AustLit

'We inhabit a moment where reality seems increasingly ­malleable, a construct that serves the interests of the powerful by eliding and obscuring the truth. From police demanding journalists submit to fingerprinting to the rejection of science by lobby groups and politicians, the control and manipulation of information has become so normalised that most of the time we no longer even notice it.'(Introduction) 

'Why are dystopias more popular than utopias? The growing genre of cli-fi, for instance, is almost universally pessimistic, and the TV phenomenon of The Handmaid’s Tale will continue to air its nightmares in a third series. And why, even when we imagine a utopia, does it typically slide into a dystopia? Think of Minority Report and Jurassic Park, in which a vision of an ideal world – where crimes are solved before they are committed, or where dinosaurs are brought back to miraculous life – quickly degenerates. Of course, this storytelling trope is hardly new: it can be traced back to Genesis, and the tale of Adam and Eve. Narratives of human failure, of corruption and greed, of promise going to seed, are foundational to Western culture.' (Introduction)