Social Fiction

Appearing together in English for the first time, three politically charged sci-fi graphic novellas by a pioneering French comics artist.

Dark, smart, and indomitably cool, the ’70s and ’80s dystopian visions of Chantal Montellier still unsettle.

Visitors to an underground mall must recreate civilization after a nuclear strike may have wiped out the rest of humanity. Newlyweds find themselves implicated in a government eugenics program. A disembodied authority reprimands a man for stepping out of view of a security camera.

In this collection of three novellas—Wonder City, Shelter, and 1996—published together in English for the first time, Montellier’s blend of dark humor, gripping storytelling, and consistent focus on the perils of totalitarianism shows her to be a master of both comics and science fiction.

Social Fiction includes a Q&A between Chantal Montellier and Geoffrey Brock.

Chantal Montellier is a French novelist, painter, and comics creator. Montellier began working as an editorial cartoonist in 1972, with work appearing in newspapers and magazines such as Politis, L'Humanité, and Marianne. A contributor to the renowned comics magazine Métal Hurlant and one of the most active female comics creators in France, Montellier is known for her realist drawing style and her engagement with political and feminist themes in her work.
 
Geoffrey Brock is the author of two books of poetry, most recently Voices Bright Flags, and the translator of a number of books, including the NYRB Classics and NYR Children's Collection editions of Carlo Collodi’s Pinnochio and the NYRC edition of The Tenderness of Stones.