Futures: Four Novellas

Crowther traces the development of his SF reading in the introduction, and looking for wonder, but this is one of the statements he finishes with: "What the great supporters of the field have always said is true: science fiction is the literature of ideas. Here are four more ... but they are four covering a whole host of styles and images and approaches to the field. Space Opera, Future Civilizations, Alien Invasions, Scientific Advancement, Political Chicanery, Human Relationship and even Police Procedural-they're all here. But then they would be ... because those are what science fiction is all about." A rare sort of anthology this one, all novellas. A good one, too, at 3.50. Futures : Watching Trees Grow - Peter F. Hamilton Futures : Reality Dust - Stephen Baxter's Futures : Making History - Paul McAuley's Futures : Tendeleo's Story - Ian McDonald War torture story. 3.5 out of 5 Who is scared of who, why? 3 out of 5 A Kenyan woman and her community come to terms with an alien infestation, as the outsider who fancies her adapts as well. 4 out of 5 Caesar murder, by Jupiter. 3.5 out of 5

Four novellas that are everything that is great about science fiction. These four authors are absolutely among the greatest voices in the genre today.In WATCHING TREES GROW Peter Hamilton took history, turned it upside down, shook it a bit & gave us an alternate view of a history quite unlike anything I had ever read before.Stephen Baxter's REALITY DUST made the reader look at reality in a whole new way.In MAKING HISTORY, Paul McAuley showed how history is not always written by the victor.Ian MacDonald's TENDELEO'S STORY took me back to the Chaga in EVOLUTION'S SHORE which always impressed me as being one of the most possibly real First Contact stories ever written. All four novellas explore the very trait of our species' survival, adaptability, that brings hope & after all that's what science fiction is really about.

I bought this collection for one reason and one reason only: it contained another slice of Ian McDonald's world-turned-upside-down 'Chaga; sequence. As it turned out this was by far the best piece in the book, but more of that later. I haver never been convinced by Pater Hamilton, much as I want to like a British author who can do cyberpunk and do space opera with the best of the yanks. However his piece in this collection, 'Watching Trees Grow' changed my opinion of him. It is an alternative-history crime novella based on the premise that descendants of the Romans still rule Britian through a set of East India Company-style families who combine economic control with a monopolies over various areas of scientific progress. It is a neat idea, and takes the premise further than many other alternative histories by throwing the story further and further into the future, as an old rivalry becomes an obsession that almost transcends time. I enjoyed it despite the episodic feel - perhaps a novel would have been more appropriate - but its 'Britishness' seemed slightly musty and old-fashionned, and redolent of dreams of Empire, in stark contrast to McDonald, or more overtly hip authors like Jeff Noon or Justina Robson. Maybe that was the point, and if so it was well made: science fiction is much the poorer if it doesn't teach you something about the society in which you live. As for Stephen Baxter's 'Reality Dust': well, he does try, and he does keep churning them out, but this is so boring and so mainstream and so traditional. It is all done very competantly, but it is basically the kind of SF I enjoyed when I was a teenager, it isn't challenging in any way.I was a little disappointed with Paul McAuley's novella, 'Making History', especially as he is one of my favourite writers. This was partly because at the heart of it was a very tedious old argument about the nature of history (great men versus social processes) which tended to intrude on the quite interesting story of the processs of war, defeat, reconciliation and the way history is written. Perhaps this was set up as part of the character of the historian to demonstrate his own flaws, but it didn't really convince. This is certainly not one of his best stories. As I said at the start, I bought this collection for Ian McDonald's 'Tendeleo's Story'. I was certainly not disappointed by this one. McDonald is one of the few writers in the genre today who can combine real politics and a strongly compassionate and empathetic grasp of human nature. He is also a superb writer, able to portray setting and character in a vivid, dynamic and sensual way. This novella, as the title suggests is the story of Kenyan girl, Tendeleo, the arrival of a extraterrestrial nanotech lifeform, the Chaga, that begins to transform Africa, and as a result the balance of global power. Initally for Tendeleo, however, this means growing up and simply trying to survive in the ferment that follows, which in her case means geting more

This volume is somewhat different than the usual flurry of anthologies that come out, especially during the holiday season, on two counts.First, it is a British import, and thus the authors represented, while to varying degrees familiar to most of the rest of the world, really are British in tone and outlook. Second, rather than stories, this volume has the longer novella form for the stories, and thus there is one story apiece. SF seems to be the last bastion of this "not quite short story, not quite novel" length work, and the virtues of the form are admirably displayed here.The first story is Peter F. Hamilton's WATCHING TREES GROW. Although far better known for his Reality Dysfunction space opera, Hamilton has written detective SF before (The Mindstar Rising novels) and this is another example, with a twist...it is set in an alternate history where Heinleinian long-lived families vie for power and influence, and that is just the backdrop to a murder mystery.The second story is REALITY DUST by Stephen Baxter. Unlike Hamilton, Baxter's story is set in his trademark universe, the "Xeelee Sequence". This is set after the Qax Domination, where their former collaborator-lackeys seek escape from the freed peoples of Earth in a rather unusual escape route. MAKING HISTORY, by Paul McAuley is set in a more standard "near future" solar system, in the aftermath of a war...and even if it is true that history is written by the victors, that history can sometimes be rather muddled in the making. The last story is TENDELEO'S STORY by Ian MacDonald. Like the Baxter, it is set in a trademark world of his, the "Chaga stories", where a strange alien life (nanotech? technolife?) has started to colonize the Earth, beginning with Africa. This story, like his other novels and stories, focuses more on the people affected by the Chaga, much more so than the actual event itself. All four of these stories are strong, but of course, tastes may vary. The stories do range a far chunk of SF, and it is very possible that while you might like two or three, you may not like all four (personally, I liked the Baxter the best and the McDonald the least). Thus, the 4 star rating. Still, all in all, if you are at all interested in what the best British SF writers are doing, this paperback is perfect for the purpose.