In the beginning of 2008, editor John Joseph Adams published an anthology of dystopian science fiction titled Wastelands. The goal of the anthology, according to promotional materials, was to investigate "the scientific, psychological, and philosophical questions of what it means to remain human in the wake of Armageddon."

The book, which featured contributions from Nancy Kress, Jonathan Lethem, and Octavia Butler, turned out to be hugely influential. Basically, if you hate dystopia saturation, you just might have the original Wastelands to blame. The second volume, titled Wastelands 2, offered more stories by big-name authors including Paolo Bacigalupi, Hugh Howey, and Maria Dahvana Headley.

And now, just as it seems like we stopped reading about dystopia and started living in dystopia, Adams is returning with a new anthology. Titled Wastelands: The New Apocalypse, the book features new dystopian stories from Tananarive Due, Elizabeth Bear, and Carrie Vaughn.

Tomorrow night, University Book Store welcomes two local contributors to the Wastelands anthology to read from their work and discuss what happens after the world ends. Seattle Review of Books columnist Nisi Shawl and Seattle author Jack Skillingstead will read their contributions and field your questions about what it's like to share a publication with George R. R. Martin.

Considering that Shawl is the genius who decolonized steampunk with her excellent novel Everfair, maybe she has some ideas on how to repair dystopia so we can stop envisioning the world as an ever-more-festering shitpile and so we can start repairing the world that is. One can dream, can't one?

*University Book Store,  4326 University Way N.E., 634-3400, http://www2.bookstore.washington.edu/, 6:30 pm, free.