Future Boston: The History of a City 1990-2100

by David Alexander Smith (Editor)

Human, cybernetic, and alien beings all struggle to get rich in a land where anyone's dream can be realized, for a deadly price

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Printable Tire]

A mosaic of inter-connected stories telling the evolution of Boston. Some characters reappear from story to story, becoming minor characters or protagonists. Most of the stories are of the "small-scale" variety, depicting the day-to-day life of Boston's citizens. I don't think it's giving too much away to say that the book begins with Boston sinking back into the water and gradually turns into a story of intergalactic relations, Boston becoming the "hub" of the universe (or Earth, at least). I found most of the stories to be ho-hum pedestrian, though I must admit that put together collectively, and considering the span of time they narrate, they do begin to enrich upon each other, and I was a little bit moved by the last page (though this might have more to do with my own relationship to Boston than anything else). The book seemed to be a labor of love for the writers and I think it came out well, and it seems like a fun project. I would like to see more books like this one (Future New Orleans, anybody?)

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting premise and process of creation, but in the end a disappointing read.

No real spoilers here: central premise is that Boston is sinking, AND happens to become the location at which aliens establish a trading post with earth. Re: the sinking, the city and its leaders need to take defensive measures to protect its physical ground; those measures lead (as surely they will in real life as the sea rises) to difficult decisions about what to save and what to discard; who wins and who loses -- since everyone's interests can't be equally protected.

Re: the aliens, there's quite a bit of standard sci-fi stuff -- but because the city itself, with all its history, philosophy and geography, is in a sense one of the main characters, it held my interest more than might otherwise have been the case. Lovers of Boston will enjoy this book more than strangers to our shores.

The "process" is that the story was written by a group of writers, each one taking and fleshing out various parts of the agreed-upon whole. I love the idea, and in the right hands it really could make a whole more than the sum of its parts ... but in this case, the wildly uneven quality of the writing made for a disjointed and sometimes very frustrating reading experience. Some pieces / chapters were well-conceived and written; others were truly horrible from start to finish. (Special condemnation to the chapter entitled "The Elephant-Ass Thing," which was written as poorly as it was titled.)

Bottom line is that despite the interesting concept and outline, there are enough bad parts to make this one to skip, unless you REALLY want to read about Boston's alien future. Too many great books out there to spend your time with this mediocre one.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this was interesting what with my having moved here not long ago. It's always interesting to read about futures, excuse me, "futures," set in times that have already passed. Interestingly, the Boston in this book was having trouble with flooding and all that, not because of climate change but because the city was sinking. And then, of course, the aliens showed up. It's an interesting read. My two favorites were "Dying in Hull" and "Ye Citizens of Boston." YMMV.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boston is sinking. Slowly. At about the rate of 4" per year. That's the premise at the start of the book. We're then shown how people are adjusting to this new reality. "Seeing the Edge", "Nomads", "Projects", and "Dying in Hull" are great character driven stories which highlight a noble struggle in the face of adversity. All are somber and offer little hope. While one character is mentioned later and another has a few (surprising) descendants, they're gone from the book, never to be heard from again. And that's a shame because we become attached to these characters and want to know how their lives turned out.

Then the book takes a right turn with the arrival of aliens--that's not a spoiler as you can plainly see them on the cover of the book. Even the tone of the stories takes an abrupt turn with light-hearted ("The Elephant-Ass Thing", "Seating Arrangement", "Topology of the Loophole", "Not for Broadcast") and fantastical ("The Parade", "Fennario"). Once the novelty of aliens wears off, the tone returns to seriousness as Boston becomes swept up with its own importance and struggles with the idea of revolution, just as it did three centuries before.

While this project of writing about the future of Boston from 1990 to 2100 was an ambitious one, I believe that the writing group bit off a bit more than it could chew. There are many gaps in the record and we're told about things that just are but not how they came to be: most of the aliens, construction of "The Cube", the rise of Boston's new power brokers. Editor/author Smith wrote a standalone novel, In the Cube, that's part of this Future Boston universe and pre-dates this book. However, I don't appreciate having to now track down that novel in hopes of filling in those missing gaps.

Despite my complaints, I enjoyed this book. I'm a fan of the city--most notably for its rich history--so I was intrigued by the project. I loved the alien named Bishop 24 and the Phneri race. Their continued presence in the book held it together as the human characters were too often discarded. Maybe if the book and the material from In the Cube were mushed together and then presented as a trilogy, a more cohesive narrative could've been constructed. In the end, my need for answers outweighed my satisfaction level. This was a good book but could've been much better.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two of my favorite things: outdated sci-fi and a cultish love of Boston. How could I resist? Someone on the MBTA bus saw the cover, tapped me on the shoulder, and said, "Excuse me, but what the hell are you reading?" I got a kick out of the notion that Boston was sinking (as opposed to the water levels rising, which is more likely to be our fate). The stories that focus on Boston's humanity are the ones that shine, and the book sort of loses its way as it gets too wrapped up in the far-future politics and aliens. Sarah Smith's stories were my favorite.

[Doc Kinne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should have liked this more than I did, and there were some very interesting pieces, but overall I found it inconsistent.