Imagine living in a steel shell two kilometers beneath the ground for four hundred years. This is the setting for Andrew C. Murphy's Steel Sky. His novel follows the lives of several citizens as they battle to survive in an increasingly hostile environment in the Hypogeum. One tyrant expunged historical records and various others have ruled the city for generations. Technological knowledge has faded and technicians struggle to keep the highly complex city functioning. Sections have deteriorated and ended flooded by water or with poison air. Outside of living quarters and major buildings, citizens need respirators to filter out toxins. The cockroach exists as the only living creature other than humans in the city.

(Source: Per Aspera Press)