. 1948) (Baen, 1985)
Dystopia of a race war in New York City.
Rpt. New York: Berkley Books, 1986.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author; US author

"'No One Seems To Go To Work Anymore': Women Redesignating and Redesigning the City" - Suzanne Mackenzie (Canadian Woman Studies/Les cahiers de la femme, 1985)
Feminist eutopia presenting the way women responded to a long, very deep economic collapse by creating new communities based on sharing and redesigning the physical layout of those communities.
Keywords: Female author

Nowhere - Thomas [Louis] Berger (1924-2014) (Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence, 1985)
Satire using the trope of a spy novel set in Sebastian, a dysfunctional country between Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Germany that has spawned the terrorist group the Sebastiani Liberation Front.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"O Happy Day!" - Geoff[rey Charles] Ryman (b. 1951) (Interzone. The First Anthology: New Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing, 1985)
Dystopia very similar to the concentration camps in Germany under National Socialism. Heterosexual men are in the camp and systematically killed. Gay men run the camp under the direction of women who give electronically.
U.S. ed. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985), 1-35. Rpt. in his Unconquered Countries: Four Novellas (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994), 153-90. U.K. ed. (London: HarperCollins, 1999), 153-90; and in Brave New Worlds. Ed. John Joseph Adams (San Francisco, CA: Night Shade Books, 2011), 69-95; 2nd ed. ed. John Joseph Adams (San Francisco, CA: Night Shade Books, 2012), 69-95; and in Queers Destroy Science Fiction. Ed. Seanan McGuire. Lightspeed, no. 61 (June 2015): 228-57. Not in his The Unconquered Country: A Life History. London: Allen & Unwin, 1986.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author; UK author; US author

"The Oath of the Free Amazons: Terra, Techno Period" - Jaida nha Sandra (Free Amazons of Darkover: An Anthology, 1985)
Modification of Free Amazon oath found in 1979 Breen.
Keywords: Female author

Our World After a Nuclear War - [V. C.] [Haines] ([Sutherland Print], 1985)
Detailed eutopia on a planet with remarkable similarities to Earth, but it has experienced a nuclear war and recreated itself. Decentralized, single language, single monetary system, world parliament.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author

"Outlines for Urban Fantasies" - Michael Wilding (b. 1942) (Urban Fantasies, 1985)
Surrealistic dystopia presented in a series of vignettes about a future of fear and violence.
Keywords: Australian author; English author; Male author

"The Place of Circular Enigmas" - Clive Poole (The Best of South African Science Fiction, 1985)
A dystopia that pits a rural Nazi group awaiting the Second Coming of Hitler against native traditions.
Keywords: Male author; South African author

"On the Planet Grafool" - Benjamin Freedman (Tesseracts, 1985)
Satire. The people of Grafool lead happy lives based on a naïve certainty regarding their odd social customs, which are spelled out in short paragraphs.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author

The Postman - [Glen] David Brin (b. 1950) (Bantam Books, 1985)
Post-catastrophe dystopia in which a man assumes the role of a postman and, in that role, helps to knit together the communities that are struggling to survive.
Rpt. illus. Kent Bash and with an “Introduction” by James Gunn [Rpt. in Gunn, Paratexts: Introductions to Science Fiction and Fantasy (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2013), 76-78]. Norwalk, CT: Easton Press, 1993. Parts originally published in different form in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine as “The Postman” 6.11 (58) (November 1982): 120-69; rpt. in Wastelands 2: More Stories of the Apocalypse. Ed. John Joseph Adams (London: Titan Books, 2015), 236-305 and “Cyclops” 8.3 (76) (March 1984): 112-67.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Preserver - M[ichael] A[nthony] Foster (b. 1939) (DAW Books, 1985)
Third volume of the Morphodite trilogy that includes 1981 The Morphodite and 1983 Transformer. In this volume the Morphodite, again a man, wins.
Rpt. in his The Transformer Trilogy (New York: DAW Books, 2006), 461-618.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Privateers - Ben[jamin William] Bova (1932-2020) (Tor, 1985)
Begins with a mild dystopia of Soviet domination of the world through domination of space. The emphasis is on the struggle for freedom which, of course, succeeds. Empire Builders. New York: Tor, 1993 is a sequel.
Keywords: Male author; US author

