In a future of bleakness and roboticism, a totalitarian government enforces upon the people a lifestyle that lulls them into a state of obedience. Your career and social status are predestined and you cannot alter it – this is a reality that walks a fine line between evoking sensations of fear and inducing a sense of futility. A dystopian reality can sometimes turn out to be as powerful and strong as it can be fragile, collapsing in on itself from one second to the next. As a race, we are fascinated with what comes next, what’s over the hill and, inevitably, what happens if we’re left all alone. How can things go on? What lessons can we learn? Broken Worlds: Dystopian Stories takes a peep into an all too possible future. Narration and style change from story to story, but the core of this volume is human emotion. Coloured by their cultures and backgrounds, the storytellers featured in this volume take the idea of a society at extremes and weave a variety of outcomes.
Authors
Sam Hurcom was born in Dinas Powys, South Wales in 1991. He studied Philosophy at Cardiff University, attaining both an undergraduate and master's degree. He has since had several short stories published, and has written and illustrated a number of children's books. Sam currently lives in the village he was raised in, close to the woodlands that have always inspired his writing. A SHADOW ON THE LENS is Sam's debut novel.
Holly Seddon is the international bestselling author of TRY NOT TO BREATHE, DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES, LOVE WILL TEAR US APART, THE HIT LIST and THE WOMAN ON THE BRIDGE. After growing up in the English countryside obsessed with music and books, Holly worked in London as a journalist and editor. She now lives in Kent with her family and writes full time. Alongside fellow author Gillian McAllister, Holly co-hosts the popular Honest Authors Podcast. You can find her on Twitter @hollyseddon, Instagram and Facebook @hollyseddonauthor.
Adam “Bucho” Rodenberger is a surrealist/magical realism writer from Kansas City. He earned dual bachelor's degrees in English and Philosophy while minoring in Political Science at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He earned his MFA in Writing at the University of San Francisco in 2011. He has been published in Agua Magazine, Alors, Et Tois?, Aphelion, Bluestem Magazine, BrainBox Magazine, Cause & Effect Magazine, Cahoodaloodaling, Crack the Spine, Eunoia Review, Five Quarterly Magazine, Ginosko Literary Journal, Glint Literary Journal, The Gloom Cupboard, Hamilton Stone Review, The Heartland Review, L’allures des Mots, Lunch Box, Meat For Tea: The Valley Review, Offbeatpulp, Penduline Press, Phoebe, Poydras Review, The Santa Clara Review, Serving House Journal, Sheepshead Review, Slice Magazine, Up The Staircase, Fox Spirit's "Girl at the End of the World: Book 1" anthology, and has been shortlisted for the Almond Press “Broken Worlds” fiction contest He has two novels in progress ("Impasto," "Rise") and two short story collections from which numerous stories have been published ("Scaring the Stars into Submission," "The Machinery of the Heart: Love Stories") He blogs at http://triphoprisy.blogspot.com
Konstantine Paradias is a writer by choice. At the moment, he's published over 100 stories in English, Japanese, Romanian, German, Dutch and Portuguese and has worked in a freelancing capacity for videogames, screenplays and anthologies. People tell him he's got a writing problem but he can, like, quit whenever he wants, man. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His book, "Sorry, Wrong Country" is published by Rooster Republic Press.
P D Dawson has had his work published by Almond Press, Under the Bed, Beyond Imagination Literary Magazine, Earlyworks Press, Schlock! Webzine & HCE: Here Comes Everyone Magazine. His stories have appeared in two books, both of which were published by Almond Press. One is Broken Worlds, a collection of dystopian stories and the other, Apocalypse Chronicles, a collection of stories about the end of the world. He was delighted to have won the annual Almond Press short story contest in 2015, and is currently working hard on a dystopian novel about a walled city shut off from the rest of the world. Nothing can keep him from writing. At any one time he finds himself juggling many stories in his head, and is excited by the challenge of getting them published for all to read. Twitter https://twitter.com/PDDawson_
I’ve been a keen reader, writer and artist since childhood. My dark fiction stories range from tales set in future dystopian realities to classic ghost and urban horror. My professional publishing history to runs to several short stories, a novel and a novella by independent publishers including Dark Alley Press, Grinning Skull Press, Almond Press and J. Ellington Ashton. I have a website – stephminns.wixsite.com/author – where you can read my stories, interviews and reviews. Please also visit my Facebook fiction page - https://www.facebook.com/stephminnsfi...
