If anyone could write a satirical science fiction novel (for teens!) that draws its inspiration from (the shortcomings of) free market economics and the scathing absurdities of economic inequality, it would be M. T. Anderson. Winner of the National Book Award, Anderson has also received numerous Printz Honors as well as Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards and Honors, and his books for children and teens have tackled topics as diverse as Revolutionary War–era race relations, Shostakovich’s resilience during the Siege of Leningrad, the wacky worlds of 1950s sci-fi novels, and a dystopian vision of a future governed by consumerism and nonstop connectivity. Anderson’s latest, Landscape with Invisible Hand, is a slim novel but is nevertheless packed full of ideas, all delivered with Anderson’s precision and sly wit. He explores what happens when Adam, an aspiring artist, attempts to depict the truth about life under the vuvvs, Earth’s new alien overlords, even as the new economic realities are literally destroying him from the inside out. Like the best speculative fiction writers, Anderson uses a seemingly outlandish premise to comment on current realities; hear about his inspirations and influences in a presentation and conversation with Cathryn Mercier, director of the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College.
