The Recommended Reading Path
If you are new to Alison Stine’s atmospheric, eco-dystopian fiction, the absolute best starting point is her award-winning novel, Road Out of Winter (2020). As the winner of the 2021 Philip K. Dick Award, this book perfectly showcases her signature blend of gritty Appalachian realism, eco-noir survival, and poetic hope. It serves as the ideal introduction to her style before you branch out into her other speculative worlds.
After you have braved the freezing wilderness of her breakout novel, here is the most rewarding path to navigate her bibliography:
- Step 1: Road Out of Winter (2020) — Begin here for her most acclaimed, atmospheric adult climate fiction.
- Step 2: Trashlands (2021) — Follow up with this companion piece of adult cli-fi, which replaces freezing snow with a sweltering, drowned landscape.
- Step 3: Dust (2024) — Transition to her speculative Young Adult eco-thriller, featuring a drought-stricken valley and strong deaf representation.
- Step 4: Supervision (2015) & The Protectors (2016) — Explore her early career works, which lean heavily into supernatural mysteries and magical realism.
- Step 5: Poetry Collections — Dive into her award-winning poetry chapbooks and collections (Lot of My Sister, Ohio Violence, Wait) to discover the lyrical origins of her style.
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
Because Alison Stine’s novels are all independent standalones set in different versions of the future, there is no strict chronological timeline to follow. Reading them in order of publication allows you to trace her thematic evolution from paranormal YA mysteries to adult climate fiction, and back to YA speculative themes. Here is the publication order of her novels:
- Supervision (2015) — A Young Adult supernatural mystery about teenager Esmé, who moves in with her grandmother in an eerie Appalachian town plagued by disappearing children.
- Road Out of Winter (2020) — An adult eco-dystopian novel following Wylodine, a young woman in a climate-ravaged Appalachia who possesses a rare knack for growing plants in an endless winter.
- Trashlands (2021) — An adult climate-fiction novel set in a flooded junkyard community where plastic is the primary currency and a mother fights to rescue her son.
- Dust (2024) — A Young Adult speculative novel about Thea, a partially deaf teenager struggling against a severe drought, dust storms, and her father's cult-like control in Colorado.
Short Stories and Novellas
Stine has also written shorter fiction that captures the same sense of place and magical realism. Her notable novella release is:
- The Protectors (2016) — An illustrated novella set in a struggling Ohio town where young men are vanishing, featuring magical realism and interactive elements.
Publication Order of Poetry Collections
Before writing novels, Alison Stine was an accomplished poet. Her poetry collections establish the lyrical, gothic, and sensory qualities that define her prose style:
- Lot of My Sister (2001) — A chapbook exploring family dynamics, rural nature, and the personal experience of deafness.
- Ohio Violence (2009) — A gothic collection focusing on trauma, Midwestern landscapes, and silent histories.
- Wait (2011) — A collection exploring gender, anticipation, and instability in the lead-up to marriage.
A Closer Look at the Standalone Novels
Supervision (2015)
Set in a decrepit mansion filled with architectural anomalies (like stairs that lead nowhere and self-unmaking beds), Supervision marks Stine's debut novel. It follows Esmé, who is sent to live with her eccentric grandmother in a small Appalachian town. Esmé soon discovers that a child vanishes from the town every year, accompanied by a mysterious train whistle where no train exists. It is a fantastic pick for readers who love gothic atmospheres and classic YA mysteries.
Road Out of Winter (2020)
In this Philip K. Dick Award-winning masterpiece, a sudden, unending winter ruins agricultural life. The story follows Wylodine, who has spent her life working in her family's greenhouse. As resources vanish and violent cults take over the countryside, Wylodine sets off on a dangerous journey across a frozen Appalachia. It is widely praised for its lyrical prose and comparison to dystopian classics like Station Eleven.
Trashlands (2021)
Set in a strip-mined area of Ohio that has been transformed into a massive junkyard community called Trashlands, this novel focuses on Coral. In a world where plastic is currency and the climate has collapsed into intense heat and floods, Coral works sorting garbage while trying to save enough plastic to buy her son's freedom from a forced-labor camp. It is a gritty, sensory story about parenthood, art, and survival.
Dust (2024)
This Young Adult speculative novel shifts the setting to the Bloodless Valley of Colorado, plagued by severe drought, locusts, and massive dust storms. The protagonist, Thea, is a partially deaf teenager whose family is controlled by a radicalized, abusive father. When she gets a job at a local café, she meets Ray, a deaf boy who secretly teaches her sign language, sparking her journey toward independence. The text uniquely represents Thea's hearing loss by leaving blank spaces in dialogue where words are unheard.
What to Know Before You Start
Alison Stine’s books are deeply personal and heavily influenced by her own background, which gives them a unique flavor:
- Appalachian Grit: Born in rural Indiana and having lived in Ohio, Stine represents rural communities with empathy and raw realism rather than caricature.
- Deaf Representation: As a partially deaf author, Stine brings authentic disability representation to her characters, particularly in Wait, Lot of My Sister, and Dust.
- Themes of Hope: Despite the bleak settings of climate collapse and poverty, Stine’s novels are ultimately stories of resilience, focusing on how human connection, art, and love survive in the harshest environments.
- Upcoming Series: Stine is currently working on her first serialized YA fantasy, titled The Raven Engagement, expected to release in 2027.