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Futureways
Futureways is a faux science fiction novel that dares to reinvent the future. The story of an art exhibition in the distant future, the book posits an otherworldly community of alien shape-shifters, robotic administrators and demon-conjuring Magi who inhabit spaceports, otherworldly archeological sites, gated utopias, courthouses and bars.
This beguiling “novel” features chapters written by different contributors—including artists, critics, curators, museum directors, journalists and writers—all of whom create fantastical landscapes that simultaneously work within and outside the convention of science fiction. At its heart, it depicts the “tangible marvels” of the imagination and the role of the artist as time-traveler, forward-thinking yet never forgetting the past.
Conceived by internationally acclaimed artist Rita McBride, Futureways is the second book in the Ways Books series (the first was Heartways), a unique collaboration between the Whitney Museum of American Art, Printed Matter, Inc. and Arsenal Pulp Press. Forthcoming titles include Crimeways and Myways. Books in the Ways Books series—which include more than 50 different contributions by artists, architects, writers, journalists, scientists, curators and critics—exploit and decipher genre writing with an entertaining and refreshing collective structure.
Contributors include Laura Cottingham, Nick Crowe, Aline Duriaud, Nalo Hopkinson, Nico Israel, Matthew Licht, Peter Maass, Rita McBride, Glen Rubsamen, David Schafer, Mark von Schlegell, Rutger Wolfson and Alexandre Melo, translated by Brad Cherry.
This beguiling “novel” features chapters written by different contributors—including artists, critics, curators, museum directors, journalists and writers—all of whom create fantastical landscapes that simultaneously work within and outside the convention of science fiction. At its heart, it depicts the “tangible marvels” of the imagination and the role of the artist as time-traveler, forward-thinking yet never forgetting the past.
Conceived by internationally acclaimed artist Rita McBride, Futureways is the second book in the Ways Books series (the first was Heartways), a unique collaboration between the Whitney Museum of American Art, Printed Matter, Inc. and Arsenal Pulp Press. Forthcoming titles include Crimeways and Myways. Books in the Ways Books series—which include more than 50 different contributions by artists, architects, writers, journalists, scientists, curators and critics—exploit and decipher genre writing with an entertaining and refreshing collective structure.
Contributors include Laura Cottingham, Nick Crowe, Aline Duriaud, Nalo Hopkinson, Nico Israel, Matthew Licht, Peter Maass, Rita McBride, Glen Rubsamen, David Schafer, Mark von Schlegell, Rutger Wolfson and Alexandre Melo, translated by Brad Cherry.
200 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2005
25 people want to read
About the author
Rita McBride
20 books2 followersRita is an artist living and working in Cologne and New York. Her projects vary greatly from unorthodox books to very large sculptures. She is currently planning a sixty-meter tall carbon structure entitled Mae West to be erected in 2006 on the Effnerplatz in Munich.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 7, 2026
I’m honestly giving this such a low rating bc of the pretentiousness of its premise. “A faux science fiction novel.” Girl, you ARE a science fiction novel. Or a collection of short stories anyway. A book is a book. And this one thinks it’s so experimental, when it’s really not. It’s just an okay anthology where half the stories are nonsensical and there’s really no good main thread.
The stories pretend to be connected through them all being about something related to a curated art exhibition. But not the same art exhibition, no. Only like two or three have a connection to the same exhibition in the third to last story (not even the finale, like cmon). Having one, loose motif throughout really isn’t enough for me. They should’ve all been clearly about the same exhibition. But that would be too smart. And this book, no matter how smart it pretends to be, is anything but.
Not only are the stories not connected plot-wise, but the tone and messaging is all over the place. And not in an interesting way. I got whiplash going from one to the next, and none of them really stood out as “good.” The first story is the best, with the weird talking baby one as second, but even these have no real point and are bottom of the barrel in terms of short stories. It felt like all the “authors,” most of which were actually visual artists and curators in real life and should probably just stick with that, were given a loose vibe and wrote to that vibe. But all of them have a different interpretation of what that vibe is. It’s insane. And not in a good way.
I particularly hated the stories, which were most of them, that decided to just overtly sexualize any woman. Like the amount of hiked up boobs and shown ass makes it seem like everyone thinks the future will just be a playground for men to ogle chicks, who are worth nothing more than their tits in their utopia. And don’t even get me started random story that decided to use sexual assault as a joke. I’m far from easily offended, but the tone of it grossed me out.
The whole thing was a disaster, and the pretentiousness of the editors pissed me off even more. No wonder the ways stories are barely heard of it. Skip this one, I beg of you.
The stories pretend to be connected through them all being about something related to a curated art exhibition. But not the same art exhibition, no. Only like two or three have a connection to the same exhibition in the third to last story (not even the finale, like cmon). Having one, loose motif throughout really isn’t enough for me. They should’ve all been clearly about the same exhibition. But that would be too smart. And this book, no matter how smart it pretends to be, is anything but.
Not only are the stories not connected plot-wise, but the tone and messaging is all over the place. And not in an interesting way. I got whiplash going from one to the next, and none of them really stood out as “good.” The first story is the best, with the weird talking baby one as second, but even these have no real point and are bottom of the barrel in terms of short stories. It felt like all the “authors,” most of which were actually visual artists and curators in real life and should probably just stick with that, were given a loose vibe and wrote to that vibe. But all of them have a different interpretation of what that vibe is. It’s insane. And not in a good way.
I particularly hated the stories, which were most of them, that decided to just overtly sexualize any woman. Like the amount of hiked up boobs and shown ass makes it seem like everyone thinks the future will just be a playground for men to ogle chicks, who are worth nothing more than their tits in their utopia. And don’t even get me started random story that decided to use sexual assault as a joke. I’m far from easily offended, but the tone of it grossed me out.
The whole thing was a disaster, and the pretentiousness of the editors pissed me off even more. No wonder the ways stories are barely heard of it. Skip this one, I beg of you.
March 19, 2017
I picked this up at the Tate Modern and it rather snobbishly describes itself as "a faux science fiction novel". It isn't. It is a rather good set of science fiction short stories all centered on the idea of an art exhibition (or exhibitions) in the distant future. Some of the stories are by novelists and some by artists and curators but the book doesn't specify who wrote what. There were alien curators and robotic curators and a very Lovecraftian curator in The Daemon Curatorum. I definitely enjoyed it, I'm glad I didn't let the "faux" description put me off!
October 10, 2014
Futureways is becoming a cult sci-fi masterpiece, an anthology of brilliant stories including early works of Nalo Hopkinson and Mark von Schlegell.
April 8, 2023
Aún siendo relatos cortos todos lograban expresar de forma verosímil este espacio futuro en el que se desarrollan. Los personajes, comentarios acerca de la tecnología, la historia... todo aportaba.
Eso si, como en toda antología hay puntos fuertes y puntos débiles. Admito que a momentos simplemente estaba leyendo para pasar al siguiente relato, esperando que fuese mejor que el anterior.
A mi juicio The future lasts a long time, The curator awakes, The St.Anthony organ, My story, Message in a bottle, son las mejores partes de esta colección, 5 de 14 historias, lo que no es un número muy bueno pero son 5 historias verdaderamente cautivantes.
Eso si, como en toda antología hay puntos fuertes y puntos débiles. Admito que a momentos simplemente estaba leyendo para pasar al siguiente relato, esperando que fuese mejor que el anterior.
A mi juicio The future lasts a long time, The curator awakes, The St.Anthony organ, My story, Message in a bottle, son las mejores partes de esta colección, 5 de 14 historias, lo que no es un número muy bueno pero son 5 historias verdaderamente cautivantes.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews