APRIL 2015 - AudioFile
Responding to a challenge from Neal Stephenson and the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University, 20 science fiction writers provide short stories that present their visions for what the future will look like in 50 years. Narrating individually, Danny and Cassandra Campbell (husband and wife) maintain a smooth and even pace through the stories in this long and varied collection. Extensive descriptions of technology and advances in science are important to the stories, and both narrators present them smoothly and with a sustained sense of engagement. Taking the jargon in stride, they bring the personalities of the characters and the dialogue to life. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
05/25/2015
The editors of this gripping anthology "believe that if we want to create a better future, we need to start with better dreams" and counter the trend of dystopian and apocalyptic visions of tomorrow. Neal Stephenson, who founded Project Hieroglyph to "rekindle grand technological ambitions through the power of storytelling," fittingly lives up to that goal with "Atmosphæra Incognita": it plausibly describes an entrepreneur's plan to construct a tower that would be 20,000 meters tall, and whose top would be "for all practical purposes in outer space." The science and the narrative are perfectly blended. Other stories explore the implications of using neuroscience to "cure" individuals whose brains are deemed abnormal, and of replacing the trucking industry with robot trucks and the Amazon/UPS "droneport." Karl Schroeder's "Degrees of Freedom" is particularly clever, featuring a future where a soi-disant democratic government suppresses data about voter turnout, and "Big Data" is used by the public to increase participation in decision-making. The editors' ambition is successfully realized in this fine anthology that any optimistic futurist will appreciate. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
This collection could be the shot in the arm our imaginations need. It’s an important book, and not just for the fiction.” — Wall Street Journal
“[A]group of visionaries have banded together to offer stories that are more utopian, which they hope will contribute to a more positive future…. …The stories still offer plenty of drama, death and destruction, but many have a sort of happy ending.” — New York Times
“…Thought-provoking and fun.” — Pacific Standard magazine
“This new anthology justly deserves to be ranked alongside the very best collections published within science fiction: Terry Carr’s Universe, Damon Knight’s Orbit, or Robert Silverberg’s New Dimensions.” — LA Review of Books
LA Review of Books
This new anthology justly deserves to be ranked alongside the very best collections published within science fiction: Terry Carr’s Universe, Damon Knight’s Orbit, or Robert Silverberg’s New Dimensions.
Pacific Standard magazine
…Thought-provoking and fun.
New York Times
[A]group of visionaries have banded together to offer stories that are more utopian, which they hope will contribute to a more positive future…. …The stories still offer plenty of drama, death and destruction, but many have a sort of happy ending.
Wall Street Journal
This collection could be the shot in the arm our imaginations need. It’s an important book, and not just for the fiction.
Wall Street Journal
This collection could be the shot in the arm our imaginations need. It’s an important book, and not just for the fiction.
APRIL 2015 - AudioFile
Responding to a challenge from Neal Stephenson and the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University, 20 science fiction writers provide short stories that present their visions for what the future will look like in 50 years. Narrating individually, Danny and Cassandra Campbell (husband and wife) maintain a smooth and even pace through the stories in this long and varied collection. Extensive descriptions of technology and advances in science are important to the stories, and both narrators present them smoothly and with a sustained sense of engagement. Taking the jargon in stride, they bring the personalities of the characters and the dialogue to life. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
