Johnston’s SF novel provides an unsettling reminder that some things never change.

Twenty-seven-year-old Darien Segura is a writer and conspiracy theory aficionado living in the 22nd-century U.S. As Segura’s generation enjoys the technology of our dreams, their lives are entangled in a nightmare of bureaucratic inefficiency: A two-party political system self-perpetuates through conflict, while corrupt politicians pay lip service to social justice. The citizens long for a leader who shares their hope for true equality—a man like the almost hypnotically charismatic Reuben Rogov. With the apparent capacity to effect sweeping social change, Rogov’s Peace Party is literally too good to be true. Segura watches as a nation is caught up in propaganda and ideological fervor. This utopian wave sweeps Rogov into a position of unprecedented power and gives rise to a promise of global unity. Yet soon, a new rhetoric of fear emerges, citing the presence of a terrorist cell among the people. As accusations are thrown and books are banned and shredded by Rogov’s edict, Segura undertakes a quiet act of rebellion. But can an unknown author stand against a new world order? Reminding his audience that oppression can wear a benevolent disguise, the author convincingly depicts the often-subtle abuses of power that can herald the rise of dictatorship (“ ‘Some deep state operation formed the Peace Party,’ Papa said, ‘and they’re going all in to get Rogov elected President. If it happens, he’ll be running both NatGov and the United Nations, and a new world order will emerge just as they’ve planned for years’ ”). Johnston’s work is reminiscent of other popular dystopian narratives, distinguished by a rare thread of hope woven throughout the pages. There are even a few humorous and self-referential moments to lighten the tone. As the novel draws to a close, readers will long for a sequel (and hope it’s not already too late).

A chilling, futuristic tale of freedom lost.

College students investigate the links between possible extraterrestrial signals, psi phenomena, and twins in this SF novel.

A prequel to Johnston’s first novel, The Dar Lumbre Chronicles (2018), this outing takes place 90 years earlier, in 2045. America—NatGov—now has only one major party, and the “Republic of California” has seceded from the union. NatGov’s new president is Rex Horn, a billionaire who’s already up for impeachment for several reasons, including wild plans such as mounting a search for Planet X, supposedly the solar system’s 10th planet. Darien Segura, 22, an astronomy undergraduate at New Mexico State University Alamogordo, also believes that Planet X exists, something he hopes to research. He gets his chance through a Horn-backed government project to investigate whether radio waves emanating from a star cluster represent extraterrestrial contact. Also joining the project is Carly Hansen, new to NMSU as a graduate student in psychology, specializing in parapsychology. Their work indicates that extrasensory perception, especially between twins, could decode a message possibly buried in the radio waves. Startling findings take the team deep into Panama’s jungle, where Darien, an adoptee who has some ESP ability, was born. There, he might find a twin—and answers. First contact is an intriguing hook, made more effective through believable details of carrying out scientific research and rainforest trekking, bolstered by Johnston’s background in biology, chemistry, and jungle survival. Satiric political elements add entertainment as well. Less successful, though, is a subplot concerning a tepid romantic triangle between Darien, Carly, and her longtime boyfriend. The novel also falters in pacing and structure: Inessential details slow things down (including minutiae about an Orange Bowl college football game), and the ending doesn’t deliver on the premise, instead only hinting at a real payoff.

A plausible story of extraterrestrial contact with a disappointing lack of resolution.

In a future socialist America, Houstonians face the vicissitudes of life as a rising political/religious movement predicts the imminent return of a vanished scientist as a medical messiah.

Johnston labels his debut dystopian novel as “science fiction laced with political satire.” But in his deadpan tale, the biggest gag many readers will note is the author cheekily including himself in a future archives as one of sci-fi’s “old masters.” Otherwise, disillusionment with government and mistrust of the Establishment could come straight from today’s headlines and bloggers. America in 2135 is an economically troubled, socialist nanny state, intrusive, abusive, paranoid, and incompetent—whether it’s Democrats or Republicans operating “NatGov.” Some 50 years earlier, an enigmatic Mexican-born genius, Dar Lumbre, threatened the status quo of nationalized health care with his politics, sparking a warrant for his arrest. But he disappeared during the chaos after a providential solar flare erased the surveillance state’s digital records. Disciples since have prophesied Lumbre’s messianic return, bringing freedom and a formula for eternal life (thanks to Johnston’s med-tech savvy, the Jesus parallels are more intriguing than contrived and labored). In Houston, geneticists Crane Hopkins and Annie Lee study Lumbre’s own heirloom tissue samples, which hold amazing, restorative DNA applications that even NatGov allows (while it bans the scientist’s writings). But the sacred flesh is failing over time. Meanwhile, Crane’s freelance programmer brother becomes enmeshed in a Lumbre social movement (with cultish overtones) that may lead him astray, politically and in his fragile marriage. Hanging over the characters is the threat of NatGov’s wrath, but Johnston shies away from action-violence and simple black-and-white morality with a resolution more about science puzzles and societal problem-solving than chases or fights. Some may find the author’s conclusion almost too upbeat for the likes of NatGov. Others will enjoy that late in the ingenious narrative he embeds a shoutout to Kurt Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan, which is pretty good company for Vonnegut as well as Johnston.   

A clever extrapolation of today’s sociopolitical pathologies to the next century, with an uncommonly optimistic dose of medicine in the end.