Episode suggestions

Dan and Paul take an in-depth look at the worlds portrayed Young Adult dystopian fiction.
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The Martini
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby The Martini » 26 Jun 2015, 07:40

Finally started listening and now caught up. Great podcast! For suggestions, how about:

"Orphans of the Sky" be Heinlein - a Boy's Adventure on a dystopian (thpoilerth!) derelict generation ship. Fully qualifies on the YA angle, but is much older than any of the books so far (1949?). Fallen society acting out technical tasks by rote and religion! Knifefights! Muties (Mutant Mutineers!)! Starts with the usual YA "getting assigned your job in life".

A great apocalyptic but not quite so YA book that I think more people should read is "Vanishing Point" by Michaela Roessner. One night, 90% of the population disappears with no trace or explanation. The story picks up a generation later - the folks who lived through it are getting older, the next generation born right after the Disapperance are just reaching adulthood, and the second post-Disappearance generation are young children. It focuses on a group living in the Winchester Mystery House, and it only gets weirder from there. It suffers from a big 'lalalalalala' fingers-in-the-ears issue with the inciting incident, but other than that, it's a great look at the different groups that organize to make sense of what happened, as well as an overall tone of older generations not understanding the younger.
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby LadyRhian » 09 Jul 2015, 08:00

I work in a library and just recently caught up on the podcast. I have some suggestions, not all of which I have read, but which seem to be popular with our patrons:

Commitment Hour by James Alan Gardner features a culture who switch between male and female sexes once a year until their 21st birthday, when they are asked to choose whether they want to stay forever as male, female, or both. It turns out that this culture was set up as an "experiment" by a different culture.

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
People have already mentioned "The Uglies" series.
Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Matched by Ally Condie- a world where everyone is matched with their "perfect mate", but the main protagonist sees her best friend, male, before she sees her "perfect mate" in the machine and investigates.
The Legend Trilogy by Marie Lu
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi (new- only seen it in passing)
The Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness
Z is for Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien (a film is coming out this summer)

I have more, but my break is over, More later!
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby Daniel » 09 Jul 2015, 14:18

Thanks a lot @LadyRhian! As always, librarians for the win!

And @The Martini, and all the other fantastic book suggestions! It's a shame we can't read them as fast as we watch the movies (although at least not in Italian) - the books have a way better track record for being enjoyable, and we'll never run out of them.
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby LadyRhian » 10 Jul 2015, 23:21

The rest of my suggestions:

Pure by Julianna Baggott
The Maze Runner by James Dashner (also a movie is being made/has been made of this)
The Young World by Chris Weitz
The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry (Sequel to the Giver, apparently)

I looked up the "Z is for Zachariah" movie and have been disappointed to learn that they have added a love triangle to the movie. The novel only has two characters… And the movie made the scientist/controlling guy black, where the female lead is white… which brings all sorts of unasked for racial baggage to the story. I am not looking forward to the movie now.
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby SixFootTurkey » 13 Jul 2015, 12:58

The Newsflesh Trilogy - Mira Grant
I mentioned it in another thread, but I definitely want to give it a mention here. A post-zombie apocalypse series, where the world has stabilized. I have no idea how much to say, so I will just say that it is zombies meets politics meets blogging (basically freelance journalism in this world). The world felt extremely well fleshed out to me, and the actions of characters and their motivations made sense.

Starters - Lissa Price
I'm a bit more on the fence about this one, but it's one I hadn't seen mentioned. There's an age gap which is explained due to a war, but as I can't recall the specifics you'll have to figure out how plausible it is on your own. :P This results in a divide between the two groups that is economic and political as well as physical. As a result of hard living, some Starters accept an offer of payment for letting Enders temporarily take over their body (via a chip implanted in their brain), allowing the Enders to enjoy the benefits of a young body again.

If we're going for scifi and stretching, I'll throw the movie 'Moon' into the hat, but I find it well worth the watch even if it's not going to be used for a podcast. The movie is comprised of almost entirely a single actor, an astronaut overseeing an automated mining operation on the moon.
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby ritchards » 13 Jul 2015, 22:31

If we are stretching, I'm inclined to look towards 2000AD comics. There are young adults in Judge Dredd!
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby SixFootTurkey » 14 Jul 2015, 12:06

Daniel wrote:Thanks a lot @LadyRhian! As always, librarians for the win!

And @The Martini, and all the other fantastic book suggestions! It's a shame we can't read them as fast as we watch the movies (although at least not in Italian) - the books have a way better track record for being enjoyable, and we'll never run out of them.


Well then, I guess you'll just have to go from a biweekly schedule to a weekly one.
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby Daniel » 14 Jul 2015, 14:13

@SixFootTurkey That'll happen on the day the podcast becomes profitable enough for me to give up my day job! And thanks for the suggestions! Also, your username makes me want to chuckle every time I see it.

@LadyRhian More good suggestions! Not only that, but the lead has clearly been adapted from 16 to really definitely not 16:
http://cdn.hitfix.com/photos/6059233/Z_ ... _debut.jpg
So I don't think the movie counts as YA at all.
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby SixFootTurkey » 15 Jul 2015, 08:04

Daniel wrote:That was an odd moment, wasn't it, when the werewolves (or "mutt-ations" - the one thing Suzanne Collins is really, really not good at is cool names for things, see also "tracker jacker") are revealed as having the contestants eyes. Very much implying that they had been monsterized. It was so much of a misstep in fact, that Collins herself retconned it later in the trilogy, saying that the eyes were fake and it was all mindgames by the game masters!


I don't recall it being retconned... any chance you could PM me the specific moment she does that?

I still considered that to be a truthful (and meaningful) representation of what the game masters were capable of; terrorizing the contestants in ways that the audience wasn't aware of, just like the capital was capable of terrorizing whomever they chose out in the open without others taking notice. (For an example, see the various public conversations/looks/etc between Snow and Katniss.)

Another suggestion btw:
The Bromeliad Trilogy - Terry Pratchett
It's probably more middle grade than YA, but I'm going to lump it in with YA as the typical distinction I've seen here is YA vs adult.

The series is about a group of Nomes who live hidden among humans, and how they react to significant changes in their environment. (I don't want to get into too many details as it's been too long since I've read it to remember what not to say.)
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby SixFootTurkey » 15 Jul 2015, 08:24

[Initial Draft]

Possible suggestion format (or at least things to include):
"""
Title [- author]
Target Audience (YA or not)
Suggested medium if there are more than one, and other mediums it can be found in. (Specifying that it is a movie if you don't have a director/year of release.)
Brief summary of story and/or world
"""

***Do we have a definition of YA we are using? If not, I'll be assuming the 'marketed towards young adults (12-18)' version - the important bit being 'marketed towards'.***

If your suggestion is on this list and you clarify, I can go back and modify it. If you know of another's suggestion - and aren't guessing at which one they meant - feel free to clarify the target audience (whether or not it is YA). Also note I may reformat this, so this will likely be an early draft - especially if I get feedback. I'm going to leave off sequels, as they're likely already on the radar; unless of course, they've specified the intent (or hope) of getting to them in the future.

@Dan/Paul, this is a public list, so that people can feel free to elaborate a bit more if it's the first time an idea is being suggested, or just throw a quick 'I'd like to second X' if they see it on the list. (Feel free to use it as you will.)

A list of stories already done or suggested.
How We Got Here:
"Divergent" - [film]; [book]
"The Host" - [film]; [book]
"Devil On My Back" - [book]
"The Giver" - [film]; [book]
"City of Ember" - [flim]; [book]
"The White Mountains" - [book]
"The Hunger Games" - [film]; [book]
"A Boy And His Dog" - (TW: rape) [film]; [short story]

Hope For The Future:
"The Hunger Games" - [trilogy]
"The Tripods" - [series]
"Holes" - [book]; [movie]

Recommendations:
YA:
"City of Bones" - [book]; [film
"Witch and Wizard" - ???
"The Chrysalids" - [book]
"Orphans of the Sky" - [book]
"The Maze Runner" - [book]; [film]
"Newsflesh" - [trilogy]
"Starters" - [book]

Not YA:
"The Island"
"Logan's Run"
"The Running Man"
"Mad Max"
"Moon"

"The Madness Season" - C.S. Friedman
'Ender' saga - Orson Scott Card
"The Rifters Trilogy" - Peter Watts
"Lords of the Psychon" - Daniel F Galouye
"Dark Universe" - Daniel F. Galouye ('kind of YA'?)
"Steelheart" - Brandon Sanderson ('most YA'?)
"Vanishing Point" - Michaela Roessner
'Judge Dredd comics' - ???

Unknown Target Audience:
"Four Lords of the Diamond" - Jack Chalker
"Fever Crumb" - Philip Reeve
"Uglies" series - Scott Westerfield
... - Scott Westerfield
"Shades of Grey" - Jasper Fforde
"Spark Rising" - Kate Corcino
"Little Brother" - Cory Doctorow
"Ready Player One" - Ernest Cline
"Dragon's Daughter" - Michael Swanwick

Unsure/To File:
"Elysium" (movie or book by Jennifer Marie Brissett?)
"In Time" (movie?)
Escape From New York
The Warriors
Battle Royale
The Road
From the New World
'Mega Man universe'
"Snow Crash" - Neal Stephenson
"Our Fair City" (audio drama)
'Shannara' series - Terry Brooks'
"Day of the Triffids"
"Pure" - Julianna Baggott
"The Young World" - Chris Weitz
"The Fire Sermon" - Francesca Haig


Presumably all YA?{
"The Eleventh Plague" - Jeff Hirsch
"Blood Red Road" - Moira Young
"Matched" - Ally Condie
"The Legend Trilogy" - Marie Lu
"Under the Never Sky" - Veronica Rossi
"The Chaos Walking Trilogy" - Patrick Ness
"Z is for Zachariah" - Robert C. O'Brien
}
Last edited by SixFootTurkey on 16 Jul 2015, 12:27, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby Daniel » 15 Jul 2015, 10:10

Whoa, cool! Thanks for putting the time in, @SixFootTurkey, this is handy!
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby SixFootTurkey » 16 Jul 2015, 13:14

*Sigh* I had it almost finished, but then I accidentally hit ctrl+shift+Q instead of ctrl+shift+tab... Oh well, as I'm off to run, I'll have to finish that up later.

Sometimes Google is great with intuitive programs, but having two vastly disparate keybindings so one key apart is entirely asinine, especially as there is no way of turning off the former within the core program... (I'm told there is an extension to do so, but one shouldn't need an extension to be able to safely use the program.)
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby Trisha Lynn » 22 Jul 2015, 17:30

So, I sent a Tweet out to Scott Westerfield to ask if the Uglies books were YA fiction, and a writer friend of his responded:

https://twitter.com/JustineLavaworm/sta ... 5032136704

https://twitter.com/JustineLavaworm/sta ... 7028505600

The part I like the most is the fact that she said "We're a bit confused by this Q" as if Westerfeld was sitting next to her or had contacted her to ask her to respond to me. I doubt that's how it happened, but leave me to my fantasies, hmm?


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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby SixFootTurkey » 27 Jul 2015, 08:44

The tv show Ascension is interesting... It's not YA, but it's set on a colony ship where things take on a bit of a dystopian vibe. I won't spoil it, but a few of the events later on (in the only season) have some neat tie ins to dystopian style settings as well.
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby JustAName » 28 Jul 2015, 16:07

Was anyone confused as to whether Uglies was YA? It is like, the model genre fiction.
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby DaMage » 03 Aug 2015, 20:09

I suddenly remembered a really good book/movie that should be suggested for this podcast.

In Australia here there is a YA series that nearly every school student ends up reading called Tomorrow When the War Began. It tells the story of a group of teenagers that are out camping when an invasion of Australia happens and all the struggles they go through to fight back without adults to help them. The entire series is 10 books long, but a few years ago the first book was turned into a film (Australian made, so unfortunately it doesn't have the Hollywood budget)..

It may not be 'dystopian' in the traditional sense, but since the book ends with a peaceful town becoming a warzone it certainly fits. Since it is an Australian written series, it has some different views on how YA act.

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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby LadyRhian » 03 Aug 2015, 23:06

Got several more for you crazy guys. :)

"Tunnel in the Sky" by Robert Heinlein- Rod is a young student taking a survival course, which everyone must pass to be a full member of his society. The last test in the class is to survive for a week on an uninhabited planet which you get to through a wormhole (the "Tunnel in Space" of the Title). Students can take anything they want and can carry, from a laser gun to a dog, to pots and pans and a deck of cards. The "Apocalypse" is that after a week, the recall signal to pick them up doesn't come and now Rob and his class (and a few other classes as well) must survive and build a new community on this planet. Not everyone gets along and while Rob isn't the BMOC, he's a vital part of his community.

"Star Man's Son" aka "Daybreak 2250 AD" (in reprinted editions) by Andre Norton- Star Man's Son (1952) is a post-apocalyptic novel that takes place about two centuries after the Great-Blowup. This story is also entitled Daybreak - 2250 AD in reprint editions.

The cause of the catastrophe is unknown, but the effect are quite obvious. Much of the population was killed by the immediate effects of nuclear bombs, many others died later from the direct radiation and fallout from those bombs, and many more died from induced radioactivity, plague and starvation. Many plants and animals had been mutated into unrecognizable and deadly forms. Only a few humans survived and many of these were also mutated into Beast Things and other horrible creatures in the "blue cities" where radioactivity lingered. A very few survivors, however, received beneficial mutations that improved their chances of survival, but the seemingly normal survivors generally feared and hated any and every mutant.

Fors is the son of Langdon, a Star Man, a far ranging explorer and leader of the Eyrie, and a woman that Langdon had meet down on the plains. Although Langdon was seemingly normal, Fors has inherited white hair from his mother, a mutation viewed with suspicion by the other residents of the Eyrie. While Langdon was alive, he protected Fors from most of the fear and hatred, but then Langdon was killed by Beast Things on an exploration into a far city and the men who find him bring back only a few of his belongings.

After that, Fors was mostly ignored in his efforts to become a Star Man like his father. He has been adopted by Lura, a great hunting cat, and has made his own sword, knife, bow, and arrows as required. His father, a master teacher among the Star Men, had already ensured before his death that Fors knows all that is required. Nevertheless, the Council has passed over him for five years and tomorrow he will have to give up his weapons and become a tiller of the soil. As he ponders his options, Fors conceives a bold plan and immediately starts gathering supplies and equipment, including his father's pouch, for a great journey to search for the lost city in the north that was never bombed and thus is safe for scavengers.

Although Fors has tried to hide them, he has some unusual talents that will help him on his trek: he is able to communicate empathically with Lura and he has much better night vision than most humans. Moreover, he has other, more subtle talents that manifest as he travels.

"The Last Planet" (aka "Star Rangers" in some reprints) by Andre Norton- The Stellar patrol is dying. It is a nuisance that reminds those that are trying to take over the empire of a time when the Central Control ruled all and the loyal stellar patrol and its rangers spread its message and enforced its laws without interference from squabbling warlords interested only in gaining more power. One of these warlords decides to rid his system of the pesky stellar patrol by ordering the cruiser StarFire to map long forgotten systems on the edge of explored space and not return until done. The loyal stellar patrol, bound by its rules and traditions, has no choice but to follow these orders. The StarFire journeys through many systems before having to make a emergency landing on a strangley familar world. Upon landing the surviors find that they are not alone and that the forces that are tearing apart the empire have followed them. They also find that the world they are on was once home to an advanced alien race. One journey has ended and another has begun. Will the remains of the patrol be able to survie themselves and the strange alliances they find on this uncharted planet?

"Year of the Unicorn" by Andre Norton- Gillian is a novice in a convent in Halstead. But little does she know it, she is a child of one of the famed Witches of Estcarp. In a land ravaged by War, the leaders have a pact with a band of Were-Riders who helped them in the war, to give them brides for their help in the war. Gillian, tired of the unchanging life of a novice, changes places with one of the distraught "brides" and discovers that the Were-Riders have used illusion to seem less frightening to their brides to be. But Gillian also discovers the ability to see through the illusions, and as each bride picks a cloak to choose their husband, chooses one that is less than perfect, belonging to the Were-Rider Herrel. But when they realize that Gillian can see through their illusions, she must deal with a frightening ride to make them trust that she will support them while receiving no help whatsoever, aware at any moment that one of the Riders jealous of Herrel's good fortune could try to steal her from him.

This one doesn't take place on earth, but Gillian is a young adult, and setting is dystopian, only with magic. (Magic is essentially mind-powers here.)

"Survey Ship" by Marion Zimmer Bradley- Earth is getting overcrowded, and so UNEPS- The United Nations Expeditionary Planetary Survey chooses from the most physically and mentally superior five year olds from all over the planet and trains and molds them into Astronauts. As part of their training, they help construct the ship, its systems and computer. But out of the 100 students chosen every year, only five to twelve of them will make it and be chosen as crew for the ship when they turn seventeen. But can this new crew deal with a disaster on board before they even leave the solar system?

Here, earth is heading for dystopia and the Apocalypse (so to speak) occurs on board. Nevertheless, it's an interesting book, and might be up both your alleys. It's one of Marion Zimmer Bradley's less well-known works (just as "Tunnel in the Sky" is for Heinlein.)

Also The Deep Water Trilogy by Ken Cattran (Made into a TV series called "Mission: Genesis" by the Sci-Fi Channel)- Here's an overview: A virus breaks out and leaves the humans residing on Earth doomed. However, in a desperate attempt before the end, all humanity's resources are dedicated to a crash program to produce a deep space ark, capable of seeding humanity on a new world.

The ship is crewed by six clones; teenage versions of people who achieved great works during the ark project and equipped with the memories of their donors. Prior to its arrival, however, the crew is awoken prematurely to face a threat to the ship, before their memories are complete.

Each book in the trilogy is narrated by an Earth kid. The others are cloned from genes taken from Mars and Jupiter: Bren has green skin, Lis has blue hair! Rob, Denie and Connal all experience 'prexes', or pre-existences that their clone-ancestors had on twentieth-century Earth.

The series is available on YouTube.

"Shipbreaker" and "Drowned Cities" by Paolo Bacigalupi- The first book tells the story of Nailer, one of a group of kids who works to salvage materials from ships in the Gulf of Mexico that were swamped when the seas rose due to climate change. Then, he makes a discovery that could change everything… "Drowned Cities" is a companion book that tells the plight of people in American cities trying to deal with the changes wrought by the rising water.

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley- made into a movie several times. A future Earth where humans are strictly segregated by class. When a woman gets pregnant on a trip to the outside and her son is found many years later, can he re-integrate into human society, such as it is?

"The Missing Persons League" by Frank Bonham- Earth is dying, short of oxygen. While the rich have real food, Brian and his father survive on Soy, Algae, and the illegal vegetable garden that they have in their basement. There are "oxygen stations" around for those short of breath on the outside, and one in their kitchen, but Brian relies on the fresh oxygen in their basement. However, his mother and sister went missing a year ago, which doesn't seem to trouble his loving father at all. But when his father also disappears, Brian has to go looking for answers with a female classmate of his. And he's started getting strange letters from a long-dead Renaissance scientist that is making him think about what he knows, and what he thinks he knows...

There is another book I am looking for the title to, in where a bunch of kids (Cloned or vat-grown) are being raised on this enormous spaceship. They are being raised to be explorers of a new world which might one day serve as a colony for Earth. However, lately, weird things have been happening, and the kids aren't sure what is going on. Slowly, they discover that there are a group of adults on the ship- these were raised to be explorers of the past world thought suitable for colonization, but the world turned out to be poisonous, and they had to stay on the ship, which took off for the next habitable possible colony. The ship's instructions couldn't be changed, so it raised a new crop of explorers, and the adults were forced to hide from the kids. Now, they want to take over as explorers of the new possible colony, while the kids want to do the job they have been trained for, and the adults and kids are forced to battle over who gets the right to be explorers on the new world. I remember at least one incident where the main character (a girl) was drugged by one of the adults. But hey, still looking.
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby Master Gunner » 04 Aug 2015, 03:50

I may detest the book due to high school English courses, but how has no one suggested "Lord of the Flies" yet?
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby Daniel » 04 Aug 2015, 12:24

Whoa, thanks again @LadyRhian! Really appreciate the trouble - you can be in our Faction any time!

@Master Gunner Great out-of-the-box suggestion - going on the list! I haven't read it, and I'd like to - the author of Maze Runner said his book was specifically a response to that one. So I'm interested in how the cyborg spiders are handled.
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby LadyRhian » 04 Aug 2015, 17:00

:D Thanks @Daniel! You can probably guess I am House Ravenclaw, ;)

And I found the book! (holla!) Earthseed by Pamela Sargent. From the wikipedia page: Many years into the future, a last-ditch attempt to save humanity was created, a project known as Ship, an AI containing DNA of different Earth flora and fauna and sent into space to find a new planet. Also created are a group of children using genes from the leaders of the project, all raised by Ship, and of whom Zoheret is the main character. Now in their teens, the Zoheret and the others are subjected to their last test, a competition within the Ship's Hollow, a simulated Earth-like environment. The teens are moved into the Hollow, and told to live there so that they can gain the skills they will need to live and survive on their new planet. Very quickly, Ho and Manuel, two troublemakers, split off from the rest. Zoheret and the others are left make a farming community. With Zoheret's friend and roommate Lillka as the group's leader.

