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Nutcase from the Future
Do you ever wonder how human societies might function a thousand years from now if we somehow manage not to kill each other before that? How would time travelers from the future see us? Would they be more human than us?
Meet Ray - the time traveler from the future. Will he adjust to function in the twenty-first century? Will he find friendship and love?
Reviews
Nutcase is a brilliant satire of our current society as viewed through the serene lens of a man from a much better future. Michael Veletsky’s masterstroke in this novel is having Ray, this man transported from a thousand years ahead in time, offer an incredibly rosy and civilized view of the future rather than the typically bleak dystopian visions.
Naturally, when handsome, blue-eyed Ray appears during an eclipse and claims he's from the future, he's sent to a psychiatric institution where he has many interviews with the lovely, compassionate, yet skeptical therapist Kim. One of the novel’s many charms is the dynamic between the always-calm and polite Ray and the emotional, committed Kim.
Ray paints an evolved future that speaks to the best of humanity while exposing the basest levels of our current society at its most mendacious and petty. Nutcase pullulates with humor and Swiftian satire. As media members, the FBI, and a biotech corp all look to benefit from Ray, Veletsky rolls out a tale that is a hoot throughout, one alternating between treachery and disarming goodness. The interactions swirling around the dreamy Ray of the future provide the novel with wit and merriment, especially those featuring the patients "Karl Marx" and the fantasy writer Benny. Meanwhile, the saucy Stacey and the oily villain Oliver keep the story spinning and turning. The clever twists that conclude the novel speak to the possibility of a sequel. Here's hoping Veletsky continues exploring this delightful, amusing, yet sharp-eyed vision of the present and future.
-- Michael Hartnett, author of Windmill Bluff
Meet Ray - the time traveler from the future. Will he adjust to function in the twenty-first century? Will he find friendship and love?
Reviews
Nutcase is a brilliant satire of our current society as viewed through the serene lens of a man from a much better future. Michael Veletsky’s masterstroke in this novel is having Ray, this man transported from a thousand years ahead in time, offer an incredibly rosy and civilized view of the future rather than the typically bleak dystopian visions.
Naturally, when handsome, blue-eyed Ray appears during an eclipse and claims he's from the future, he's sent to a psychiatric institution where he has many interviews with the lovely, compassionate, yet skeptical therapist Kim. One of the novel’s many charms is the dynamic between the always-calm and polite Ray and the emotional, committed Kim.
Ray paints an evolved future that speaks to the best of humanity while exposing the basest levels of our current society at its most mendacious and petty. Nutcase pullulates with humor and Swiftian satire. As media members, the FBI, and a biotech corp all look to benefit from Ray, Veletsky rolls out a tale that is a hoot throughout, one alternating between treachery and disarming goodness. The interactions swirling around the dreamy Ray of the future provide the novel with wit and merriment, especially those featuring the patients "Karl Marx" and the fantasy writer Benny. Meanwhile, the saucy Stacey and the oily villain Oliver keep the story spinning and turning. The clever twists that conclude the novel speak to the possibility of a sequel. Here's hoping Veletsky continues exploring this delightful, amusing, yet sharp-eyed vision of the present and future.
-- Michael Hartnett, author of Windmill Bluff
226 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 11, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 27, 2025
There’s a certain tongue-in-cheek vibe to this charming tale about a deadpan and immediately likable visitor from the future who drops unannounced into the unsuspecting world of contemporary Dallas, TX to calmly explain how much better life could be without sports, war, money or advertising.
The harbinger of this advice from a thousand years into the future is Mr. Ray Light, a sort of deadpan time bandit himself who serves as a handy excuse for the author to discuss everything from the idylls of world peace to romance, sex and customized Ai newscasters. There’s even “modification technology” that catches foreseen human problems during pregnancy before birth.
Nobody believes Ray, of course.
As expected, his contemporary new Texan friends promptly lock him in the nuthouse and try to “fix” him. The great Mental Health Industrial Complex soon takes over and the FBI gets involved. Crazy Ray (DOB 2992), slowly becomes accepting and numb to the ways of his new home, which means that he also quickly falls in love with his therapist, Kim, who has been trying to cure her patient of the idea that human beings shouldn’t require money but rather produce and share what they truly need. Afer all, a world in which a gardener makes as much money as an NBA star can’t be normal.
Through it all, Ray Light nevertheless remains curious about his new life as a visitor from the future, despite efforts by everyone around him to convince him that he’s truly batshit crazy.
This novel reflects many of the thoughts presented in Veletsky’s previous books, in which his characters offer their opinions about human fate and the predetermined events that steer us through life.
Ray Light is Socrates in a straight jacket, and I liked him very much.
The harbinger of this advice from a thousand years into the future is Mr. Ray Light, a sort of deadpan time bandit himself who serves as a handy excuse for the author to discuss everything from the idylls of world peace to romance, sex and customized Ai newscasters. There’s even “modification technology” that catches foreseen human problems during pregnancy before birth.
Nobody believes Ray, of course.
As expected, his contemporary new Texan friends promptly lock him in the nuthouse and try to “fix” him. The great Mental Health Industrial Complex soon takes over and the FBI gets involved. Crazy Ray (DOB 2992), slowly becomes accepting and numb to the ways of his new home, which means that he also quickly falls in love with his therapist, Kim, who has been trying to cure her patient of the idea that human beings shouldn’t require money but rather produce and share what they truly need. Afer all, a world in which a gardener makes as much money as an NBA star can’t be normal.
Through it all, Ray Light nevertheless remains curious about his new life as a visitor from the future, despite efforts by everyone around him to convince him that he’s truly batshit crazy.
This novel reflects many of the thoughts presented in Veletsky’s previous books, in which his characters offer their opinions about human fate and the predetermined events that steer us through life.
Ray Light is Socrates in a straight jacket, and I liked him very much.
October 10, 2024
The concept is simple: a man from the future suddenly appears in modern-day Dallas. He explains to everyone calmly and cheerfully how, in the future, they have no money, no war, no competitive sports, and insurance and advertising are thrown in there too. They put him directly into a mental hospital, but they can't "cure" him - he knows what he knows. Slowly he becomes accustomed to life as we know it today. The author has a great sense of humor, and a point to make about free will, or lack of it. It's a charming book!
May 17, 2025
A fun read
I found myself caught up in story as well as the premise of what the world would look like if we really evolved as humans.
I found myself caught up in story as well as the premise of what the world would look like if we really evolved as humans.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews