Nine futures. One planet on the brink.
From the last snow protea clinging to a dying mountain to the oceanic cities of a reborn Earth, UTOPIA/HAVOC traces humanity’s long arc through collapse, adaptation, and renewal.
In these stories, the end is never clean. The cities of tomorrow shimmer with both promise and ruin; technology becomes a god, a weapon, and a mirror. Lovers meet inside virtual heavens, rebels rise from the ashes of burnt-out empires, and new mythologies take root in the cracks of what was once civilisation.
Each story stands alone, yet together they chart a single continuum – from the smog-choked present to a solarpunk horizon that offers glimpses of what we might achieve, what we might overcome, if we act now.
Featuring acclaimed and emerging voices in speculative fiction, UTOPIA/HAVOC is a journey across the boundaries of genre and hope: a collision of despair and beauty, grief and growth, ruin and rebirth.
Here's the full list of stories that appear in this anthology:
“The Last Snow Protea” by Laurie Janey – Twin brothers on opposite sides of a collapsing planet reckon with love, loss, and the climate crisis’s quiet toll.
“Perfect Worlds” by Jenna Mervis – A government agent slips into virtual utopia to fish for corruption and finds that perfection has teeth.
“Small Rebellions” by Joss Wyer – A stealth operative infiltrates a billionaire’s fortress high above a neon city to pull off the perfect act of defiance.
“Out of Body, Out of Mind” by Luke Fourie – A state telepath navigates psychic warfare and the thin membrane between duty and selfhood.
“Over the Mountain, Beyond the Barrens” by Nerine Dorman – A woman crosses a shattered landscape in search of love and finds a myth humming beneath the ruins.
“The Benediction of Gaia” by Ciaran R. Maidwell – Faith and love collide in a green theocracy where obedience is salvation and doubt is heresy.
“Buried Alive” by Thandi Rose – A newcomer climbs a mountain settlement that promises rebirth, but the earth remembers everything buried beneath.
“The Water that Hides in the Waves” by Stef van Staden – On a vast ocean fleet, a single decision ripples outward to test the meaning of mercy in a drowning world.
“Paper Lantern Boys” by Marius du Plessis – A lanternmaker and fox spirit race against time to awaken the last of Kyoto's kami before a solar flare wipes them from the city's memory forever.
What will humanity build when everything has burned? Will havoc reign, or might we find our own small utopias in between it all?
Aside from this book cover looking like a whip work of art on my bookshelf, this anthology delivered many thrilling possibilities of the future.
Upon exploring the nine futures from an author whom I have read before, one whom I have been keen to explore and seven who are totally new to me, I must say, none of them left me without wonder, contemplation and some distaste for the dark neglectful ends of reality.
Some stories stood out more distinctly than others, causing me to re-read them twice.
No, I will not name the authors or the stories that stood out for me because I dare you to navigate these on your own. I am not in the position to reveal the secrets contained, though I will quote from the Editor’s note:
“The only way to help you while remaining undetected, is through giving you the answers hidden as stories. In this book, several brave contributors have encoded hidden meanings for the benefit of humanity...” [Tiaan Booyens]
I will share the nine authors who comprised this engaging piece of art:
Laurie Janey, Jenna Mervis, Joss Wyer, Luke Fourie, Nerine Dorman, Ciaran R. Maidwell, Thandi Rose, Stef Van Staden, Marius Du Plessis.
I do wonder which of these may unlock the secret code of our planet’s revolution for you.
On this note, I confess that overall, it has been an exciting experience—the exploration of finding different viewpoints of light and rot and a revelation of new things that stimulate my own substance in between.
UTOPIA/HAVOC is a science fiction fantasy anthology that takes us on a journey through nine possible futures, exploring everything from the collapse of civilisation to the possibility of renewal. And honestly? I had a brilliant time with this one!
One of the things I loved most was the variety of writing styles and ideas. Each story brings something different to the table, and I enjoyed seeing how the authors approached humanity's future from such different angles. Do I know the difference between solarpunk and cyberpunk if my life depended on it? Absolutely not. But did that stop me from enjoying the ride? Not a chance!
My standout favourite was Paper Lantern Boys by Marius du Plessis. The imagery? PERFECTION. The writing is beautiful, and if this is the kind of future we're heading towards, sign me up! The Benediction of GAIA by Ciaran R. Maidwell was another standout, absolutely heart-wrenching while opening the door to an important, deeply relevant conversation. Both stories also feature gay characters, so naturally, bonus points!
There is plenty to love and enjoy in the other stories, too; Over the Mountains, Beyond the Barrens by Nerine Dorman felt wonderfully African, with its use of the age-old craft of storytelling; Small Rebellions by Joss Wyer delivered a little not-so-quiet f*ck you, while Out of Body, Out of Mind by Luke Fourie was a proper psychic mind-blast; Perfect Worlds by Jenna Mervis and Buried Alive by Thandi Rose both offered fascinating dives into human behaviour and the psyche.
Of course, not every story left me with all the answers; for example, I was still wondering who the actual big bad was in The Water That Hides in the Waves by Stef van Staden, and I wasn't entirely sure what was happening in The Last Snow Protea by Laurie Janey. But here's the thing: even when I was a little confused, I was still thoroughly entertained. Sometimes, a story can leave you scratching your head and still give you plenty to chew on afterwards.
All in all, UTOPIA/HAVOC is a thought-provoking, beautifully varied collection that explores humanity's capacity for destruction, adaptation, and hope. It has stories that break your heart, stories that make you think, and stories that leave you marvelling at the sheer creativity on display. And if speculative fiction is your jam, this anthology deserves a spot on your reading list!
4.5 stars
UTOPIA/HAVOC is a nine story anthology containing stories of Earth two weeks in the future to a millennia from now. These are stories where humanity and the planet are at odds, where technology is both the ultimate destructive force and the only possible path to renewal. This is cli-fi at its most compelling, folding in cyberpunk and solarpunk, leaving the reader to decide where the dividing line lies.
Some of my favourite stories include Laurie Janey's 'The Last Snow Protea', following sibling activists, living and working a hemisphere apart. It offers parallel paths of hopeful idealism and jaded, boots-on-the-ground reality, and the crisis point where they become one and the same. Nearest to the present day chronologically, this is the story that feels like it will stay with me the longest, hitting the closest to home.
'Out of Body, Out of Mind' by Luke Fourie is a fully formed sci-fi crime thriller in just 30 pages. Agent Harrin of the Psychic Observation, Mediation and De-escalation Department is called in to a hostage situation to initiate negotiations between a terrorist group and the police. Establishing a psychic connection is not without risks, though. Reminiscent of Patricia Marques's THE COLOURS OF DEATH flavoured with a healthy helping of homegrown corruption, this is the story I would most like to see expanded out into a multi-book series... with a tie-in netflix show... and probably a movie too.
Finally, shout out to Nerine Dorman and Marius du Plessis for creating opposite but equally compelling autonomous technology. Dorman ('Over the Mountains, Beyond the Barrens') creates an urban society where bots scuttle, insectoid and arachnid, a sinister infestation to be purged. In 'Paper Lantern Boys,' du Plessis gives us gracefully crafted drones with avian wings of folding solar film. The delicate balance they provide to an ecosystem hovering at the end closes UTOPIA/HAVOC on a tender and heartfelt note.