1. Radio
 / Modified may 30, 2014 1:20 p.m.

Sound Fiction: Pills and Starships

Pulitzer-nominated author Lydia Millet reads from her new young adult science fiction novel, a dystopian portrait of a teen's struggle to make sense of her world.
by Mark McLemore

sound : fiction 617x347

pills and starships portrait Published by Akashic Books
lydia millet portrait Author Lydia Millet

This is Sound Fiction, a chance to enter the world of a short story or novel as read by the author.

Lydia Millet writes some books aimed at adults, and others for teens. Her characters are often smart but world-weary, their enthusiasm for life sliced thin by disappointment and tempered with dry humor.

In the young adult novel Pills & Starships Millet imagines a future world devastated by environmental disaster and pharmaceutical addiction.

The narrator, a teenager named Nat, has to endure a vacation retreat with her family that will culminate in her parents' own carefully planned, state-approved suicides.

To escape, Nat writes a journal, telling an imaginary future reader how it is that human beings came to have planned obsolescence, much like machines...

Listen:

Sound design by Mitchell Riley

pills and starships spotlight The striking cover image for "Pills and Starships", a young adult novel by Lydia Millet
MORE: Arizona Spotlight, Arts and Life, Books, People and Places
By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona