‘Billenium‘ J. G. Ballard, 1961 – (Alternate title: ‘Billennium’) Overpopulation has sensitized everyone to space, including Ward, who measures his ceiling to make sure the upstairs neighbour isn’t pulling a fast one. When he discovers a hidden room and shares it with others, will his generosity mean anything?
The Oxford Book of Science Fiction.
J.G. Ballard was a prominent writer, both of Sci-Fi and ‘mainstream’ literature. This particular short story from the Stories of Ourselves anthology is yet another bleak perspective on human nature. However, the best Sci-Fi is prophetic – this means that it doesn’t so much seek to predict the future as prevent it It is a warning of what might happen if we don’t mend our ways.
The genre is Science-Fiction (sometimes called Speculative Fiction), and the sub-genre is Dystopian Fiction. This type of story is really about the present – it focuses on a social issue/trend and extrapolates its future implications (in this case, over-population). In this sense, it is a literary form of a caricature.
In a similar vein, but much more hard-hitting, is Harry Harrison’s Make Room! Make Room!, which was made into the feature film Soylent Green:
