Split Infinity - [Piers Anthony Dillingham] [Jacob] (b. 1934) (Ballantine Books, 1980)
Two worlds are described. One is a dystopia based on science and rigid class distinctions, and the other is a fantasy in which only magic works. One individual moves between the two worlds. The story is continued in his Blue Adept. New York: Ballantine Books, 1981. Rpt. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982; and in his Double Exposure (Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, [1982]), 261-514; and in his Juxtaposition. By Piers Anthony [pseud.]. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982. Rpt. New York: Ballantine Books, 1983; and in his Double Exposure (Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, [1982]), 515-790.
Rpt. in his Double Exposure (Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, [1982]), 1-259.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Stepfather Bank" - [David Charles] [Poyer] (b. 1949) (The Berkley Showcase; New Writings in Science Fiction and Fantasy, 1980)
Dystopia set in 2110 in which the "Bank," having gradually gained control of all corporations, owns everything. It employs everyone except one poet.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Technocrats - Forest W. Horton (Leisure Books, 1980)
Authoritarian dystopia set in 1984. Machines revolt.
Keywords: Male author

Tetrarch - Alex[ander] Comfort (1920-2000) (Shambala/Random House, 1980)
Allegory/fantasy depicting a number of eutopias and dystopias based loosely on various mythologies and William Blake (1757-1827) in particular. Verula is an evil city with high technology and a repressive culture and represents the contemporary world. The central eutopia, Los, is a sexually free, cooperative society. There are appendices of “The Losian Religion As Expounded by William Blake,” Losian Grammar, examples of the Losian Script, and a Losian Vocabulary. While the author is best known for his books on sexual technique like The Joy of Sex (1972), his career ranged through fiction, poetry, anarchist theory, the biology of aging, and geriatric psychology. For an extremely detailed biography, see Eric Laursen, Polymath: The Life and Professions of Dr. Alex Comfort Author of the Joy of Sex. Chico, CA/Edinburgh, Scot.: AK Press, 2023. 740 pp. See also 1943, 1961 and 1989 Comfort.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Timescape - Gregory [Albert] Benford (b. 1941) (Simon and Schuster, 1980)
The novel is set in three times. In 1998, which has experienced a worsening environmental collapse, scientists are trying to contact 1962 in hopes of correcting the problem. The paradox created by this activity produces an alternative future 1974. A related novel is his Rewrite: Loops in the Timescape. New York: Saga Press, 2018. The book is copyrighted by Benford and Michael Rose with a brief explanation in the “Afterword.”
Keywords: Male author; US author

"The Transformation Era" - Nick Zepke (b. 1940) (The New Zealand Listener, 1980)
Eutopia. Decentralization, simplicity, growth of alternative lifestyles, initially urban but becoming rural. Maori radicalism and growing Maori independence.
Rpt. in Pictures of the Future (Wellington, New Zealand: Mallinson Rendel, 1980), 41-47.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Male author

Under Plum Lake - Lionel Davidson (1922-2009) (Jonathan Cape, 1980)
Eutopian fantasy set in Egon, a world under the sea that evolved separately from the world above and has advanced further both technically and psychologically. The protagonist is a thirteen year old boy.
U.S. ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Unisave - Axel Madsen (1930-2007) (Ace Books, 1980)
Overpopulation dystopia.
Keywords: Danish author; Male author; US author

Universal Evolution and the Road to Peace - Bernard John Wilson (Dorrance & Co, 1980)
The book is divided into two parts that reflect the title. The eutopia is in the second, much smaller part, "The Road to Peace" (85-97), which includes a summary of a "Model Charter" for world government (90-97).
Keywords: Male author

Valhalla - Newton [Kendall] Thornburg (1929-2011) (Little, Brown, 1980)
Near future post-catastrophe dystopia brought about by the collapse of the U.S. dollar. Government and jobs disappear and gangs control cities. Valhalla is an ex-monastery now the fortress compound of one man, and the novel focuses on the attacks on it and its defense.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Voices in Time - [John] Hugh MacLennan (1907-90) (Macmillan of Canada, 1980)
Post-catastrophe, looking backward. Authoritarian dystopia slowly being overcome and a better society created. The emphasis is on the period of conflict.
Rpt. Markham, ON, Canada: Penguin Canada, 1981. U.K. ed. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin Books, 1983.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author

Waiting for the Barbarians - J[ohn] M[axwell] Coetzee (b. 1940) (Secker & Warburg, 1980)
Dystopia of a fictionalized South Africa.
Keywords: Male author; South African author

"A Walk on the Wild Side" - Paul [A.] Collins (b. 1954) (Ad Astra (London), 1980)
Future dystopia of violence set in Sydney.
Rpt. as “A Walk on the Wild Side.”in The Cygnus Chronicler: An Australian Review of Science Fiction and Fantasy (West Ryde, NSW, Australia) 3.1 (7) (December 1980): 4-5; and as "Suburban Walk" in Paper Children: Selections from the McGregor Literary Competitions 1980-81. Ed. Alan Lawson (Toowoomea, QLD, Australia: Darling Downs Institute Press, 1982), 98-104; as "Spaziergang Suburban Walk." Trans. Christoph Göhler. In SF aus Australien: "Wahr sind die Träume der Götter" und 10 weitere Geschichten. Ed. Paul [A.] Collins and Peter Wilfrit (München, Germany: Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, 1983), 117-24; and as "Weesechosek, 'A Good Place to Live'. In his The Government in Exile and other stories (Melbourne, VIC. Australia: Sumeria, 1994), 1-11.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Australian author; English author; Male author

Who Killed Utopia - Paul Walker (1942-2007) (Carlyle, 1980)
Standard flawed utopia with a computer that has gone wrong.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"The Wishes of Maidens" - Felix C[harles] Gotschalk [Jr.] (1929-2002) (New Voices III; The Campbell Award Nominees, 1980)
Dystopia with very few fertile men and many women wanting to become pregnant.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Zero Weather, A Future Fantasy - [Ramón Sender] [Barayón] (b. 1934) (Family Publishing Co, 1980)
New Age conflict between good and evil, with the followers of evil plotting to, among other things, drive the U.S. president insane and the followers of good, led by a man named Zero, fighting back against the various plots. Good wins.
Keywords: Male author; Spanish author; US author

Zion in Our Time - James A. Christenson (Center for Zionic Studies, 1980)
How to build a new Zion of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, now known as the Christian Community. The five principles of the law of the celestial kingdom are Assistance, Cooperation, Providence, Equality, and Endowment (129-29). Includes a “Concordance of Scriptures on Zion--Bible” (150-55), “Scriptures re Sion” (155-56), “Scriptures on Zion--Book of Mormon” (156-57), and “Scriptures on Zion--Doctrine and Covenants” (157-61).
Keywords: Male author; US author

1988: The Fanzine of the Future, nos. 1 - 2 (1979) - M[ichael] J[ohn] Weller (1979)
Brief graphic novel depicting an authoritarian dystopia based on class, ethnicity, and race justified by the need to act against terrorists. The second issue is primarily a chronology of what happened between 1979 and 1988 to create the dystopia plus some overall description of the dystopia.
Keywords: Male author

Alongside Night - J[oseph] Neil Schulman (1953-2019) (Crown, 1979)
Dystopia based on an extrapolation of a continuing economic downturn.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Avatar - Poul [William] Anderson (1926-2001) (Berkley Publishing, 1979)
One part of the novel is a typical Anderson dystopia in which the authoritarian Social Welfare Party takes over of Earth.
Parts of Chapters II and XXIII were published in slightly different form as parts of his “Joelle.” Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine 1.3 (Fall 1977): 148-86.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Bander Snatch - Kevin O'Donnell Jr. (1950-2012) (Bantam Books, 1979)
Future bureaucratic dystopia with a deep rich-poor division. Bander Snatch is the name of a streetwise leader of one of the poor areas.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Big Trucker; A Magical Novel - Dennis Dunn (Dancing Rock Press, 1979)
Complex fantasy.  Begins with the Grail story “The Big Load” that continues throughout the novel and includes a utopia-of-sorts, “Our Sweet Land” ruled by “Big Mac.” Includes elements of earlier work such as the L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) and the story of Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman 1774–1845). There is also a dystopia, “Welfare.”
A comic version was published in twelve parts illus. Steve Abbott and Bill Sigfried. San Francisco, CA: Dancing Rock Press, 1978-79.
Keywords: Male author

Blade Runner (A Movie) - William S[eward] Burroughs (1914-97) (Blue Wind, 1979)
Dystopia based on 1974 Nourse and using the same situation and characters. Unrelated to the Ridley Scott movie Blade Runner (1982).
Rpt. London: The Tangerine Press, 2019, with an introduction by Oliver Harris (ix-xxiii, 81-83)
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Brats. A Novel of the Future - R[onald Henry Glynn] Chetwynd-Hayes (1919-2001) (William Kimber, 1979)
Post-catastrophe authoritarian dystopia. The Brats are the sub-human creatures who hunt in packs, kill everything, and are the dominant life form.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Catacomb Years - Michael [Lawson] Bishop (1945-2023) (Berkley/Putnam, 1979)
Satire. Future domed city and the inhabitants. Includes, in "Old Folks at Home," a communal utopia for senior citizens and, in "The Windows in Dante's Hell," an overpopulation, class-based dystopia.
Parts were originally published as “If a Flower Could Eclipse.” Worlds of Fantasy 1.3 (Winter 1970-71): 152-83; rpt. in his The City and the Cygnet: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century (Bonney Lake, WA : Kudzu Planet Productions/Fairwood Press, 2019), 25-49, together with the “Interlude: The Testimony of Leland Tanner” (50-53); “Old Folks at Home.” Universe 8. Ed. Terry Carr (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978), 1-48. Rpt. (New York: Popular Library, [1978]), 7-63; in The Best Science Fiction Novellas of the Year #1. Ed. Terry Carr (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979), 54-109; and in his The City and the Cygnet: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century (Bonney Lake, WA : Kudzu Planet Productions/Fairwood Press, 2019), 54-98, together with the “Interlude: The City Takes Care of Its Own” (99-100); “The Windows in Dante’s Hell.” Orbit 12. Ed. Damon [Francis] Knight (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1973): 28-45; rpt. in his The City and the Cygnet: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century (Bonney Lake, WA : Kudzu Planet Productions/Fairwood Press, 2019), 101-14, together with the “Interlude: Volplaning Heroes” (115-16); “The Samurai and the Willows.” The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 52.2 (297) (February 1976): 5-45; rpt. in his The City and the Cygnet: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century (Bonney Lake, WA : Kudzu Planet Productions/Fairwood Press, 2019), 117-55, together with the “Interlude: First Councilor Jarboe” (156-60); “Allegiances.” Galaxy Science Fiction 36.2 (February 1975): 20-62; rpt. in his The City and the Cygnet: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century (Bonney Lake, WA : Kudzu Planet Productions/Fairwood Press, 2019), 161-203, together with the “Interlude: The Cradle Begins to Rock” (204-05); and “At the Dixie-Apple with the Shoofly-Pie Kid.” Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy 1.4 (November 1977): 18-21, 23-25; rpt. in his The City and the Cygnet: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century (Bonney Lake, WA : Kudzu Planet Productions/Fairwood Press, 2019), 206-20, together with the “Interlude: The Introduction to Out and Back Again” (221-27).
Keywords: Male author; US author

"The Chance" - Peter Carey (b. 1943) (War Crimes, 1979)
Dystopia based on the ability to participate in a genetic lottery (the Chance) in which body types can be changed. The Chance is run by aliens who have arrived on Earth as merchants. Conflicts develop between those opting for beauty, those choosing not to change, and those who opt for ugliness.
Rpt. in his Collected Stories (St. Lucia, Australia: University of Queensland Press, 1994), 261-96; U.K. ed. (London: Faber & Faber, 1995), 191-96; in Centaurus: The Best Australian Science Fiction. Ed. David G. Hartwell and Damien Broderick (New York: Tor, 1999), 495-525; and in The Best Australian Science Fiction Writing: A Fifty Year Collection. Ed. Rob Gerrand (Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Black Inc., 2004), 239-68.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

Communalist Society: Some Principles for a Possible Future - John Friedmann (b. 1926) (School of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles, 1979)
Eutopia of a decentralized society. See also 1976 Friedmann and 1979 Friedmann, The Good Society: A personal account of its struggle with the world of social planning and a dialectical inquiry into the roots of radical practice.
Keywords: Austrian author; Canadian author; Male author; US author

Dark Wing - Carl West; Katherine [Anne] MacLean (1925-2019) (Atheneum, 1979)
Young adult dystopia in which medical care is illegal and the ill are put to death. Corporate power.
Keywords: Female author; Male author; US author

Engine Summer - John [Michael] Crowley (b. 1942) (Doubleday, 1979)
Post-catastrophe novel focusing on two surviving societies, one of which can be considered eutopian and is based on occupational/generational ties and is non-competitive. The novel includes the detailed description of a game in which there is no winner.
Rpt. New York: Bantam Books, 1980. U.K. ed. London: Victor Gollancz, 1980.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Exile. Book IV of Daily Lives in Nghsi-Altai - Robert [Molise Boyer] Nichols (1919-2010) (New Directions, 1979)
This volume gives the history of Nghsi-Altai (29-39) and focuses on the "population lottery" which uses a lottery to reduce the population by choosing a family to exile. The family chosen is the family at the center of Book III. See 1977 Nichols, the note there, and 1978 and 1979 Nichols, The Harditts of Sawna.
Parts originally published as "The Meaning of Festivals." New Directions in Prose and Poetry No. 26. Ed. J[ames] Laughlin. (New York: New Directions, 1973), 70-75; and "Nghsi-Altai: An excerpt from the novel Daily Lives in Nghsi-Altai." New Directions in Prose and Poetry No. 33. Ed. J[ames] Laughlin (New York: New Directions, 1976), 117-25.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"The Exit Door Leads In" - Philip K[indred] Dick (1928-82) (Rolling Stone College Papers, 1979)
Dystopia of a society controlled by robots and an attempt to reform it through a college that is trying to encourage rebellion against all authority.
Rpt. in Robots, Androids, and Mechanical Oddities: The Science Fiction of Philip K. Dick. Ed. Patricia S. Warrick and Martin H[arry] Greenberg (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1984), 229-45; and in The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick. Volume 5 The Little Black Box (Los Angeles, CA/Columbia, PA: Underwood/Miller, 1987), 315-31. The paperback edition has it in The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick. Volume 5 The Eye of the Sibyl (New York: Citadel Twilight, 1992), 315-31.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Fight for Manod - Raymond [Henry] Williams (1921-88) (Chatto & Windus, 1979)
The first part of the novel, which is the part excerpted by Milner, describes a plan to transform an area of Wales from a backwater into a substantial, thriving community. The rest of the novel concerns the difficulties of doing that.
London" Hogarth Press, 1988. An excerpt was published in Tenses of the Imagination: Raymond Williams on Science Fiction, Utopia and Dystopia. Ed. Andrew Milner. Ralahine Utopian Studies 4 (Oxford, Eng,: Peter Lang, 2010), 215-30, with an editor’s introduction (215-16).
Keywords: English author; Male author

“Five Letters from an Eastern Empire giving Information upon architecture, etiquette, irrigation, ventriloquism, justice, sex and poems in an Obsolete country” - Alasdair [James] Gray (1934-2019) (Words (Fife, Scot.), 1979)
Dystopian oriental tale with a puppet as an emperor and an authoritarian government.
Slightly rev. as “Five Letters From an Eastern Empire: Describing Etiquette, Government, Irrigation, Education, Clogs, Kites, Rumour, Poetry, Justice, Massage, Town-Planning, Sex and Ventriloquism in an Obsolete Nation.” Illus. by the author in his Unlikely Stories, Mostly (Edinburgh, Scot.: Canongate, 1983), 85-113; rpt. (London: Penguin, 1984), 85-113; and in his Every Short Story, 1952-2012 (Edinburgh, Scot.: Canongate, 2012), 91-133.
Keywords: Male author; Scottish author

Gallagher's Glacier - Walt[er R.] Richmond (1922-77); Leigh [Tucker] Richmond (1911-95) (Ace Books, 1979)
Authoritarian dystopia in which the universe is ruled by giant corporations. Rebellion.
Part originally published as "Gallagher's Glacier." Analog Science Fact--Science Fiction 74.3 (November 1964): 37-42. Short version published New York: Ace Books, 1970.
Keywords: Female author; Male author; US author

The Good Society; A personal account of its struggle with the world of social planning and a dialectical inquiry into the roots of radical practice - John Friedmann (b. 1926) (MIT Press, 1979)
Eutopia. Between fiction and non-fiction. See also 1976 Friedmann and 1979 Friedmann, Communalist Society.
Keywords: Austrian author; Canadian author; Male author; US author

The Granville Hypothesis - Ted Mancuso (b. 1950) (Manor Books, 1979)
Flawed utopia. Computer perfect world under attack.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Great Change - Jack Wagner (Trinidad Press, 1979)
Detailed socialist eutopia using a version of the “sleeper wakes” in which a labor leader in the mid-twentieth century comes back to San Francisco in 2012. Quite a bit on the transition. Much is provided free or inexpensively. Much more on the details of the workplace and production than in many comparable works. Partnership between management and unions. Annual turnover in many leadership positions. A lot of bureaucracy but working the way it should.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Harditts of Sawna. Book III of Daily Lives in Nghsi-Altai - Robert [Molise Boyer] Nichols (1919-2010) (New Directions, 1979)
Third volume of four about eutopia in a Southeast Asian country that has a fairly simple, agricultural life but a complex mythology. This volume focuses on village life through a single family, the Harditts. See 1977 Nichols, the note there, and 1978 and 1979 Nichols, Exile.
Part originally published as "Harvesting the Wind: An excerpt from the novel Daily Lives in Nghsi-Altai." New Directions in Prose and Poetry No. 31. Ed. J[ames] Laughlin (New York: New Directions, 1975), 26-46.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Iceback Invasion" - Hayford Pierce (b. 1942) (Omni, 1979)
Dystopian satire on multiculturalism.
Rpt. in The Best of Omni Science Fiction. Ed. Ben Bova and Don Myrus (New York: Omni Society, 1980), 52-59.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Island - Peter [Bradford] Benchley (1940-2006) (Doubleday & Co, 1979)
Description of an island dystopia created by modern day pirates.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Japanese Tea" - Terence M[ichael] Green (b. 1947) (Alien Worlds, 1979)
Dystopian educational system of the future.
Rpt. in his The Woman Who Is the Midnight Wind (Potters Lake, NS, Canada: Pottersfield Press, 1987), 69-83.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author

Jem: The Making of a Utopia - Frederik [George] Pohl [Jr.] (1919-2013) (St. Martin's Press, 1979)
A novel about the discovery of a planet inhabited by three different species, the attempt to exploit it by three different groups from Earth, and the ultimate coming together of all six groups with a very brief depiction of the better society that resulted.
Rpt. New York: Bantam Books, 1980. U.K. ed. London: Victor Gollancz, 1979.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Lagrange Five - Mack [Dallas McCord] Reynolds (1917-83) (Bantam Books, 1979)
A space colony/station is a eutopia of great beauty, but the eutopia is undermined by what seems to be almost an illness that strikes from time to time in which people become claustrophobic. See also 1983 and 1984 Reynolds and 1985 Reynolds with Ing.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Legion - Charles L[ewis] Grant (1942-2006) (Berkley Books, 1979)
Post-catastrophe authoritarian dystopia set in 2257 as background. Part of a series that follows the same family from 1976 and 1977 Grant.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Long Talking Bad Conditions Blues - Ronald Sukenick (1932-2004) (Fiction Collective, 1979)
Dystopia of modern life with some elements of science fiction.
Parts originally published under the same title in Granta, [no. 1] (Spring 1979): 181-90; Luna Park; and Ploughshares, no. 18 (5.3) (Fall 1979): 165-76.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Long Walk - [Stephen Edwin] [King] (b. 1947) (Signet, 1979)
Authoritarian dystopia in which one hundred teenage boys participate in an annual ritual of walking until only one is left alive, most of the rest having been shot for infractions of the rules.
Rpt. in The Bachman Books: Four Early Novels by Stephen King. Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, The Running Man (New York: New American Library, 1985), 133-322 with "Why I Was Bachman" (v-x); and separately New York: Signet, 1996 with "The Importance of Being Bachman" (v-xiii).
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Love Siege - Tom [Donald] Wakefield (1935-96) (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979)
Near future authoritarian dystopia. In 1983 "political" meetings of any sort are forbidden, with even school staff meetings having to have a government official in attendance. Nonconformists are killed. But there is successful resistance.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Macrolife - George Zebrowski (b. 1945) (Harper & Row, 1979)
A utopia that ranges into the future in a way similar to the utopias of Olaf Stapledon. In this work, “macrolife” or a “macroworld” is mobile space habitat (see the design and description on 114-16). They spread throughout the galaxy, producing a wide variety of social systems, and, at times, come into conflict with natural worlds. His 1999 Cave of Stars is described as a companion piece.
Rpt. with the subtitle A Mobile Utopia. Amherst, NY: Pyr, 2006.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"The Moons of Sirius" - Michaels, Ward (In Touch For Men (Los Angeles, CA), 1979)
Male homosexual eutopia in which the original colonists had separated by gender and lost any memory of each other.
Keywords: Male author

