You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy.

My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds.

The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that.

With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to

helping you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all put

together by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music in your life,

check out BBC Sounds. This is the BBC.

Hello, we're welcoming the new year in with warning sirens instead of bells as we delve into a precarious future.

Margaret Atwoods, The Handmaid's Tale, topped the Amazon charts as the most read novel of 2017, and a plethora of new forays into forbidding future societies

are capturing readers' imaginations.

Covering everything from cataclysmic climate change to sinister societal breakdown,

and many looking scarily plausible against the backdrop of present-day political upheavals.

So are we entering a new golden age of dystopian fiction?

We thought we'd better take a closer look.

Joining me is Luke Kennard, author of numerous works of poetry and short fiction.

His latest novel, The Transition, is set in a dysfunctional near future.

Abby Curtis is Professor of Creative Writing at York St. John University.

She, too, is an award-winning poet, and her debut novel, Water and Class, takes us aboard a modern-day arc.

And Professor Gregory Clay's has written dystopia and natural history,

which takes an academic look at the genre's long history.

Welcome to you all. Before we start, let's have a taste here

of some of the best-known, imagined horrors that we've faced.

...