And the Last Trump Shall Sound

Three alarming, eclectic novellas imagine a ravaged America left behind by the totalitarian reign of Donald Trump in this chilling anthology, which picks up after Trump’s death in 2024 during “the second great COVID outbreak.” Turtledove’s “The Breaking of Nations” finds California governor Nicole Yoshida—who’s incensed by immigrant concentration camps, a national prohibition on abortion, and the government-controlled media established under President Mike Pence—successfully leading California, Oregon, and Washington in seceding from the union to form the new country of Pacifica. In Morrow’s farcical “The Purloined Republic,” Pacifica porn star Polly Nightingale impersonates Pence’s spiritual advisor and coaxes him into committing outrageous public stunts in an effort to get him ejected from his third term as president. And Rambo’s solemn “Because It Is Bitter,” set in 2040, sees Ernst Claymore, a tech at Googlesoft’s huge campus in Seattle, crossing the border into the U.S.A. to track down a corporate spy. He’s shocked by the appalling state of the country: there’s no potable water, secret police roam the streets, LGBTQ people are labeled sex offenders, and child labor is common. For the liberal reader, these novellas will serve as well-crafted nightmare fuel. (Sept.)