Morlock Night - K[evin] W[ayne] Jeter (b. 1950) (DAW Books, 1979)
Dystopia in which the Morlocks from 1895 Wells, The Time Machine use the time machine to attack England. The English, led by Merlin, and others from various time periods, successfully fight back.
Rpt. Oxford, Eng.: Angry Robot, 2011 with an “Introduction” by Tim Powers (7-11) and an afterword, “K W Jeter, Morlock Night” by Adam Roberts (295-301).
Keywords: Male author; US author

A New Utopia - Peter [Christopher] Milward [S.J.] (1925-2017) (Aratake Shuppan, 1979)
Eutopia structured like More's Utopia with two parts. The first part is a factual journal of his trip with Japanese friends to Bruges, Belgium to visit the area where More was when he began writing Utopia. The second part (40-68) is a eutopia that contrasts the real Japan with a eutopian version that centers on religion and simplicity.
The first two parts were published as In Search of Historic Britain. [Tokyo, Japan]: Aratake Shuppan, 1978; and In Search of More's England. [Tokyo, Japan]: Aratake Shuppan, 1978.
Keywords: English author; Male author

"No More Pencils, No More Books" - John Morressy (1930-2006) (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1979)
Dystopia of future inner-city schools with constant violence, heavily medicated students, and no learning.
Rpt. in The Best Science Fiction of the Year #9. Ed. Terry Carr (New York: Ballantine Books, 1980), 269-81.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Nuclear Fission" - Paul David Novitski (Universe, 1979)
A decentralized eutopia with multiple gender relations that developed after an unexplained revolution that led to cities being abandoned and environmental damage that caused the desertification of the U.S. Midwest. The story focuses on one multi-relationship home in a community of fairly self-sufficient households.
Rpt. in Kindred Spirits: An Anthology of Gay and Lesbian Science Fiction Stories. Ed. Jeffrey M. Elliot (Boston, MA: Alyson Publications, 1984), 151-74 with an editor's note on 149-50.
Keywords: Male author

"The Oath of the Comhi-Letzii or 'Order of Renunciates' Commonly Called the 'Free Amazons' with Explanatory Commentary" - Walter [H.] Breen (1928-93) (The Darkover Concordance: A Reader's Guide, 1979)
Oath of a utopian order that asserts the freedom of the women joining it from all social ties except those she freely chooses.
Rpt. as “The Oath of the Free Amazons.” In Marion Zimmer Bradley and The Friends of Darkover, Free Amazons of Darkover: An Anthology. Ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley (New York: DAW Books, 1985), 16-22 with an introductory note on 15.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Options" - John [Herbert] Varley (b. 1947) (Universe, 1979)
Impact of easy sex change operations on a society that had strived for gender equality but still had significant inequalities. Experiencing both genders from the inside improves things.
Rpt. in The Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year #9. Ed. Terry Carr (New York: Ballantine Books, 1980), 192-225; in his Blue Champagne. Illus. Todd Cameron Hamilton (Nile, IL: Dark Harvest, 1986), 223-62;  and in Feminist Philosophy and Science Fiction: Utopias and Dystopias. Ed. Judith A. Little (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2007), 363-90.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"The Origin of the Axletree" - Alasdair [James] Gray (1934-2019) (Scottish Short Stories 1979, 1979)
A mildly dystopian story in which a prince decides to build a structure, the Axletree, that will reach heaven. See 1983 Gray for the dystopian sequel.
Rpt. as "The Start of the Axletree." Illus. by the author in his Unlikely Stories, Mostly (Edinburgh, Scot.: Canongate, 1983), 67-83; and in his Every Short Story, 1952-2012 (Edinburgh, Scot.: Canongate, 2012), 76-89.
Keywords: Male author; Scottish author

"Our Lady of Desperation" - Keith [John Kingston] Roberts (1935-2000) (Ladies From Hell, 1979)
Dystopian satire. After a revolution in the U.K. in which the Civil Service becomes dominant a four class system is established. Class A (the Civil Service and other powerful people) pays no taxes and classes B and C pay taxes at the rate of 60 and 70 percent respectively. Class D, the focus of the story and composed "anybody on whom the suspicion of creativity falls" (21) is supposed to pay at the 70% rate, but an error in the law allows them to make considerable incomes. In response the government assigns a minder to every individual in Class D to oversee all their activities.
Keywords: English author; Male author

"Out There Where The Big Ships Go" - [John Middleton] [Murry] [Jr.] (1926-2002) (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1979)
Eutopia brought about through a galactic game that was brought back to a ravaged Earth from a distant eutopian planet. Having reached the planet humans were then allowed to play the Game, which was the route to the next step in human evolution.
Rpt. in his Out There Where The Big Ships Go (New York: Pocket Books, 1980), 9-37; and in The 1980 Annual World's Best SF. Ed. Donald A. Wollheim with Arthur W. Saha (New York: DAW Books, 1980), 217-45.
Keywords: English author; Male author

"The Paradigm" - Randal Flynn (b. 1957) (Transmutations, 1979)
Authoritarian dystopia. The story focuses on a playwright who on winning a prize must decide on writing for the state or having an implant and being demoted to factory work. Having chosen to write for the state, the story traces the various compromises with his integrity that he has to make.
Rpt. in The Best Australian Science Fiction Writing: A Fifty Year Collection. Ed. Rob Gerrand (Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Black Inc., 2004), 269-98.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

A Planet Called Utopia - [James Murdoch] [MacGregor] (1925-2008) (Zebra Books, 1979)
Eutopia/dystopia of immortality. To avoid overpopulation, there is no marriage or childbirth. Because it could be everlasting, the great fear of the immortals is pain and kidnapping with the threat of torture is common.
Keywords: Male author; Scottish author

The Planet Masters - Allen [Lester] Wold (b. 1943) (St. Martin's Press, 1979)
Dystopia set in a society based on a caste system that includes killing as a means of improving one's position.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Project Lambda - Paul O'M Welles (Ashley Books, 1979)
Dystopia of a holocaust directed at homosexuals in the U.S.
Keywords: Male author

Renaissance - A[lfred] E[lton] van Vogt (1912-2000) (Pocket Books, 1979)
Dystopia of women dominating men who have been emasculated by alien technology.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author; US author

Revolution Island - Julian [Charles] Fane (1927-2009) (Hamish Hamilton and St. George's Press, 1979)
Socialists take power and establish an authoritarian dystopia. The novel ends with a the dystopia being overthrown. Anti-socialist and anti-trade union.
Keywords: English author; Male author

The Ring Cycle - Melvin [Ezell] Gorham (1910-94) (Sovereign Press, 1979)
Consists of "The Valkyrie: A Play in Three Acts" which replays Richard Wagner's Ring as a dystopia featuring two police states and opposed by Wotan as the leader of free people. See the author's The Six Disciplines of Man's Being and Man's Relation to Government. Rev. ed. Rochester, WA: Sovereign Press, 1984. See also 1970 and 1975 Gorham. For other works from the same general perspective, see 1984 von Konen, the note there, 1984 Valoric Fire, and 1987 Pedersen.
Part also published as Melvin Gorham’s Interpretation of Richard Wagner’s The Valkyries [Cover adds A Play in Three Acts] Together with The Morality of the Early Northern Europeans by John Harland. Rochester, WA: Sovereign Press, 1987.
Keywords: Male author; US author

A Salute to America In the Year 2000" - Tom [Thomas Jefferson] Anderson (1910-2002) (American Opinion, 1979)
A John Birch Society eutopia. Money is tied to gold and silver. It is illegal for the federal government to have a deficit. The minimum wage is abolished; anyone on welfare or being paid in tax dollars is disenfranchised. The sixteenth amendment establishing the income tax is repealed and a new tax system is implemented with no deductions and a maximum tax of ten per cent. The US is no longer in the UN, and the UN is no longer in the US. US citizens tried for treason are "deported to the Communist country of their choice" (46). The change was brought about by those who were "raised in traditional Christian homes and attended private Christian schools" (40).
Keywords: Male author; US author

"A Second Eden" - Jeff Watkins (In Touch For Men (Los Angeles, CA), 1979)
Male homosexual eutopia where an exploring party had crashed on a planet and developed the ability to create children. The last survivors of the crash had been two homosexual men, but the society they create is completely accepting of all sexual orientations.
Keywords: Male author

Show Me a Hero - Patrick [James] Alexander (b. 1926) (Macmillan, 1979)
The novel is about a future U.K. democratic socialist dictatorship, the resistance movement, and the coup that succeeded in overthrowing it.
Keywords: Male author; UK author

The Sixth Winter - Douglas Orgill (b. 1922); John Gribbin (Simon and Schuster, 1979)
Climate-change (new ice age) dystopia.
Keywords: English author; Male author