All goes well until it is discovered that Ho's group has started to steal some of the main settlement's supplies. This upsets a great many of the main settlement's members, and they go out to find the smaller group's home base. The vengeful group ends up burning down the cabins of the other community. Angry and confused, Zoheret and her friend, Bonnie (accused of cooperating with Ho and Manuel's group) set off to plead with Ship; however, Ship is unwilling to let them out of the Hollow. They finally get Ship to let them get food to take back to their settlement.

Zoheret develops a relationship with Dmitri, another teen, while Lillka is slowly replaced as leader by another boy, Tonio. Things for the small community are made much worse when they awake to find their fields incinerated by Ho's group. The settlement leaves to hunt down Ho and Manuel's group, while Zoheret and Bonnie, still concerned over Ship's odd behavior, lead a small group back to Ship. Instead, they stumble across an older man, Aleksandr, who introduces himself as Dmitri's older brother, a remnant of Ship's previous attempt at the Project. He takes Zoheret and the others in her group into Ship's corridors and introduces them to the other six members of his group, including Zoheret's own older brother, Yusef. They explain that Ship had created them years ago when it had found two planets suitable for life. However, neither turned out adequate (the first having a poisonous atmosphere, the second inhabited by intelligent life that might be burdens), and the group was given two options: live their lives out in the Hollow, without reproducing, or go into cryostasis. Most of the group goes into cryostasis and are now in the process of being revived.
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby Lord Chrusher » 05 Aug 2015, 00:27

DaMage wrote:I suddenly remembered a really good book/movie that should be suggested for this podcast.

In Australia here there is a YA series that nearly every school student ends up reading called Tomorrow When the War Began. It tells the story of a group of teenagers that are out camping when an invasion of Australia happens and all the struggles they go through to fight back without adults to help them. The entire series is 10 books long, but a few years ago the first book was turned into a film (Australian made, so unfortunately it doesn't have the Hollywood budget)..

It may not be 'dystopian' in the traditional sense, but since the book ends with a peaceful town becoming a warzone it certainly fits. Since it is an Australian written series, it has some different views on how YA act.

IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1456941/


Ah, yes Australia's fear of its sparely populated land of being invaded by the large number people to living to the north.

I saw the film when I was living in Melbourne - it is a decent film.
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LadyRhian
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby LadyRhian » 05 Aug 2015, 04:34

Okay, last ones for a while. This was going to be added from the list above, but I couldn't find the paper. I was cleaning, and YAY! I found it!

"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut. To enforce that everyone in the society is equal anyone who stands out (more intelligent, stronger, etc.) must wear devices that interfere with what is better about them so that no one in society is "better". This is a short story rather than a book, and ends on a downer- major downer. It's also been made into a TV episode/short show (it's not really long enough to make it a movie, per se).

The Girl who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson- when the apocalypse comes, only one twelve year old girl has the foresight to run a small community that works cooperatively to survive. When Adults move in on her and the community, can she and her fellow "villagers" save what they have founded?

"Obernewtyn"- Book and series by Isabelle Carmody- After an apocalypse, some children are born with different powers. Hated and feared by normal humans, they are sent to Obernewtyn, a small village located in the countryside that is supposed to be like a jail, but in which they can live their lives in supposed peace. But when a young woman and her brother are found to be ones who have powers, they are sent to Obernewtyn. Changes from the apocalypse are still coming, and the residents of Obernewtyn must band together to save their society.

Mortal Engines by Phillip Reeve-The book is set in a post-apocalyptic world, ravaged in ages past by nuclear warfare, the "Sixty Minute War," which caused massive geological upheaval. To escape the earthquakes, volcanoes and other instabilities, a Nomad leader called Nikola Quercus, designed a system, where entire cities became immense vehicles known as Traction Cities, and must consume one another in order to maintain themselves in a world deprived of natural resources. Although the planet has since become stable again, Traction Cities are still used despite originally having been intended to escape from natural disasters.

Much technological and scientific knowledge was lost, and what remains of "Old Tech", artifacts remaining from our more developed society, are dug up and pored over by scavengers and archeologists. Europe, some of Asia, North Africa, Antarctica and the Arctic are inhabited by Traction Cities, and North America is a war-ravaged wasteland, while much of the rest of the world is the stronghold of the Anti-Traction League, an organization that seeks to keep cities from moving and thus stop the intense consumption of the planet's remaining resources, in an effort to restore the world to its prewar state of peace. In the world of Traction Cities, nations no longer exist - each city is an individual state.

