NCW Libraries

"Set in a not-too-distant America, I Cheerfully Refuse is the tale of a bereaved and pursued musician embarking under sail on a sentient Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved, bookselling wife. Rainy, an endearing bear of an Orphean narrator, seeks refuge in the harbors, fogs, and remote islands of the inland sea. Encountering lunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, Rainy finds on land an increasingly desperate...

"When global climate change and economic crises lead to social chaos in the early 2020s, California becomes full of dangers, from pervasive water shortage to masses of vagabonds who will do anything to live to see another day. Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding anarchy. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy,...

"Wool introduced the world of the Silo. Shift told the story of its creation. Dust will describe its downfall. Juliette, now mayor of Silo 18, doesn't trust Silo 1, especially its leader, Donald. But in the world of the Silos, there is no black and white -- everything is shades of gray. Donald may not be the monster Juliette thinks he is, and may in fact be key to humanity's continued survival. But can they work together long enough to succeed?"--...

This look at the near future presents the story of Offred, a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, once the United States, an oppressive world where women are no longer allowed to read and are valued only as long as they are viable for reproduction. In this Orwellian dramatization, religion becomes a tool of repression and social control to force women into the roles of stay-at-home wives, domestic staff, prostitutes, or surrogate mothers. They have...

"An audacious and powerful debut novel: a second American Civil War, a devastating plague, and one family caught deep in the middle--a story that asks what might happen if America were to turn its most devastating policies and deadly weapons upon itself. Sarat Chestnut, born in Louisiana, is only six when the Second American Civil War breaks out in 2074. But even she knows that oil is outlawed, that Louisiana is half underwater, and that unmanned...

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children. But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations...

"A Chinese American chef, ... lured to a decadent, enigmatic colony of the super-rich in a near future in which food is disappearing, discovers the meaning of pleasure and the ethics of who gets to enjoy it, altering her life and, indirectly, the world"--

"Set in near-future America, The School for Good Mothers introduces readers to a government-run reform program where bad mothers are retrained using robot doll children with artificial intelligence. Protagonist Frida Liu, a 39-year-old Chinese-American single mother in Philadelphia, loses custody of her 18-month-old daughter, Harriet, after she leaves Harriet home alone for two hours on one very bad day. To regain custody, Frida must spend a year...

Toussaint Gibson has finally accepted his role as leader of the Resistance. Unfortunately, The Republic soldiers have killed and jailed most of the Resistance Fighters. Alex Copeland has a vendetta towards Toussaint and has not let up on his promise of destroying everything he cares about. First, killing Toussaint’s mother and now has his eyes on his wife. The Resistance is outnumbered and outgunned. Will Toussaint and the Resistance rise, or...

THE SUN IS DEAD. Humanity has moved deep underground. The Lightbringers have reinvented electricity. Their presence offers reassurance. But some believe it's safer in the shadows. Aniya Lyons has never forgiven the Lightbringers for the abduction of her brother. She’s overjoyed when he escapes and returns three years later, but he comes bearing a dark secret. Before he can share it with her, the Lightbringers steal him away again and murder...