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Cover Illustration
by
John
Picacio
ISBN 0451460650
$14.95 US Trade Paperback
$22.50
Canada
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Critical Praise for
FutureShocks
"Lou Anders is an accomplished
anthologist, adept at choosing themes likely to encourage originality of
concept from his writers.... FutureShocks does everything the
great SF anthologies of old did, stunning the reader with novelty,
making the future seem like a cornucopia again, sometimes a menacing
one, admittedly, but something of the infinite horizon it once was."
- Nick Gevers, Locus
"A few of the 16 contributions to
Anders's all-original anthology about the dark side of tomorrow simply
present a Big Scary Idea with little storytelling; others offer the kind
of thoughtful, full-bodied admonitions that SF can do so well. Sean
McMullen's 'The Engines of Arcadia,' for example, reconsiders the
devolutionary theory of H.G. Wells's The Time Machine: what if
humans weren't doomed to degenerate but instead could choose to survive
happily for all time? Another side of humanity comes into play in Adam
Roberts's 'Man You Gotta Go,' the story of a chirpy, helpful AI that
gives us all the chance to explore the universe—if we're willing to give
up our physical bodies. The nature of a 'human' soul is tested in Robert
Charles Wilson's 'The Cartesian Theater,' in which artificial
constructions die in agony for the audience's amusement. These writers
stress human potential for bad choices. Evidently, we are the
scariest aspect of the future. Read in short stretches, this volume
offers a worthwhile assortment of jolting warnings. Anders (Live
Without a Net) is the editorial director of Pyr, Prometheus Books'
SF imprint."
-Publishers Weekly
"Refill
the prescription for your most potent anti-anxiety medication and
schedule an appointment with the psychiatrist as soon as possible! From
editor extraordinaire Lou Anders comes an anthology of 16 science
fiction tales - some terrifying, some triumphant - from some of the
masters of speculative fiction that, according to Anders, “envisions the
dangers lying in wait for us on the road ahead, or lurking just around
the corner of history.” Included in this killer collection are stories
by Paul Di Filippo, Kevin J. Anderson, Robert Charles Wilson, John
Meaney, Alan Dean Foster, Robert J. Sawyer and Louise Marley.
Noteworthy stories include Mike Resnick and Harry Turtledove's
collaboration 'Before the Beginning,' where the authors ask what would
happen if humankind could construct a device capable of viewing every
single second of history (did Jesus exist, who killed JFK, did OJ really
do it, etc.) including the moments before the Big Bang; and Di Fillipo's
'Shuteye for the Timebroker,' which envisions a future where, with the
help of anti-somnolence drugs, humankind never has to sleep. Alex
Irvine's 'Homosexuals Damned, Film at Eleven,' arguably the most
disturbing story in the collection, visits an oppressive future America
where religion and government are one and the same.
As has come to be expected from Anders (editor of 2003's Live Without
a Net and editorial director of Prometheus Books' science
fiction/fantasy imprint Pyr), his newest anthology is as thematically
compelling and thought provoking as it is wildly original. From
artificial intelligence sold on street corners to future utopias
populated by genetic vigilantes, this collection is - not surprisingly -
extraordinary. "
-Paul Goat Allen, B&N Explorations
"Whether
the anthology's constructed realities are alien, ugly, frightening,
awe-inspiring, or all of those qualities in one, they all made me
consider my world—and the future—in a new way.... I've spent the past
couple of months thinking a lot about these stories, even the ones I
didn't feel were completely successful. That speaks highly of the
authorial passion driving the stories and the editorial vision guiding
them. Futureshocks
is well worth your time, and highly recommended."
-
Mahesh Raj Mohan, Strange Horizons
"With the
title of his social critique, Future Shock (1970), Alvin Toffler
coined a term to describe the angst created by sudden, disorienting
technological advancement. Although technology's social disruption has
been a theme in sf since the genre's inception, editor Anders wisely
limits the selections in this collection of new stories to extrapolating
inventive scenarios from today's more disquieting trends. In the
brilliant opening story, Paul DiFilippo envisions what havoc might be
wrought should a common drug eliminate the need for sleep. Alan Dean
Foster explores the seamier side of biochips in a fanciful tale about
knowledge junkies--that is, people who can't stop uploading entire
encyclopedias to their cerebral cortices. The time viewer in Mike
Resnick and Harry Turtledove's collaboration is an intriguing device
that allows glimpses of any past event, but probing history's archives a
little too far can be deadly. There are 16 entertaining and
thought-provoking stories in all here, and they are just unsettling
enough that readers may want to spread out reading them over several
sittings." - Carl Hays, Booklist
"Taking a cue
from current events, the stories are mostly dystopian, but the
collection is stellar nonetheless.... every story in this volume
is interesting and thought-provoking. Science fiction fans should waste
no time in acquiring it." - Romantic Times
“A
startling set of envisioned dystopias ranging from artificial
intelligences run amok, transhuman societies on a pell-mell rush to
their Omega Points, and hellish bio-engineered tomorrows that could rob
humanity of its sleep.... Futureshocks can boast of more hits
than misses .… a forceful collection …. Lou Anders has himself another
winning collection here. Go check it out.” - Carlos Aranaga, SciFi
Dimensions
"I’m trying
hard to avoid reviewing anthologies these days, but when one comes in
with a beautiful John Picacio cover, and is edited by Lou Anders, the
book is hard to resist. Anders, of course, produced the highly regarded
Live Without a Net, and it is likely that anything new he
produces will also contain some very good stories. Also the new book,
Futureshocks, has an interesting theme." - Cheryl Morgan,
Emerald City
"Lou Anders is
establishing a reputation as one of the most interesting editors of
original anthologies, and FutureShocks is another fine one. The
theme is scary futures. The book not only presents some disquieting
views of our prospects - some familiar, some original - but also
contains some nice SFNal speculation." - Rich Horton, Locus
“Lou Anders is
a good man. He edited Live without a Net and now he’s dropped on
us FutureShocks, a wonderful collection of writers taking a swing
at Tofler’s theory of future shock; that unease caused by the continuing
change in the level of technology. It’s a great field to let some of the
best minds in speculative fiction run wild… The stories here all hang
together in a way that makes you think… I’d say that [in] all even the
weakest story in FutureShocks is stronger than anything I read in
any of the big fiction mags. I’d say that your enjoyment will at least
partly depend on your political persuasion, but there’s nothing but good
writing here.”
Christopher J. Garcia, Some Fantastic
"Lou Anders oversaw the fine anthology Live without a Net:
his latest compilation, FutureShocks, gathers new science fiction
and horror stories which have roots in biological, technological and
sociological change and feature works by seasoned authors, from Paul Di
Fillipo and Mike Resnick to Harry Turtledove and Louise Marley. Any who
enjoy speculating about the future's dangers will relish a collection
which gathers engrossing stories of future dangers." - California
Bookwatch, June 2006
"Lou Anders oversaw
the fine anthology Live without a Net: his latest compilation,
FutureShocks, gathers new science fiction and horror stories which
have roots in biological, technological and sociological change and
feature works by seasoned authors, from Paul Di Fillipo and Mike Resnick
to Harry Turtledove and Louise Marley. Any who enjoy speculating about
the future's dangers will relish a collection which gathers engrossing
stories of future dangers." - California Bookwatch, June 2006
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