This critical examination of two dystopian television series--Black Mirror and Electric Dreams--focuses on pop culture depictions of technology and its impact on human existence. Representations of a wide range of modern and futuristic technologies are explored, from early portrayals of artificial intelligence (Rossum's Universal Robots, 1921) to digital consciousness transference as envisioned in Black Mirror's "San Junipero." These representations reflect societal anxieties about unfettered technological development and how a world infused with invasive artificial intelligence might redefine life and death, power and control. The impact of social media platforms is considered in the contexts of modern-day communication and political manipulation.

Serial storytelling has the advantage of unlocking rather than simplifying the complexities of digital culture. With their worldbuilding potential, TV series open up new artistic horizons, particularly for the dystopian genre. Situated at the nexus of dystopia, complex TV, and a metamodern cultural logic, Dystopia on Demand: Technology, Digital Culture, and the Metamodern Quest in Complex Serial Dystopias offers readers novel insights into the dynamics of serial dystopias in the contemporary streaming landscape. Introducing the term 'complex serial dystopias' to describe series that allow audiences to engage with the dystopian premise from multiple angles, the book examines four Anglo-American series, including Black Mirror, Mr. Robot, Westworld, and Kiss Me First. The in-depth analyses trace the variety of ways in which these series offer critical reflections on the human-technology entanglement in digital culture.

Better Call Saul chronicles the transformation of a decent, likable guy named Jimmy McGill into Saul Goodman, the morally bankrupt lawyer we met on Breaking Bad. Captivating and funny, the show provides far more than a few binge-watched hours of entertainment, raising questions about the legal system and human nature itself. Why You Better Call Saul: What Our Favorite TV Lawyer Says About Life, Love, and Scheming Your Way to Acquittal and a Large Cash Payout examines the many faces of our favorite fictional lawyer, as well as other characters in the Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul universe: ls Saul Goodman a persona that Jimmy invents to attract a particular kind of client, or does he reflect Jimmy's true self? To what extent does Jimmy/Saul bend - or break - the rules to which attorneys are bound?What do Jimmy McGill and Mike Ehrmantraut have in common with Dexter Morgan? What do Jimmy's most important relationships teach us about the effect of outside influences on one's psyche? How do Saul Goodman and Walter White break free of societal constraints? How does Saul manipulate the media in order to promote his legal services? Is he defined by his tacky advertisements? And much more ... About the Author STEVEN KESLOWITZ is a practicing attorney and pop culture expert. He is the author of three other books - The World According to the Simpsons, The Tao of Jack Bauer, and From Poland to Brooklyn -- and several journal articles focused on the intersection of law and pop culture. Please visit his website at StevenKeslowitz.com

"The boundless imagination is reminiscent of anime masterpieces, while the writing has glimpses of true brilliance, reaching the magical tone of Murakami... A story exploring timeless themes in a hyper-specific 'other' world makes for very good reading, and Ellis' bubbling creativity is a marvelous thing to savor." - The Independent Review of Books A Readers' Favorite 5-Star Novel No one in Silver City dreams. If she could, Derra would dream of the day she joins the city's elite in the Ring of Radiance. Only then can she hope to gain her family's acceptance, the job that she strives for, and be Matched to the best friend she loves. And only in the Ring of Radiance will she be free to feel without penalty or pain. Until then, she must conceal such feelings and the unique ability that sets her apart: Derra can see someone's thoughts with the touch of her hand. When the city's chief scientist seeks to exploit Derra's power, Derra gets the chance to live the life she yearns for. All she must do is protect the system responsible for deleting dreams. But the people's dreams reveal a longing for life beyond what Silver City offers, and Derra's dreams unveil the dangers posed by her desires. Will she risk the life she has fought for in order to set these dreams free?

A dazzlingly original and ambitious book on the history of female self-portraiture by one of today's most well-respected art critics. Her story weaves in and out of time and place. She's Frida Kahlo, Loïs Mailou Jones and Amrita Sher-Gil en route to Mexico City, Paris or Bombay. She's Suzanne Valadon and Gwen John, craving city lights, the sea and solitude; she's Artemisia Gentileschi striding through the streets of Naples and Paula Modersohn-Becker in Worpswede. She's haunting museums in her paint-stained dress, scrutinising how El Greco or Titian or Van Dyck or Cézanne solved the problems that she too is facing. She's railing against her corsets, her chaperones, her husband and her brothers; she's hammering on doors, dreaming in her bedroom, working day and night in her studio. Despite the immense hurdles that have been placed in her way, she sits at her easel, picks up a mirror and paints a self-portrait because, as a subject, she is always available. Until the twentieth century, art history was, in the main, written by white men who tended to write about other white men. The idea that women in the West have always made art was rarely cited as a possibility. Yet they have - and, of course, continue to do so - often against tremendous odds, from laws and religion to the pressures of family and public disapproval. In The Mirror and the Palette, Jennifer Higgie introduces us to a cross-section of women artists who embody the fact that there is more than one way to understand our planet, more than one way to live in it and more than one way to make art about it. Spanning 500 years, biography and cultural history intertwine in a narrative packed with tales of rebellion, adventure, revolution, travel and tragedy enacted by women who turned their back on convention and lived lives of great resilience, creativity and bravery.

A detective hunts down a killer in a dystopian, overpopulated NYC in this classic science fiction novel that inspired the film Soylent Green. Originally published in 1966, Make Room! Make Room! imagines a world at the end of the twentieth century where Earth is so overwhelmed by rampant population growth that it teeters on the edge of self-destruction. In New York City alone, thirty-five million people are squeezed into its packed boroughs, scrambling like rats for the world’s dwindling resources. The only food available is a product called soylent. And while the government tries to maintain order, the rich get richer and the poor stay underfoot. Finding a killer in this broken world is one hell of a job. But that’s exactly what Det. Andy Rusch has been assigned to do. If he can stay alive long enough, he might just solve the biggest case he’s ever been on—unless humanity finally fulfills its promise and destroys itself first.

This entertaining and informative book is a fun and intelligent look at how our society is reflected in the hit TV show The Simpsons, and how The Simpsons is reflected in society.