By 
Cory Doctorow is usually referred to as a science fiction writer, but I think of him more as a prescient fiction writer. He takes a current trend or reality and extrapolates it out just a few years and, in doing so, shows us our probable or possible futures. They are often frightening, but always hold a kernel of hope. Even as he shows us the brutality of what we can create, he seems to have an unshakable faith in the potential goodness of humanity.
These four short stories tap into current issues and run with them. Unauthorized Bread deals with the corporate takeover of America. Model Minority tackles racism. Radicalized takes on health care and the insurance industry, and The Masque of the Red Death explores the end of our modern cultures and societies and what may follow. The stories are unnerving. They are not always easy to read. But they are riveting and there is always hope.
Seasonal Reading 
Thank you, JNaz. Sounds like a must-read. Last night I was watching Tyree Daye and Honorée Fanonne Jeffers read their work on Zoom, and tears started streaming down Jeffers’s face as she read the last two of her powerful poems. She was doing something between singing and wailing. She mopped her face and said, “I’m sorry. It’s been a week.” And hasn’t it just.
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Yes, Teri, hasn’t it just. Will we, as a culture, make it to the other side with our souls intact?
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Kernel of hope…
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Ah, yes. That little hard nut of hope…
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i’ve been consulting the i Ching this week as a way to cope. Thank you for posting about radicalized– I agree with Teri, sounds like a must read. Heading to the library…
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