The air is crisp. Leaves are changing, and October is almost over. Halloween approaches: the best day of the month for spooky season lovers. If you’re looking for a scary read to cap off your night of jack-o’-lanterns, candy, and costumes, check out Robert Jackson Bennett’s novella, Vigilance. Bennett is better known for his superb work in fantasy (The Divine Cities trilogy, Foundryside), but with Vigilance (Tor, 2019), he ventures into dystopian science fiction. In the year 2030, the United States is in a state of almost total economic collapse. Most of the younger generations have fled as refugees to other safer, more stable countries. Global warming has induced massive flooding. A refusal to transition to sustainable energy has left Texas a burning oil field. And mass shootings have become so prevalent that everyone carries a gun. In fact, they are the subject of the ultra-popular reality television show Vigilance, from which the novella takes its name. John McDean produces the show, overseeing everything from choosing a location and creating and scripting the artificial intelligence announcers, to selecting the active shooters from a pool of volunteers and directing drone shots once the very real massacre begins. But his real genius continue...