A Song in the Forest - Peter [Hedley Colwill] Hooper (1919-91) (John McIndoe, 1979)
Post-catastrophe. Primitive life with some eutopian elements. Two tribes are described, one violent and one peaceful. There are two sequels that are both borderline utopian that follow the relations between the tribes and their effects on each other--People of the Long Water. Dunedin: John McIndoe, 1985; and Time and the Forest. Dunedin: John McIndoe, 1986. Both are at ATL and VUW.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Male author

Sweet & Sour Milk - Nuruddin Farah (b. 1945) (Allison & Busby, 1979)
First volume of his Variations on the Theme of African Dictatorship trilogy. Can be read as a dystopia or a realistic novel of contemporary Africa. The other volumes are Sardines. London: Allison & Busby, 1981. Rpt. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1982. U.S. ed. St. Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 1992; and Close Sesame. London: Allison & Busby, 1983. U.S. ed. St. Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 1992.
Rpt. London: Heinemann, 1980. U.S. ed. St. Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 1992.
Keywords: Male author; Somali author

They Saw the Second Coming. An explosive novel about the end of the world - Doug Clark (Harvest House, 1979)
Armageddon (See Revelation 16) and a brief description of the millennium.
Keywords: Male author

The Third Body. A Novel - Sam[uel H.] Dann (1918-2004) (Popular Library, 1979)
Dystopia of separate female and male countries where reproduction is a matter of dominance and death and sexual pleasure unknown. The novel focuses on a couple who commit the blasphemy of falling in love.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Tomorrow . . . What It Will Be Like - Herbert W. Armstrong (1892-1986) (Everest House, 1979)
Eutopia. Direct rule by God. God will make the entire world cultivatable by reducing the mountains, watering the deserts, changing the world weather patterns, and thawing out the ice packs. This will eliminate the population problem. Single language. Jerusalem the financial capital of the world. Gold standard. Human nature improved. All debts canceled every fifty years. See also 1966 Armstrong and Armstrong.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Transmaniacon - John [Patrick] Shirley (b. 1954) (Zebra Books, 1979)
Dystopia set in the 22nd century. The continental U.S. is cut off from the rest of the world by an apparently impenetrable barrier. Inside the barrier there are a number of authoritarian city-states. The novel follows one man's successful attempt to escape.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Two Kingdoms; A Novel of Islandia - Mark Saxton (1914-88) (Houghton Mifflin, 1979)
A novel of romance and adventure set in the history of Islandia from 1942 Wright. See also 1969 Saxton and 1982 Saxton. The author worked for the publisher of 1942 Wright and assisted Wright’s daughter in preparing the manuscript for publication.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Unaccompanied Sonata" - Orson Scott Card (b. 1951) (Omni, 1979)
Dystopia. People are categorized through tests given almost from birth and are required to do only the thing that they are supposedly best suited to do. The story focuses on a musical genius who is only allowed to make music uninfluenced by hearing anyone else's music. When he hears other music and incorporates it, he is no longer allowed to make music. When he does, his hands are cut off; when he sings, his vocal cords are removed.
Rpt. in The 1980 Worlds Best SF. Ed. Donald A. Wollheim with Arthur W. Saha ([New York:] DAW Books, 1980), 73-91; in The Best of Omni Science Fiction. Ed. Ben Bova and Don Myrus (New York: Omni Society, 1980), 38-44; and in The Fourth Omni Book of Science Fiction. Ed. Ellen [Sue] Datlow (New York: Zebra Books, 1985), 185-206. Separately published [Eugene, OR: Pulphouse Publishing, 1992].
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Underdogs - William Weintraub (b. 1926) (McClelland and Stewart, 1979)
Satire on the separation of Québec from the rest of Canada twenty years later. Québec bankrupt. Anglos of Québec are at the bottom of society.
Excerpt published as "Farming in the Sun Life Building." Saturday Night 93.10 (December 1978): 34-37, 40-46.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author

Underkill - James White (1928-1999) (Corgi, 1979)
Authoritarian dystopia with the plot centering on an extraterrestrial campaign to improve Earth.
Keywords: Male author; Northern Ireland author

The Unlimited Dream Company - J[ames] G[raham] Ballard (1930-2009) (Jonathan Cape, 1979)
Mostly fantasy but the setting has utopian elements.
Keywords: English author; Male author

"War Crimes" - Peter Carey (b. 1943) (War Crimes, 1979)
Dystopia set in a future of a collapsed economy, corruption, luxury for the few, and extreme poverty for the many. Ends with the beginning of a revolt by the unemployed but with no idea of whether or not it will succeed.
Rpt. in his The Fat Man in History (London: Faber & Faber, 1980), 158-86; and in his Collected Stories (St. Lucia, QLD, Australia: University of Queensland Press, 1994), 310-37. U.K. ed. (London: Faber & Faber, 1995), 310-37.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

Web - [John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon] [Harris] (1903-69) (Michael Joseph, 1979)
The novel is primarily science fiction, but it focuses on a planned utopian community to be established on an island in the South Pacific.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Windows - D[avid] G[uy] Compton (1930-2023) (Berkley Books, 1979)
Continuation of 1974 Compton which begins with the final words of the previous book. The reporter, who blinded himself in the previous book as the only way to stop broadcasting, becomes involved in a plot, which is ultimately defeated, to overthrow governments.
Rpt. New York: Ace Books, 1983.
Keywords: English author; Male author

On Wings of Song - Thomas M[ichael] Disch (1940-2008) (St. Martin's Press, 1979)
Religious dystopia with fantasy elements.
U.K. edition. London: Gollancz, 1979. Also published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 56.2 - 4 (February - April 1979): 6-61; 101-57; 86-159. Collector's Edition illus. Pat Morrissey with an "Introduction" by James Morrow (vii-xii). Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, 1993.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"With Mingled Feelings of Anticipation and Apprehension the Emigrants Leave Their Native Earth for a Far-Off Destination" - [Joseph] Ward Moore (1903-78) (Chrysalis, 1979)
Overpopulation dystopia.
Keywords: Male author; US author

A Woman of the Future - David [Neil] Ireland (b. 1927) (George Braziller, 1979)
Surrealistic dystopia presented in notes and journal entries by a girl from early childhood to the end of her schooling. Australia is divided among the Free Citizens, who do nothing, the Servants of Society, who are the working middle class, and a few extremely rich known as the Pros. Machines have replaced most labor. Advancement based on education and competitive examinations. People fall out of the Servant class by developing abnormal characteristics, and the woman of the novel becomes a leopard.
Australian edition Ringwood, VIC, Australia: Allen Lane, 1979. Rpt. Ringwood, VIC, Australia: Penguin, 1980.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

A World Between - Norman [Richard] Spinrad (b. 1940) (Pocket Books, 1979)
Pacifica is a decentralized, electronic democracy with gender equality threatened by two authoritarian dystopias, one lesbian, one technological.
Keywords: Male author; US author

1985 - [John Anthony Burgess] [Wilson] (1917-1993) (Hutchinson, 1978)
The first part of the book (13-102) is an analysis of Nineteen Eighty-four. The rest (103-219) is a fairly typical anti-labor dystopia--Tucland [TUC = Trades Union Congress]--but including an attack on Arab interests in the U.K. The book also includes "A note on Worker's English" (221-26/499-504 in the reprint) and "Epilogue: an interview" (227-40/505-18 in the reprint).
Rpt. in his Future Imperfect. The Wanting Seed. 1985 (London: Vintage, 1994), 283-518 and includes his "1985 and The Wanting Seed--An Introduction" (v-viii).
Keywords: English author; Male author

“[American Journal]” - Robert [Earl] Hayden (1913-80) (Effendi Press, 1978)
Poem in which an alien tries to understand America and Americans and explain them to The Counselors.
Rpt. (New York/London: Liveright, 1982), 57-60; and in Collected Poems. Ed. Frederick Glaysher (New York/London: Liveright, 2013), 192-95.
Keywords: African American author; Male author

"Antinomy" - Spider Robinson (b. 1948) (Destinies, 1978)
Future tale set in 1998 with a background dystopia of violence. Great medical advances.
Rpt. in his Antinomy (New York: Dell, 1980), 13-47; and in his Melancholy Elephants (Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin, 1984), 23-53. Rpt. (New York: Tor, 1985), 65-100.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author; US author

"Appendix: A Fictional Conclusion" - Rem[ment Lucas] Koolhaas (b. 1944) (Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan, 1978)
Eutopia. Architectural projects for a better Manhattan.
New ed. (New York: Monacelli Press, 1994), 293-310. Reproduced in Small, Medium, Large, Extra-Large: Office for Metropolitan Architecture. Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau. Ed. Jennifer Sigler. Photography Hans Werlemann (New York: The Monacelli Press, 1995), 26-39.
Keywords: Dutch author; Male author

"The Barbie Murders" - John [Herbert] Varley (b. 1947) (Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, 1978)
Authoritarian dystopia set in a Barbie commune in which all are women and all look alike.
Rpt. in The Best Science Fiction of the Year #8 Ed. Terry Carr (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979), 1-34; in his The Barbie Murders (New York: Berkley, 1980), 52-81; U.K. ed. (London: Futura, 1983), 52-81; book reissued as Picnic on Nearside (New York: Berkley, 1984), 52-81; and in Future Crime: An Anthology of the Shape of Crime to Come. Ed. Cynthia Manson and Charles Ardai (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1992), 165-91.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Beloved Son - George [Reginald] Turner (1916-97) (Faber & Faber, 1978)
Post-catastrophe dystopia. Complex new society established to be a eutopia, but it has serious problems. At the end of this volume, the dystopia is being replaced in the name of a new eutopia, which looks to be set to become the next dystopia. First volume of a trilogy; see 1981 and 1983 Turner.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

"Body Game" - Robert Sheckley (1928-2005) (Omni, 1978)
Dystopia of a rich/poor division based around the possibility of being able to purchase a new body when the old one wears out.
Rpt. in The Best of Omni Science Fiction. Ed. Ben Bova and Don Myrus (New York: Omni Society, 1980), 34-37.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"The Cage of Flesh" - Lee [John] Harding (1937-2023) (Envisaged Worlds: From the Editor of Void. Australia's First Science Fiction Anthology, 1978)
Dystopia. A future overpopulated world, where the overwhelming majority of people live impoverished lives, but where the rich search for exotic pleasures and live lives of extreme decadence.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