London is the principal Traction City in the novel, which, now many hundreds of years after the sixty-minute war, has returned to a Victorian-era society and technological state. London's society is divided into four major and a number of minor Guilds. The Engineers are responsible for maintaining the machines necessary for the survival of London, many of which are found by the Guild of Historians. The Historians are in charge of collecting and preserving highly prized, often dangerous, but decorative and sometimes even useful ancient artifacts which are sought after and traded; the head of this guild is Thaddeus Valentine. The Navigators are responsible for steering and plotting the course of London. The Merchants are in charge of running London's economy. London is officially ruled by an elected Mayor. The Lord Mayor is Magnus Crome, who is also the head of the Guild of Engineers.

Like most Traction Cities, London is shaped like a wedding cake, built on a series of tiers. This encourages the system of social classes, with the wealthier nobles living at the top of the city and the lower classes living further down, closer to the noise and pollution of the city's massive engines. Atop the whole of London sits St Paul's Cathedral, the only building in London - and indeed all traction cities - known to have survived from pre-traction times. It is almost unmistakably the seventeenth century edifice designed by Sir Christopher Wren.

The great Traction City lumbers after a small town, eager to strip it of all assets and move on. Resources on the Great Hunting Ground that once was Europe are so limited that mobile cities must consume one another to survive, a practice known as Municipal Darwinism.

Tom, an apprentice in the Guild of Historians, saves his hero, Head Historian Thaddeus Valentine, from an attempt on his life by the mysterious Hester Shaw, in an effort to save the city — only to find himself thrown from the city and stranded with Hester in the Out Country. As they struggle to follow the tracks of the city, the sinister plans of London's leaders begin to unfold and it becomes a race against time to save not only the greatest Traction City, but the world.

This is already being turned into/has been turned into a movie. Peter Jackson expressed an interest in 2009- so I have no idea if or when it might come out.

TV movies- Island City, 1994, a made-for-TV movie (a failed series pilot) produced by Warner Brothers for its Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN) syndicated package. Set in a future where a youth drug caused most of humanity to devolve into a violent, caveman-like state, with the few remaining normal humans residing in the title city, a protected megalopolis. You can purchase copies of the show on DVD from EBay.
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Daniel
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby Daniel » 18 Aug 2015, 15:23

Another tremendous contribution, thanks @LadyRhian! We have got to do Mortal Instruments soon - it sounds so fucking wild.
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby SixFootTurkey » 01 Sep 2015, 18:44

The Vorkosigan saga -- Lois McMaster Bujold.

[Chronological List] - The books were written out of order, but read better in chronological order; you can use this to guide you through. (I recommend starting with "Shards of Honour" into "Barrayar" - alternatively the omnibus "Cordelia's Honor" which contains the aforementioned two books. This sets the stage for the story, as well as all of the future supporting characters. You can forgo these two and move on to the Young Miles omnibus, but it will spoil a few things if you were to choose to go back to Shards/Barrayar afterwards.)

It's definitely not YA, and I don't know if ever quite touches on dystopia, but I wanted to bring it up - at the very least for those who might be interested in it. ('Minor' rape TW; I don't want to go into detail for those who are worried about spoilers - but I feel it is handled maturely. I can answer questions in PM if you're concerned about it. I use the quotes because it was touched on just enough to make it worth bringing up, I do not mean to trivialize it in any way. There's also a smattering of folk with not very healthy worldviews - homophobia, etc. However this is not the galactic norm, and not something the author promotes in any way.)

Those disclaimers aside, the setting is a fairly advanced - and overall stable - collection of civilizations (spacefaring, with FTL possible through wormholes). Barrayar is the reason this novel comes up at all in a dystopian discussion. A planet that was colonized shortly after the discovery of wormhole travel, the wormhole connecting it to the rest of the galaxy collapsed soon after. Being isolated for ~600 years - especially so soon after colonization when they were still partially dependent on outside influence - caused some very interesting developments in their history. The stories pick up ~50 years after Barrayar had been rediscovered from a different wormhole.

I recommend this as the setting is quite thoroughly developed, and will likely appeal to those who like examining worlds in depth. It also touches on a variety of ways current social issues might be 'solved' in the future by different groups. (None of which are perfect - they're still (mostly) human.)
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Re: Episode suggestions

Postby Daniel » 02 Sep 2015, 10:21

@SixFootTurkey I've heard very good things about this series!

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