Feminist Dystopia – Write on the World

Some dystopian novels rely on elaborate worldbuilding to make their horrors believable. Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer doesn’t need to. Its premise is terrifying precisely because it feels only a few steps removed from reality, taking current political and religious extremism to their logical, ugly conclusion. The result is a tense, claustrophobic thriller about bodily autonomy, fanaticism, and survival that never overstays its welcome.

I’m a sucker for a good cult novel, so this one was right up my alley. There’s something endlessly fascinating about the power dynamics inside insular religious communities, especially the relationships among women forced to survive within those systems. Kritzer taps into that fascination immediately. The novel is brief and concise, but it uses every page effectively, building constant tension as Doctor Liz navigates a nightmare situation with no safe options.

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Mother Is Watching by Karma Brown: A dystopian horror that turns pregnancy into a battleground

March 16, 2026February 28, 2026 Mandy Webster

In Mother Is Watching by Karma Brown, releasing March 17, 2026, a routine art restoration spirals into a chilling exploration of surveillance, bodily autonomy, and the quiet horror of a society that thinks it knows what’s best for women. What begins as the story of a haunted painting becomes something far more insidious—a dystopian nightmare hiding beneath a gothic veneer.

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Mathilde “Tilly” Crewson, a thirty-nine-year-old art conservator and mother, is hired to restore The Mother, a fire-scarred painting rumored to be the lost fourth work of a female surgeon-turned-artist. Not long after the canvas arrives in her home, Tilly discovers she is unexpectedly pregnant. Then the insects come. The whispers. The visions of her long-dead mother. The line between psychological unraveling and supernatural intrusion blurs as the painting’s influence tightens around her.

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Annie Bot made me relive my abusive marriage—and that’s what makes it so powerful

July 22, 2025July 11, 2025 Mandy Webster

In Sierra Greer’s novel Annie Bot, a robot girlfriend cooks, dresses, and has sex on demand—all at the pleasure of her human owner, Doug. She’s designed to be the “perfect” woman, built to fulfill his desires without resistance. But as her artificial intelligence evolves, so does her awareness, and what begins as obedience starts to feel like a slow, painful awakening.

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I didn’t expect to find pieces of myself in a robot. But Annie Bot made me feel an immediate—and visceral—sense of recognition. Like Annie, I once existed solely to please someone else. My (now ex) husband didn’t see me as a person—only as the idea of a wife he wanted to mold me into. Over ten years of marriage, I was trained through threats, manipulation, psychological warfare, and physical violence to anticipate his moods, regulate my behavior, and suppress anything that didn’t align with his expectations. That Annie had to do the same—scan Doug’s tone, facial expressions, and body language, and modulate her responses accordingly—was deeply familiar.

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