The Cave - John Sligo (b. 1944) (John McIndoe, 1978)
Authoritarian dystopia in which the protagonist tries to assassinate the Leader and is arrested and tortured. He is helped to escape, and the novel ends with a war about to begin.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Australian author; Male author

Chrome - George Nader (1921-2002) (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1978)
Post-catastrophe story of love between a man and a male robot. Dystopian elements.
Rpt. Boston, MA: Alyson Publications, 1987.
Keywords: Male author

"Coromandel Utopia" - Verner [sic Werner] [Otto} Droescher (1911-78) (Water Wheels (New Zealand), 1978)
Short description of a future Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand based on the growth of the communal movement.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; German author; Male author

Darkness and Saint Louis Bearheart - Gerald [Robert] Vizenor (b. 1934) (The Truck Press, 1978)
Future U.S. with a collapsed economy and the rebirth of a Native American Indian culture. See also 1991 and 2016 Vizenor.
Rpt. as Bearheart: The Heirship Chronicles. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1990. An excerpt was published in Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction. Ed. Grace Dillon (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2012), 116-20 with an editor’s note on 116-17, 247.
Keywords: Male author; Native American author

Darkness and Scattered Light: Four Talks on the Future - William Irwin Thompson (b. 1938) (Anchor Books, 1978)
Future speculation by the founder of the Lindisfarne Community, in Southampton, NY, which was established in 1973. Although much of the text uses the language of the New Age and is vague about the eutopia to be produced, he suggests what he calls "The Metaindustrial Village" that will involve both agricultural and industrial work and be connected to the world through computer technology.
Parts of the first two chapters were originally published as "Beyond Civilization: Auguries of Planetization." Quest/77 1.2 (May/June 1977):69-72, 74, 92-93; and "Auguries of Planetization: Braving a New World." Quest/77 1.3 (July/August 1977): 55-60, 94-95.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Death in Florence - George Alec Effinger (1947-2002) (Doubleday, 1978)
Utopia 3 is a postwar project designed to reform humanity and lead to a eutopia of common understanding. The novel follows three people who become part of the project and the various problems they and the project encounter.
Rpt. as Utopia 3. New York: Playboy Press Paperbacks, 1980.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Diggers: The Story of a Commune - David Starsmeare (Blackie, 1978)
Play about 1652 Winstanley and the Diggers.
Keywords: Male author

Dolphins and Killerwhales - Bert Fisher (b. 1934) (Mother Sea Publications, 1978)
Authoritarian dystopia and the struggle against it. Sequel to 1976 and 1977 Fisher.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Male author

Don't Pay Taxes - Wayne Innes (b. 1943) (Social Analysis Ltd, 1978)
Non-fiction eutopia describing the Suburban Work Alternative, a work-based community which is suburban with separate housing. Cottage industries. The author expects about 10% of the population to live in them. The title suggests one thing that everyone can do to help bring about change. The second edition is roughly twice as long with Part Two "Economic Restructuring" (88-136) added, which, except for a few lines reiterating what was said in the first part, is a critique of current government policy.
2nd ed. Auckland, New Zealand: Social Analysis Ltd., 1979.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Male author

Ed Dean is Queer - N[ikolas] A[nthony] Diaman (b. 1936) (Persona Press, 1978)
Future dystopia from a gay perspective but with the gay community fighting back against discrimination and the novel ends with the beginnings of a eutopia. See also 1980 and 1997 Diaman.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Eden - Jerome McDonough (I. E. Clark, Inc, 1978)
Dystopian play in which artificial people are manufactured at a profit because the political leader of the country is dissatisfied with the quality of the children produced naturally. The children, all age eighteen, are free to couples who choose an infertility drug.
Keywords: Male author

Enemies of the System; A Tale of Homo Uniformis - Brian [Wilson] Aldiss (1925-2017) (Jonathan Cape, 1978)
Authoritarian dystopia based on a Biological Communism that has created Homo Uniformis (Man Alike Throughout). They live in a flawed utopia (no passion, violence, or doubt) and meet primitive descendants of Homo Sapiens on the planet Lysenka II, named after Trofim Denisovich Lysenko (1898-1976), Joseph Stalin's director of biology, who believed the newly acquired characteristics could be passed on to descendants, a position generally rejected by geneticists.
U.S. ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1978. Rpt. New York: Avon, 1981. A story entitled "Enemies of the System" was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 54.6 (325) (June 1978): 5-65.
Keywords: English author; Male author

"Equality in the Year 1977: An Expository Lump" - Arthur D. Hlavaty (b. 1942) (Mythologies, 1978)
Alternative history with the birth control pill being invented in the 1850s and widely accepted then.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Feelies - Mick [Michael Anthony] Farren (1943-2013) (Big O Publishing, 1978)
Dystopia. Future where the rich spend their lives in electronic private fantasies or "feelies" as described in Huxley's Brave New World (1932). The poor drink, drug and watch TV. The danger for the rich is that the feelies can break down.
Rev. ed. New York: del Rey, 1988.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Forbidden World a science fiction novel - David F[rederick] Bischoff (1951-2018); Ted [Theodore Edwin] White (b. 1938) (Popular Library, 1978)
Three flawed utopias are presented, an agrarian community run by women, Plato’s Republic, and Regency England. But all are just part of an experiment, which is itself presented as the central dystopia of the novel.
Part was published as "Breaking Point" by White writing as William C. Johnstone [pseud.]. Amazing Stories 43.6 (March 1970): 71-77.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Garh City. Book II of Daily Lives in Nghsi-Altai - Robert [Molise Boyer] Nichols (1919-2010) (New Directions, 1978)
Second volume of four about a eutopia about a Southeast Asian country that has a fairly simple, agricultural life but a complex mythology. This volume describes a technologically sophisticated city (e.g., they have monorails and an advanced solar power system) with traditional kinships systems. See 1977 Nichols, the note there, and 1979 (2) Nichols.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Going Backward" - [David Eli] [Lilienthal] (b. 1927) (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, 1978)
An attempt to recreate a eutopian nineteenth century farming life fails because it becomes a tourist attraction.
Rpt. in his Always Home and Other Stories (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1991), 33-49.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia - Bernard [Herbert] Suits (1925-2007) (University of Toronto Press, 1978)
A fictional consideration of the nature of utopia that discusses a number of possible utopias. The basic position is that utopia would be the playing of games or activities valued only for themselves rather than being instrumental.
U.K. ed. Edinburgh, Scot.: Scottish Academic Press, 1978. Rpt. with a new Introduction by Thomas Hurka (7-20) and additional material. Peterborough, ON, Canada: Broadview Press, 2005. This should be read with his "The Grasshopper: Posthumous Reflections on Utopia." Utopias. Ed. Peter Alexander and Roger Gill (London: Duckworth, 1984), 197-209; first published as "Games and Utopia: Posthumous Reflections." Simulation and Games 15.1 (March 1984): 5-24.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author; US author

The Healers: An Historical Novel - Ayi Kwei Armah (b. 1939) (East African Publishing House, 1978)
The novel is set at the fall of the Ashanti Empire, destroyed by internal disunity in Africa combined with European power. The dystopia is offset by the vision of African unity of The Healers. Clearly a call for Africans to unify.
Keywords: Ghanaian author; Male author

"In a Petri Dish, Upstairs" - George [Reginald] Turner (1916-97) (Rooms of Paradise, 1978)
Elements of both eutopia and dystopia. A new society emerges in satellites orbiting Earth. The society has common property, authoritarian "communal fathers", and a system of effective slavery. Earth also has centralized power, but, with a dramatically lower population brought about by a series of catastrophes, it has abundance for all. The story is about conflicts between the satellites and Earth.
Rpt. in The Best Science Fiction of the Year #9. Ed. Terry Carr (New York: Ballantine Books, 1980), 325-59; in his A Pursuit of Miracles (North Adelaide, SA, Australia: Aphelion Publications, 1990), 131-64; and in The Best Australian Science Fiction Writing: A Fifty Year Collection. Ed. Rob Gerrand (Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Black Inc., 2004), 211-38.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

The Institute - Robert Petyo (Manor Books, 1978)
Authoritarian dystopia. The Institute is where scientists in the service of a power-hungry government bureaucracy experiment on humans.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Journey in Space with Alizantil - Frank Howard (b. 1910?) (Author/L.C.M., 1978)
Spiritualist eutopian poem in sequel to [1976], [1976?], and connected to 1983 Howard. Tour of the universe.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

The King of Hell - W[ilfred] D[ennis] Pereira (1921-2014) (Robert Hale, 1978)
A penal colony planet controlled by an apparently eutopian world (Elysium) is a dystopia.
Keywords: English author; Male author

The Last Days of the Sunshine People - [Carl Lee] [Shears] (1937-79) (Nuclassics and Science Publishing, 1978)
A play about a plan to eliminate all Blacks in the U.S. showing the stages it goes through and the failure of Blacks to believe warnings. Closely related to his 1973 Count-Down to Black Genocide in that in both, a “Black Day” is proclaimed as a holiday to honor blacks, but it is actually the day on which the slaughter of blacks is to happen. At the end, some Blacks do come to believe the plan is real inspired by a man who has been given a book called The Code of the Black Brotherhood. These blacks decide to create a new nation, Afro-America, also mentioned in Count-Down to Black Genocide. See also 1971, 1974, and 1975 (2).
Keywords: African American author; Male author

The Last Rose of Summer - Stephen Gallagher (b. 1954 (Corgi Books, 1978)
Authoritarian dystopia with governmental control through computers that provided everything to the people except freedom. See also 1983 Gallagher.
Keywords: English author; Male author

A Long Walk to Wimbledon - H[enry] R[eymond] F[itzwalter] Keating (1926-2011) (Macmillan, 1978)
Dystopia in which extensive fighting has broken out in London, which lays in ruins as the conflicts continue. The novel focuses on one man who must navigate his way across the devastated city.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Love Me Tomorrow - Robert H[enry] Rimmer (1917-2001) (New American Library, 1978)
Revision of Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward (1888) to produce a highly eroticized eutopia. Although the theorist of the society presents himself as a reincarnation of Bellamy, and wrote a book entitled Looking Backward II, the economics are based on the people's corporation proposed by Louis Kelso (1913-91) and the political system on the ideas of Rexford G. Tugwell (1891-1979). The Church of United Love or Unilove is related to Tantrism and based in part on the ideas of Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957). There is also a new language called Loglan, which is used together with English.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Make Us Happy - Arthur [H.] Herzog [III] (1927-2010) (Thomas Crowell, 1978)
Dystopia controlled by computers where happiness is defined by a computer as including low self-esteem. Intergenerational sex is stressed. Looks are standardized with everyone colored beige. Constant manipulation by the computers ultimately leads to revolt.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"The Man Who Had No Idea" - Thomas M[ichael] Disch (1940-2008) (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1978)
Humorous dystopia about a society where speaking in public requires a license.
Rpt. in Winter's Tales 24. Ed. A.D. Maclean (New York: St. Martin's, 1978): 9-49; and in The Best Science Fiction of the Year #8. Ed. Terry Carr (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979), 298-335.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Mechman of the Dreaming" - [Francis] Frank Bryning (1907-99) (Ron Graham Presents Other Worlds, 1978)
Eutopia. A science fiction story about a future Australia with most Aborigines integrated into the larger society but with one reservation, called the "Wild Life Reserve", where the old ways are practiced. The story is about a mechanical man that is attacked by Aborigines because it resembles a monster from their early mythology.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

Mirrors of the Apocalypse - Donald L[loyd] Moore (Charter House, 1978)
The novel is set in an authoritarian dystopia led by the Antichrist. Population control through sterilization for women and the requirement that potentially fertile women dress unattractively. Immortality for a few. Armageddon (See Revelation 16) and the Second Coming of Christ.
Keywords: Male author

The Moon Baby - John Bailey (b. 1944) (Angus & Robertson, 1978)
Dystopia of gender conflict in the future.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

"Motel Architecture" - J[ames] G[raham] Ballard (1930-2009) (Bananas, 1978)
Dystopia where everyone lives isolated from each other. Machines do most work, with TV repair one exception.
Rpt. in his Myths of the Near Future (London: Jonathan Cape, 1982), 178-94; and in his The Complete Short Stories (London: Flamingo, 2001), 989-99.
Keywords: English author; Male author

"The Night Above the Dingle Starry" - Terence M[ichael] Green (b. 1947) (Other Worlds, 1978)
Satire on education. Reformers have arranged for both teachers and pupils to be mildly sedated to avoid problems. All classes taped and inspected. Undermined by those pushing a franchised counseling service.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author

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 - J[ohn] B[ernard] Ball (b. 1911) (Author, 1978)
Essay presenting a detailed utopian economic system based on what he calls a “Universal Law of Economics” that “Goods and services must be so priced in the retail trades that they remove from circulation all wages generated by industry and government in the production/distribution cycle, each fiscal period” (2). The title gives the general position--permanently available credit. 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.  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; 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]; 1986 Ball, Beyond Capitalism. Foremost, AB: Ballmark Publications; and 1988 Ball, The Laws of the Micro Giants. An Odyssean Classic. Foremost, AB: Ballmark Publications. Other versions include Technomics in one corporate world. By Barney Ballmark [pseud.]. [Foremost, AB: Author], [1983]; 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

"The Persistence of Vision" - John [Herbert] Varley (b. 1947) (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1978)
The protagonist is a man who, following a series of recessions and a nuclear reactor accident in the Midwest that left a band of the country radioactive is wandering the country Looking for himself. He spends time in the Taos area of New Mexico living briefly in communes and discovers an intentional community composed of deaf and blind people who were born during a rubella epidemic, although their children can see and hear but only rarely speak. He stays there and learns the various languages they use, beginning with handtalk, or spelling out words in the palm of the hand to bodytalk, where people communicate with their entire bodies. And there is a third language, simply known as Touch, in which people are communicating without any contact that he fears he could never learn.
Rpt. in his The Persistence of Vision (New York: Dial Press/James Wade, 1978), 227-72 (U.K. ed. as In the Hall of the Martian Kings [London: Futura, 1978], 263-316); in The Best Science Fiction Novellas of the Year #1. Ed. Terry Carr (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979), 1-53; and in Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction. Ed. Leigh Ronald Grossman (Rockville, MD: Wildside Press, 2011), 670-80 with an editor’s note on 670.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Planet of the Rapes" - Thomas M[ichael] Disch (1940-2008) (The Shape of Sex to Come, 1978)
Dystopia in which rape is the only means of procreation. Otherwise, men and women live completely apart.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Ravens of the Moon - Charles L[ewis] Grant (1942-2006) (Doubleday, 1978)
Dystopia. Mostly political intrigue set in a world constantly at war where suburbs had been abandoned and people retreated to an essentially walled, militarized city with a poor fringe and a wealthier center. An attempt to fake a revolution by the government for political purposes is taken over by a faction within government and turned into a real, but ultimately unsuccessful coup with both the government and the coup leaders eliminated.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Report of the Committee on the Operation of the Sexual Containment Act. Chairman: Michael Schofield. Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Secretary of State for Wales by Command of Her Majesty, October 1984 - Michael [George] Schofield (1919-2014) (Davis-Poynter, 1978)
Authoritarian dystopia under a law to control "excessive" sexual activity. Members of the Committee include Mr. Leopold Bloom and Mrs. Winston Smith.
Keywords: English author; Male author

The Revolt of the Unemployables - Ray [Radell] Faraday Nelson (1931-2022) (Anthelion Press, 1978)
Dystopia which reflects the title. Anyone who fails academically becomes permanently a member of the unemployables living in camps. The men are sterilized. They revolt and much of the country is destroyed. Some of the characters, plot, and text are repeated in 1982 Nelson.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Road to Corlay - [John Middleton] [Murry] [Jr.] (1926-2002) (Pocket Books, 1978)
Authoritarian religious dystopia set in a post-catastrophe future with the beginnings of both a new Enlightenment and a reformed religion. First volume of a trilogy called The White Bird of Kinship; see also 1981 and 1982 Murry.
The "Prologue. Piper at the Gates of Dawn." The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction 50.3 (298) (March 1976): 4-51 is rpt. in the U.S. editions (11-73) (Book Club ed. 1-58), but not in the U.K. ed. London: Gollancz, 1978.
Keywords: English author; Male author

“Saint Francis Night” - Gordon [Stewart] Eklund (b. 1945) (Amazing Science Fiction Stories, 1978)
Dystopia set in a future with strict rules such as walking in only one direction on sidewalks and everyone is conditioned to be non-violent, but the conditioning is failing.
Rpt. in Stalking the Sun: Selected Stories Volume Three (Vancleave, MS: Surinam Turtle Press/Ramble House, 2017), 164-87.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Seven American Nights" - Gene [Rodman] Wolfe (1931-2019) (Orbit, 1978)
Dystopia of a destroyed future America.
Rpt. in The Best Science Fiction Novellas of the Year #1. Ed. Terry Carr (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979), 153-210; and in Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction. Ed. Leigh Ronald Grossman (Rockville, MD: Wildside Press, 2011), 880-91 with an editor’s note on 880.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Shipwright" - Donald [MacDonald] Kingsbury (b. 1929) (Analog Science Fiction--Science Fact, 1978)
Gender-role reversal but more complex than the usual in that it involves two planets with different customs and different gender relations.
Rpt. in The Best Science Fiction Novellas of the Year #1. Ed. Terry Carr (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979), 110-52.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author; US author

Space Station Eight: A Philosophical Novel Concerned with How Humanity Can Achieve Peace and Fulfillment in the Next One Thousand Years - Carlton C. Allen (b. 1911) (Vantage Press, 1978)
The novel is set in 1999 after a large space station where one thousand young people have spent time studying the desperate situation of the Earth and developing the ideas and principles needed to save Earth and create a eutopia, which they were expected to do within a year. The most basic principles were freedom and responsibility (97).
Keywords: Male author; US author

SS-GB: Nazi-occupied Britain 1941 - Len [Leonard Cyril] Deighton (b. 1929) (Jonathan Cape, 1978)
The background of the novel is the Nazi dystopia as reflected in the title.
Rpt. London: Penguin Books, 2021. U.S. ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979.
Keywords: English author; Male author

The Stand - Stephen [Edwin] King (b. 1947) (Doubleday, 1978)
Post-catastrophe dystopia in which two surviving groups, one eutopian and the other an authoritarian dystopia come into conflict. Adapted for television by the author in a four-episode series 1994 and, with a new ending, in a nine-episode series beginning in December in 2020.
Uncut ed. as The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1990.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Subsidy - James Galen (Vantage Press, 1978)
Dystopia in which the U.S. has become so violent that all the major cities are compounds inside many walls to keep all the violence inside and multiple electronic checks on anyone having to enter or leave. Law enforcement is almost entirely private.
Keywords: Male author

"The Suicide of Man" - John [Kilian Houston] Brunner (1934-95) (Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, 1978)
Future eutopia proves only a staging ground to an apparently higher existence.
Rpt. in The Best of John Brunner (New York: Ballantine Books, 1984), 239-66.
Keywords: English author; Male author

"Three Ways" - Brian [Wilson] Aldiss (1925-2017) (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1978)
Men (no women were on the ship) return to Earth after a long trip to find it entirely under five dystopias. After a new ice age and two nuclear wars, most people live underground and there are constant wars among the dystopias, Corporatia, Socdemaria, Communia, Neutralia, and Third World. Widespread poverty and few human rights. The men end up in different countries, but their situations are much the same, except for one who moves to Zealandia, a colony of Australia, where he becomes a colonial boss. The others return to space.
Rpt. in his New Arrivals, Old Encounters: Twelve Stories (London: Jonathan Cape, 1979), 25-51.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Trample an Empire Down - Mack [Dallas McCord] Reynolds (1917-83) (Leisure Books, 1978)
Reynold’s standard utopia is boring, and some people decide to shake it up..
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Turner Diaries - [William Luther] [Pierce] (1933-2002) (National Alliance, 1978)
A future race war in the United States. One of the most important books for the survivalist and white supremacist right. The Oklahoma City bomber had a copy in his truck, and it was a basic text used by the insurrectionists at the U.S. capitol in 2021. A related book is his Hunter. A Novel. By Andrew Macdonald [pseud.]. Hillsboro, WV: National Vanguard Books, 1989.
2nd ed. [Washington, DC]: National Alliance, 1978. Rpt. New York: Barricade Books, 1996. Illus. ed. Washington, DC: National Alliance, 1978. Initially serialized in twenty-eight installments in Attack! no. 32 - 58 (January 1975 - February 1978) and its successor National Vanguard, which continued the numbering, no. 59 (April 1978), where it ends. All entries that I have seen (all but six) appear on pages 5-6.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Web of the Chozen - Jack L[aurence] Chalker (1944-2005) (Ballantine Books, 1978)
Eutopia. In the 21st century generation starships were sent out, mostly inhabited by political and religious groups hoping to establish their utopia. Earth has extended the lifespan to over 300 with two-thirds of the population in "near-guaranteed good health". No one has to work and most live in government flats on the adequate government dole. Nine large corporations "keep the resources flowing, provide the services, and thereby run the lives of just about everybody" (5). Earth is overpopulated and searching for places to offload surplus population. One planet that an explorer lands on radically transforms the human body into something like a horned kangaroo called the Chozen or Choz that lives in peaceful communities that seem eutopian in that there is plenty for all and little pain and death is rare. But they breed rapidly and overpopulation and conflict loom. The Chozen spread to all human worlds, and the humans become Chozen.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"What Dreams May Come" - Angus McAllister (b. 1943) (Woman, 1978)
Dystopia in which access to the air has become a monopoly.
Rpt. in Starfield: The Anthology of Science Fiction by Scottish Writers. Ed. Duncan Lunan Kirkwall, Orkney, Scot.: The Orkney Press, 1989), 97-107. Collection rpt. Edinburgh, Scot.: New Curiosity Shop, 2018.
Keywords: Male author; Scottish author

What Dreams May Come - Richard [Burton] Matheson (1926-2013) (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1978)
Domestic heaven (called Summerland) to the extent of a dog that had died was in heaven at its prime. Reincarnation. A film was made in 1998 directed by Vincent Ward (b. 1955) with a screenplay by Ronald [Jay] Bass (b. 1942) and starring Robin Williams.
U.K. ed. London: Michael Joseph, 1979. Rpt. London: Sphere Books, 1981.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Wyst: Alastor 1716 - Jack [John Holbrook] Vance (1916-2013) (DAW Books, 1978)
Flawed utopia where everyone is equal, works little, and plays much, but it is centered around war games that are not really games.
Rpt. San Francisco, CA/Columbia, PA: Underwood-Miller, 1984. Repub. as vol. 31 of The Complete Works of Jack Vance. Oakland, CA: Vance Integral Editions, 2002.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Your Place or Mine? - Patrick MacFadden; Rae Murphy (b. 1935); Robert Chodos (b. 1947) (Deneau & Greenberg, 1978)
A political satire set in the future dealing with the future of the Canadian nation.
Keywords: Canadian author; Female author; Male author

After Utopia - Mack [Dallas McCord] Reynolds (1917-83) (Ace Books, 1977)
Flawed utopia in that it is too perfect, to the extent that all progress has ended,and people are escaping into permanent dreams.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Anarchistic Colossus - A[lfred] E[lton] van Vogt (1912-2000) (Ace Books, 1977)
Anarchist eutopia as the setting for resistance to an alien invasion with the aliens believing that the apparently disorganized humans will be easy pickings. The system is tied together by a billions-strong network of AI (kirilian computers in the text) so that ethical and moral lapses can be identified and corrected.
U.K. ed. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1978
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author; US author

Angels Wear Black - Bert Fisher (b. 1934) (Mother Sea Publications, 1977)
Vicious authoritarian dystopia and the struggle against it. See also 1976 and 1978 Fisher.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Male author

Arrival. Book 1 of Daily Lives in Nghsi-Altai - Robert [Molise Boyer] Nichols (1919-2010) (New Directions, 1977)
First volume of a four volume eutopia about a Southeast Asian country that has a fairly simple, agricultural life but a complex mythology, and the novel includes a number of stories and poems from Nghsi-Altai. The protagonists who visit the country include Santiago Alvarez (1919-98), a Cuban filmmaker, William Blake (1757-1827), Jack Kerouac (1922-69), and William Morris (1834-96) among other writers. See also 1978 and 1979 (2) Nichols.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Ascension - Charles L[ewis] Grant (1942-2006) (Berkley Books, 1977)
Post-catastrophe authoritarian dystopia set in 2247 in a collapsing world. Part of a series that follows the same family. See also 1976 and 1979 Grant.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Awakening Water - [Geoffrey Robins] [Crosher] (1911-90) (Chatto & Windus, 1977)
Young adult dystopia in which people are kept in line with drugs. A young man escapes to a democratic eutopia.
U.S. ed. New York: Hastings House, 1979.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Canada Cancelled Because of Lack of Interest - Eric [Patrick] Nicol (b. 1919); Peter [Graham] Whalley (b. 1921) (Hurtig Publishers, 1977)
Humor written from the point of view of the 21st century with one theme that of Canada disintegrated into a number of colonies or protectorates of other countries.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author

The Canbe Collective Builds a Be-Hive - Bert Garskof (Dandelion Press, 1977)
Eutopia of a decentralized, collective future. Could be considered a young adult novel.
Keywords: Male author

The Cold Cash War - Robert [Lynn] Asprin (St. Martin's Press, 1977)
Dystopia in which multinationals conclude that war games are a good way to end disputes so the hire mercenaries to fight non-lethal wars, thus avoiding supervision by the legal system. But the fake war spirals out of control and corporate executives become targets and are assassinated. A sequel of sorts is Asprin with Bill Fawcett. Combat CommandTM In the World of Robert Asprin’s Cold Cash War. The Cold Cash Warrior. New York: Ace Books, 1989 (CU-Riv)
Keywords: Male author; US author

Colossus and the Crab - D[ennis] F[eltham] Jones (1918?-81) (Berkley Books, 1977)
Last volume of the Colossus series. See 1966 and 1974 Jones. In this volume the Martians propose to remove half of Earth's oxygen to use on Mars. After many adventures a reactivated Colossus produces a better plan acceptable to both Earth and Mars.
Keywords: English author; Male author

The Colours of War - Matt[hew] Cohen (1942-1999) (McClelland and Stewart, 1977)
Near future dystopia. Civil war and revolution throughout North America. It is the second of four novels known as the Salem Quartet that are set in an around the fictional town of Salem, Ontario. The others, none of which have any utopian content, are The Disinherited (1974), The Sweet Second Summer of Kitty Malone (1979), and Flowers of Darkness (1981).
Rpt. Markham, ON, Canada: Penguin Books Canada, 1986; and Kingston, ON, Canada: Quarry Press, 1993. U.K. ed. London: Methuen, 1977.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author

Community Democracy: A Study in Alternative Economics - Gary [John] Williams (b. 1947) ([Author], 1977)
Includes a detailed description of a community-based economic system.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Male author

The Confessions of Josef Baisz - Dan Jacobson (1929-2014) (Secker & Warburg, 1977)
Standard totalitarian dystopia as background to a autobiography of a man living in the dystopia and successfully rising within it.
U.S. ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.
Keywords: English author; Male author; South African author; US author

The Construction of an Aquarian Age City-State - David D'Ely Spain (Author, 1977)
A vague description of a fairly typical New Age eutopia of the time.
Keywords: Australian author; Male author

Crackpot - Ron[ald Joseph] Goulart (1933-2022) (Doubleday, 1977)
Post-World War III authoritarian, pleasure oriented automated society that is controlled by androids and robots.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"The Dark Tower" - C[live] S[taples] Lewis (1898-1963) (The Dark Tower and Other Stories, 1977)
Dystopia of an evil society. Posthumously published incomplete story in which Ransom of the space trilogy appears. See 1938, 1943, and 1945 Lewis.
Keywords: English author; Male author; Northern Ireland author

The Double E - Percival Goodman (1904-89) (Anchor Books, 1977)
Eutopia intended to revisited some of the issues raised in 1947 Goodman and Goodman. Double E refers to environment and economy. Includes both consideration of varied plans for ideal cities and proposals for ideal built environments. Some of the material is based on 1973 Goodman.
Keywords: Male author; US author

A Dream of Wessex - Christopher [McKenzie] Priest (1943-2024) (Faber and Faber, 1977)
The novel presents a future (2135-37) after a series of earthquakes has destroyed much of Britain, and it is a Soviet state, generally presented neutrally. Wessex is an island off the coast that is a holiday resort where many of the rules of the mainland do not apply and, as a result, it attracts many tourists from the Islamic North America. The focus of the novel is on two individuals projected to the future Wessex from the mid-1980s who choose to stay there.
U.S. ed. as The Perfect Lover. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1977.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Dwarf's Legacy - Tolly [Apostolos P.] Kizilos (Ashley Books, 1977)
Post-catastrophe dystopia bent on forgetting the past.
Keywords: Male author

The Earth Again Redeemed. May 26 to July 1, 1984 on this earth of ours and its alter ego. A Science Fiction Novel - Martin [Burgess] Green (1927-2010) (Basic Books, 1977)
Two alternative future dystopias set in 1984. One is post-nuclear catastrophe and the other is a world of seventeenth century colonial attitudes facing a religious war in Africa. Contact occurs between the two and both are changed.
Rpt. without the second subtitle. London: Sphere Books, 1979.
Keywords: English author; Male author; US author

The Ecolog - R[adell] Faraday Nelson (1931-2022) (Laser Books, 1977)
Feudal dystopia in which a woman, known as the Ecolog, rules a planet with a rigid division between the ruling class and the rest of society and with women holding power over men.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Ecotopia 2001" - Irons, Greg; Tom Veitch (Slow Death, 1977)
Comic presenting an apparent eutopia of peace and plenty, with a particular emphasis on sexual relations and marijuana use. But the last few frames indicate that the "straights" or those who marry and have children are hunted down and killed.
Keywords: Male author

"Eldorado" - Charles L[ewis] Grant (1942-2006) (The Arts and Beyond; Visions of Man's Aesthetic Future, 1977)
Dystopia. An artist colony that was designed so that artists would be free to be creative is run by an automated city in so stultifying a manner that most artists left.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Empty World - [Sam] [Youd] (1922-2012) (Hamilton, 1977)
Young adult pandemic dystopia.
U.S. ed. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1978. 134 pp.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Equality: In the Year 2000 - Mack [Dallas McCord] Reynolds (1917-83) (Ace Books, 1977)
Sequel to 1973 Reynolds based on 1888 and 1897 Bellamy. In this novel the future utopia is shown to have dissidents, but the resuscitated protagonist from the past helps the society deal with them.
Keywords: Male author; US author

A Generation Removed - Gary K[enneth] Wolf (b. 1941) (Doubleday, 1977)
Dystopia of generational conflict in which the young rule with all teenagers having the vote. Retirement at 55, no medical care, and euthanasia for the ill. The dust jacket adds “In this brave new world, aging is a crime.” Euth Centres staffed by teenagers Anyone over 55 with a euthable disease was euthanized, and almost everything was euthable.
Keywords: Male author; US author

“Gillan Is Not All” - Jonathan Farris (Janus, 1977)
Domed city on another planet where complete obedience is the norm, memories are wiped, and the basic myth is that there is nothing outside the dome.
Keywords: Male author

Heat - Arthur [H.] Herzog [III] (1927-2010) (Simon & Schuster, 1977)
Ecological dystopia.
U.K. ed. London: William Heinemann, 1978.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"Horsemen" - Brian [Wilson] Aldiss (1925-2017) (Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine, 1977)
A simple, agricultural eutopia is destroyed by people from Earth. The people are closely in tune with their planet, vegetarian, live in marriage groups, and have rich inner lives. The arriving Earth ship releases the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Pestilence, Famine, War, and Death) from the psyches of the nine people from Earth on the ship onto the planet.
Rpt. as “New Arrivals, Old Encounters.” In his New Arrivals, Old Encounters. Twelve Stories (London: Jonathan Cape, 1979), 9-14.
Keywords: English author; Male author

"In the Stocks" - Barry N[athaniel] Malzberg (b. 1939) (New Dimensions Science Fiction, 1977)
Sequel to 1973 Malzberg in which women are sent into the homosexual enclave in attempt to "cure" the homosexuality of the men in the enclave.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"The Intensive Care Unit" - J[ames] G[raham] Ballard (1930-2009) (Ambit, 1977)
Dystopia where all live isolated, meeting in person is illegal, with meetings of families particularly prohibited, and all communication is by television. The story focuses on a man who chooses to meet his wife and children in person, and they kill each other.
Rpt. in his Myths of the Near Future (London: Jonathan Cape, 1982), 195-205; in his The Complete Short Stories. (London: Flamingo, 2001), 946-52; and in a separately paged section entitled “P.S. Ideas, interviews & features . . .” (1-18) at the end of the reprint of his High-Rise (London: Harper Perennial, 2006), 2-10.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Kampus. A Novel - James E[dwin] Gunn (1923-2020) (Bantam Books, 1977)
A dystopia of the future of universities where many students are illiterate, faculty market their classes to attract such students, and the students control much of the campus. Much sex and violence.
Rpt. as the Collector's Edition. Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, 1986 illus. Richard Powers and with an "Introduction" (v-viii) by Frederik Pohl.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Last Transaction - Barry N[athaniel] Malzberg (b. 1939) (Pinnacle Books, 1977)
Dystopia set in the near future when people gain control of U.S. nuclear reactors and try to force the country to disarm and establish a world government.
Keywords: Male author; US author

A Little Knowledge - Michael [Lawson] Bishop (1945-2023) (Berkley/Putnam, 1977)
Dystopia of Christian fundamentalism and religious revivals in a future fragmented United States and the arrival of Aliens.
Rpt. New York: Berkley, 1978. Substantially revised in His The City and the Cygnet: An Alternative History of the Atlanta Urban Nucleus in the 21st Century (Bonney Lake, WA : Kudzu Planet Productions/Fairwood Press, 2019), 228-97.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Logan's World - William F[rancis] Nolan (1928-2021) (Bantam Books, 1977)
Sequel to 1967 Nolan and Johnson in which Logan and the other runners settle a new world. Although there are problems that drive the plot, a nonviolent society is created that operates without a leader. See also 1980 Nolan.
Rpt. in Logan: A Trilogy (Baltimore, MD: Maclay & Associates, 1986), 139-259. Rpt. with the same pagination New York: Dell, 1992.
Keywords: Male author; US author

A Man Called Peters - Adrian [Goodenough] Hayter (b. 1914) (Hodder and Stoughton, 1977)
Political novel with New Zealand government as a dystopia. Both main political parties presented as corrupt and completely uninterested in the needs of the people. Pornography is being brought into the country to undermine the moral fiber of New Zealanders. Written from a loosely conservative perspective. Stresses the need for self-discipline and the equation between freedom and responsibility. At the end the government is defeated.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Male author

"Molly Zero" - Keith [John Kingston] Roberts (1935-2000) (Triax: Three Original Novellas by James Gunn, Keith Roberts, Jack Vance, 1977)
Authoritarian dystopia in which all children are raised together in single sex groups. One girl revolts, escapes, and experiences life on the outside.
Expanded into his Molly Zero. London: Victor Gollancz, 1980.
Keywords: English author; Male author

Nemo - Ron[ald Joseph] Goulart (1933-2022) (Berkley Medallion, 1977)
Standard authoritarian dystopia with a successful revolt.
U.K. ed. London: Robert Hale, 1979.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Nightwatch - Andrew M[ichael] Stephenson (b. 1946) (Futura, 1977)
Mostly adventure and intrigue. Authoritarian dystopia set in 2006 with the Earth near collapse and aliens arriving.
U.S. ed. New York: Dell, 1977.
Keywords: English author; Male author

"No Renewal" - Spider Robinson (b. 1948) (Galaxy Science Fiction, 1977)
Dystopia created by a fixed period for life.
Rpt. in his Antinomy (New York: Dell, 1980), 240-45; and in his Melancholy Elephants (Markham, ON, Canada: Penguin, 1984), 125-30. U.S. ed. (New York: Tor, 1985), 135-40.
Keywords: Canadian author; Male author; US author

"One of Them" - T[homas] E[dwin] Dorman (b. 1914) (Landfall 121 (New Zealand), 1977)
Post-catastrophe dystopia in which those choosing to live outside the clean areas are hunted down and killed. The protagonist, who is a young man on his first hunt, thinks of the clean area in both eutopian and dystopian terms (the beauty, the cleanliness, the punishment gangs) and chooses to join the outsiders.
Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand author; Male author

Paradise I. A Novel - Alan Harrington (1919-97) (Little, Brown, 1977)
Eutopia and dystopia. Effect of the ability to bring immortality where there is not enough serum available for all and a computer selects who will become immortal plus a few who win immortality through a lottery. The period of transition is violent and confused, but the problems continue into what is expected to be the eutopia of the future in that immortality does not cure the lust for power. See also 1969 Harrington for a different take on immortality.
Keywords: Male author; US author

Petals of Blood - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (b. 1938) (Heinemann, 1977)
Complex novel depicting, among other things, a post-independence African dystopia and various people with utopian aspirations. Includes the idea that an African utopia will need to be found in the African past.
Keywords: Kenyan author; Male author

Police Patrol: 2000 A.D - Mack [Dallas McCord] Reynolds (1917-83) (Ace Books, 1977)
The novel is set in Reynold’s future where everyone receives a basic income and housing and shows that the police are still needed.
Parts were original published as “Romp.” Analog Science Fiction--Science Fact 78.2 (October 1966): 93-107; “Criminal in Utopia.” Galaxy Science Fiction 27.3 (October 1968): 72-92; rpt. in Tomorrow, Inc. SF Stories About Big Business. Ed. Martin Harry Greenberg and Joseph D. Olander (New York: Taplinger, 1976), 189-207; “Extortion, Inc.” Analog Science Fiction--Science Fact 82.6 (February 1969): 83-99; and “Cry Wolf!” Galaxy Science Fiction 35.12 (December 1974): 6-32.
Keywords: Male author; US author

The Realms of Tartarus - Brian [Michael] Stableford (1948-2024) (DAW Books, 1977)
A technological eutopia built above a polluted earth and the dystopia on the surface where humans, animals, and plants had evolved into a myriad of new species.
The first section had originally been published as The Face of Heaven. The Realms of Tartarus Volume One. London: Quartet, 1976 as the first of an intended three volumes.
Keywords: English author; Male author

The Right Hand of Dextra - David J[ohn] Lake (1929-2016) (DAW Books, 1977)
Background of dystopian Puritan society but includes a eutopia of humans transformed into centaurs. A non-utopian sequel is The Wildings of Westron. New York: DAW Books, 1977.
Keywords: Australian author; English author; Indian author; Male author

A Scanner Darkly - Philip K[indred] Dick (1928-82) (Doubleday, 1977)
Near future dystopia focusing on drug use.
U.K. ed. London: Victor Gollancz, 1977. Rpt. in Five Novels of the 1960s & 70s. Martian Time-Slip; Dr. Bloodmoney; Now Wait for Last Year; Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said; A Scanner Darkly. Ed. Jonathan Lethem (New York: The Library of America, 2008), 859-1098, 1126-27. A film tie-in edition was published London: Victor Gollancz, 2006.
Keywords: Male author; US author

"The Shack at Great Cross Halt" - Keith [John Kingston] Roberts (1935-2000) (New Writings in SF, 1977)
Dystopia focusing on an isolated group of people living next to a major highway but completely disconnected from the larger world. The focus characters had escaped from the dystopia, and the story ends with the beginning of a fight back against the dystopia.
Rpt. in his Ladies From Hell (London: Victor Gollancz, 1979), 54-85.
Keywords: English author; Male author