“The Queendom of Moths. A Story” - Giovanna Peel (Canadian Woman Studies/Les cahiers de la femme, 1985)
A feminist utopia destroyed by atomic war.
Keywords: Canadian author; Female author

Radio Free Albemuth - Philip K[indred] Dick (1928-82) (Arbor House, 1985)
Dystopia in which anti-Communists rule the U.S.
Rpt. New York: Avon, 1987.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Recruits" - Maureen Shannon (Free Amazons of Darkover: An Anthology, 1985)
A story about joining the Free Amazons.
Keywords: Female author

Red Hills of Home - Chenjerai Hove (1956-2015) (Mambo Press, 1985)
Poems that collectively present contemporary Zimbabwe as a dystopia.
Keywords: Male author; Zimbabwean author

Road Lines - Chris Ould (b. 1959?) (André Deutsch, 1985)
Future dystopia of violence. The urban poor are locked up in "containment zones."
Rpt. London: Grafton, 1987.
Keywords: Male author; UK author

Robot Romance - Ellen W. Leroe (b. 1949) (Harper & Row, 1985)
Mostly humor but includes a satire on future mechanized education.
Keywords: Female author; US author

"The Sanctuary Tree" - John Playford (Strange Attractors: Original Australian Speculative Fiction, 1985)
Dystopia of National Socialism continued into the future.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

Schismatrix - [Michael] Bruce Sterling (b. 1954) (Arbor House, 1985)
Cyberpunk that presents two groups of future posthumans, one of which, the Shapers, develop themselves with genetic engineering and the other, the Mechanists, who use cybernetic enhancements. These groups are regularly in conflict and the presentation is essentially dystopian.
Rpt. New York: Ace 1986; and in Schismatrix Plus: Includes Schismatrix and Selected Stories from Crystal Express (New York: Ace, 1996), 1-236. Developed from a series of stories, including "Swarm." The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 62.4 (April 1982): 4-24; rpt. in his Crystal Express (Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1989), 3-26; rpt. (New York: Ace Books, 1990), 3-28; in The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories. Ed. Tom Shippey (Oxford, Eng.: Oxford University Press, 1992), 472-95; and in Schismatrix Plus (239-57); "Spider Rose." The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 63.2 (375) (August 1982): 4-19; rpt. in his Crystal Express (Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1989), 27-44; rpt. (New York: Ace Books, 1990), 29-46; and in Schismatrix Plus (258-71); "Cicada Queen." Universe 13. Ed. Terry Carr. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985), 145-81; rpt. in his Crystal Express (Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1989), 45-79; rpt. (New York: Ace Books, 1990), 47-84; and in Schismatrix Plus (272-300); "Sunken Gardens." Omni 6.9 (June 1984): 58-, 62, 64, 67, 136, 138; rpt. in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection. Ed. Gardner [Raymond] Dozois (New York: Bluejay Books, 1985), 351-64 with an editor's note on 350; in his Crystal Express (Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1989), 80-96; rpt. in (New York: Ace Books, 1990), 85-101;and in Schismatrix Plus (301-12); and "Life in the Mechanist/Shaper Era: 20 Evocations." Interzone, no. 7 (Spring 1984): 24-26; rpt. as "Twenty Evocations." In his Crystal Express (Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1989), 97-104; rpt. (New York: Ace Books, 1990), 102-09; as "20 Evocations." Mississippi Review, no. 47/48 (16.2/3) (1988): 122-29; and in Schismatrix Plus (313-19).
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Silence in Having Words: Purple" - Josephine [Mary Howard] Saxton (b. 1935) (The Power of Time, 1985)
Authoritarian dystopia that tries to control all aspects of life.
Keywords: English author; Female author