Eight fictional books that read like reality TV

Natalie Zutter is a playwright and pop culture critic whose work has appeared on Reactor, NPR Books, Lit Hub, and elsewhere.

At Paste magazine she tagged eight fictional works that read like reality television. One title on the list:

All This and More by Peng Shepherd
For Fans of: Trading Spaces crossed with MTV’s Made

While the premise of this thriller utilizes quantum technology to let one woman explore parallel universes, the rules are all reality TV: unhappy fortysomething Marsh is allowed to jump from one “Bubble” to the next, trying on careers and men like outfits she will discard, but there must be continuity. In comes the Show Bible, which collects her every branching path and the consequences that ripple out from each choice. Add a peanut gallery of viewers watching and commenting on her every move in real-time, and it’s enough to make even the most vast and promising Bubble feel downright claustrophobic.

A setup this trippy feels like a throwback to early-2000s reality TV, in which normal people got to switch places, transform each others’ spaces, and beg TV networks to help them achieve their dreams… then decide if the dream is better than their previous reality.

Read about another book on the list.

The Page 69 Test: All This and More.

--Marshal Zeringue