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Anticipations
Book by Ian Watson, Robert Sheckley, Bob Shaw, Harry Harrison, Thomas M. Disch, J. G. Ballard, Brian W. Aldiss
214 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
50 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Priest
133 books1,079 followersChristopher Priest was born in Cheshire, England. He began writing soon after leaving school and has been a full-time freelance writer since 1968.
He has published eleven novels, four short story collections and a number of other books, including critical works, biographies, novelizations and children’s non-fiction.
He has written drama for radio (BBC Radio 4) and television (Thames TV and HTV). In 2006, The Prestige was made into a major production by Newmarket Films. Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Prestige went straight to No.1 US box office. It received two Academy Award nominations. Other novels, including Fugue For a Darkening Island and The Glamour, are currently in preparation for filming.
He is Vice-President of the H. G. Wells Society. In 2007, an exhibition of installation art based on his novel The Affirmation was mounted in London.
As a journalist he has written features and reviews for The Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the New Statesman, the Scotsman, and many different magazines.
He has published eleven novels, four short story collections and a number of other books, including critical works, biographies, novelizations and children’s non-fiction.
He has written drama for radio (BBC Radio 4) and television (Thames TV and HTV). In 2006, The Prestige was made into a major production by Newmarket Films. Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Prestige went straight to No.1 US box office. It received two Academy Award nominations. Other novels, including Fugue For a Darkening Island and The Glamour, are currently in preparation for filming.
He is Vice-President of the H. G. Wells Society. In 2007, an exhibition of installation art based on his novel The Affirmation was mounted in London.
As a journalist he has written features and reviews for The Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the New Statesman, the Scotsman, and many different magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 6, 2012
A mixed bag. There were a couple of stories in this collection I enjoyed, having got it as Christopher Priest is my husband's cousin. However only one of the stories was his and the quality and length of the other stories was very variable.
September 7, 2022
A mostly forgotten scifi anthology from the late 70s I found in a second hand bookstore in Malaysia. There's a couple of fun stories in this anthology, a few that are fine and a couple of awful ones filled with drug-fueled bizzareness and awkward future speak.
Each story:
The Very Slow Time Machine - Ian Watson - incredibly odd story about time reversal which doesn't really lead anywhere. 2/5
Is that what people do - Robert Schekly - very short fun story about magical binoculars. Almost more fantasy than SF but well structured and entertaining. 3/5
Bob Shaw - Amphitheater - a fun monster on another planet story but a weak ending. A little sexist. 3/5
Christopher Priest - Negation - Fantastic literary dystopic short from the editor, a real highlight with a nice twist at the end. 4/5
Harry Harrison - The Greening of the Green - an amusing, humorous piece. Fun and well written. 4/5
Thomas M. Disch - Mutability - An excerpt from an, at the time, unpublished epistolary novel. Did not finish... This shouldn't have been in an anthology. It's trying very hard to be social commentary but is really out of context. 1/5
JG Ballard - One Afternoon at Utah Beach - Light scifi with a touch of time travel. Well written, if nothing revolutionary. 3/5
Brian W Aldiss - A Chinese Perspective - By far the longest story in this collection, pretty much a quarter of the book. Heavily reliant on odd future speak and hallucinatory language it's a wild ride that deals with predestination, predicting the future, psychotropic drugs and finding entertainment by exploring the insides of people's bodies... It's definitely a product of it's time. 1/5
Each story:
The Very Slow Time Machine - Ian Watson - incredibly odd story about time reversal which doesn't really lead anywhere. 2/5
Is that what people do - Robert Schekly - very short fun story about magical binoculars. Almost more fantasy than SF but well structured and entertaining. 3/5
Bob Shaw - Amphitheater - a fun monster on another planet story but a weak ending. A little sexist. 3/5
Christopher Priest - Negation - Fantastic literary dystopic short from the editor, a real highlight with a nice twist at the end. 4/5
Harry Harrison - The Greening of the Green - an amusing, humorous piece. Fun and well written. 4/5
Thomas M. Disch - Mutability - An excerpt from an, at the time, unpublished epistolary novel. Did not finish... This shouldn't have been in an anthology. It's trying very hard to be social commentary but is really out of context. 1/5
JG Ballard - One Afternoon at Utah Beach - Light scifi with a touch of time travel. Well written, if nothing revolutionary. 3/5
Brian W Aldiss - A Chinese Perspective - By far the longest story in this collection, pretty much a quarter of the book. Heavily reliant on odd future speak and hallucinatory language it's a wild ride that deals with predestination, predicting the future, psychotropic drugs and finding entertainment by exploring the insides of people's bodies... It's definitely a product of it's time. 1/5
December 1, 2017
I've read it but can't remember it, so it gets three stars from me - probably average.
May 25, 2021
Read it for the Christopher Priest story, which lived up to expectations; but the rest (by major authors) were only so-so.
June 15, 2024
Anticipations edited by Christopher Priest.
A moderately entertaining story collection. The stories included:
The very slow time machine- Scientists are perplexed when a time machine from the future arrives but with the human occupant moving backwards in time.
Amphitheatre- A nature film maker and his wife have a close call with camouflaged ambush predators on an alien world.
The Negation- A border patrol guard is excited his favourite author is coming to visit his ice covered town.
The greening of the green- An American-Italian civilian turns spy for the US government in a post fossil fuel changing world with Ireland emerging as a new power with iron smelting and nuclear energy but let's itself down with a silly reveal of psychic powers geberated from the Irish being unable to talk or gesture.
A Chinese perspective- A novella length story that was severely disappointing. An engineer from a colonised asteroid visits Earth to sell his prediction machine. Full of East vs West mysticism, dragged on a lot.
A moderately entertaining story collection. The stories included:
The very slow time machine- Scientists are perplexed when a time machine from the future arrives but with the human occupant moving backwards in time.
Amphitheatre- A nature film maker and his wife have a close call with camouflaged ambush predators on an alien world.
The Negation- A border patrol guard is excited his favourite author is coming to visit his ice covered town.
The greening of the green- An American-Italian civilian turns spy for the US government in a post fossil fuel changing world with Ireland emerging as a new power with iron smelting and nuclear energy but let's itself down with a silly reveal of psychic powers geberated from the Irish being unable to talk or gesture.
A Chinese perspective- A novella length story that was severely disappointing. An engineer from a colonised asteroid visits Earth to sell his prediction machine. Full of East vs West mysticism, dragged on a lot.
February 22, 2024
Ear read 2024
6/10 some short stories by several authors Chris was the editor for the collection, some ok, others like the last just felt like fillers.
Contents:- Introduction (Christopher Priest); The Very Slow Time Machine (Ian Watson); Is That What People Do? (Robert Sheckley); Amphitheatre (Bob Shaw); The Negation (Christopher Priest); The Greening of the Green (Harry Harrison); Mutability (Thomas Disch); One Afternoon at Utah Beach (J. G. Ballard); A Chinese Perspective (Brian Aldiss).
6/10 some short stories by several authors Chris was the editor for the collection, some ok, others like the last just felt like fillers.
Contents:- Introduction (Christopher Priest); The Very Slow Time Machine (Ian Watson); Is That What People Do? (Robert Sheckley); Amphitheatre (Bob Shaw); The Negation (Christopher Priest); The Greening of the Green (Harry Harrison); Mutability (Thomas Disch); One Afternoon at Utah Beach (J. G. Ballard); A Chinese Perspective (Brian Aldiss).
April 24, 2010
A good book of original science fiction.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews