In this episode of Between the Covers with Danielle, I explore dystopian fiction written as futures — novels that deliberately project forward from their author’s present to examine where power, technology, scarcity, and control might lead if left unchecked.

Drawing on works such as 1984, Brave New World, The Children of Men, Neuromancer, and Dune, this episode looks at how dystopian literature functions not as fantasy, but as cultural warning.

Rather than treating these novels as predictions, the conversation examines how dystopia emerges through gradual adaptation — surveillance normalised, comfort prioritised, resources controlled, and authority embedded quietly into everyday life. These imagined futures reveal patterns of compliance, dependency, and power that feel increasingly familiar in the present.

This is a reflective, literature-led discussion about attention, agency, and what dystopian fiction has been trying to tell us for decades — if we’re willing to read closely.