The Furious Future

by Algis Budrys

The Furious Future At last available in paperback after many years out of print, a classic collection of stories which prompted the very highest praise from the leading SF critics.

If all goes well, he may become the best science fiction writer since Wells - Kingsley Amis, Observer

The themes cover aliens, time travel psionics, mutations - but treated in a cock-eyed way that is peculiarly Budrys's. A parasitic alien invades Earth, only the humans like it; a girl with psionic abilities is found by others with the talent, yet they must reject her; a man from a survey spaceship lands on a backwards planet, but finds he is incapable of understanding them... a completely unconventional treatment. Result: totally absorbing - Tom Boardman Jr., Books and Bookmen

Cover Illustration: Jim Burns

Genres: Science Fiction, Collections, Short Stories

191 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1963

About the author

Algis Budrys was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome, John A. Sentry, William Scarff, Paul Janvier, and Sam & Janet Argo.

Called "AJ" by friends, Budrys was born Algirdas Jonas Budrys in Königsberg in East Prussia. He was the son of the consul general of the Lithuanian government, (the pre-World War II government still recognized after the war by the United States, even though the Soviet-sponsored government was in power throughout most of Budrys's life). His family was sent to the United States by the Lithuanian government in 1936 when Budrys was 5 years old. During most of his adult life, he held a captain's commission in the Free Lithuanian Army.

Budrys was educated at the University of Miami, and later at Columbia University in New York. His first published science fiction story was The High Purpose, which appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1952. Beginning in 1952 Budrys worked as editor and manager for such science fiction publishers as Gnome Press and Galaxy Science Fiction. Some of his science fiction in the 1950s was published under the pen name "John A. Sentry", a reconfigured Anglification of his Lithuanian name. Among his other pseudonyms in the SF magazines of the 1950s and elsewhere, several revived as bylines for vignettes in his magazine Tomorrow Speculative Fiction, is "William Scarff". He also wrote several stories under the names "Ivan Janvier" or "Paul Janvier." He also used the pen name "Alger Rome" in his collaborations with Jerome Bixby.

Budrys's 1960 novella Rogue Moon was nominated for a Hugo Award, and was later anthologized in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two (1973). His Cold War science fiction novel Who? was adapted for the screen in 1973. In addition to numerous Hugo Award and Nebula Award nominations, Budrys won the Science Fiction Research Association's 2007 Pilgrim Award for lifetime contributions to speculative fiction scholarship. In 2009, he was the recipient of one of the first three Solstice Awards presented by the SFWA in recognition of his contributions to the field of science fiction.

Budrys was married to Edna Duna; they had four sons. He last resided in Evanston, Illinois. He died at home, from metastatic malignant melanoma on June 9, 2008.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was Budrys' second collection of short fiction and isn't quite as strong as The Unexpected Dimension, which was published in 1960. All of the stories included here date from 1953 - '58, leading one to suspect these are the runners-up from the opening volume. There are two stories from Astounding, three from Infinity, two from Venture, and one each from If and Amazing, including his first, Dream of Victory, from the August-September 1953 issue. Budrys is best remembered for his novels, but he was a good writer in the shorter form as well. My favorites in this book were Lower than Angels and The Peasant Girl.

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second read by the author, having enjoyed Who. Nice to see his short form is just as strong. Actually took me a while to get into, first few stories didn't quite do the trick or maybe just didn't quite suit my mood at the time, next day came back to the book and it dramatically improved. There's a novella length story around the middle about the dangers of conscience and morality interfering with colonization that's absolutely terrific. Thus I was in the mood for these tales and collection read very nicely. These are the author's earlier works and some of them do display the sort of 20something literary immaturity as it were, but the writing is uniformly good and all the stories are compelling (not just boombastic special effects, but genuine dramatic plots) with something to say and make readers think. Slightly antiquated at times as one might expect from fiction from the 50s, maybe gender attitudes or some ideas of the then future, but overall actually notably not dated, the basic concepts strong, well presented and timeless in a way. Imaginative abstracts framing very real humanity in all its flaws and ambitions. I'm not sure if these tales present a vision of a furious future per se, certainly not in the extremely angry definition of the word, more like passionate and fierce way. It is a great title though. For a pretty great collection fans of classic scifi would likely enjoy, written well enough for non genre fans to enjoy also.

[Saurio Saurio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Los cuentos de este libro me dejaron una sensación ambigua, de allí las tres estrellas, que deberían ser dos y media.
Lo positivo es que los cuentos son buenos y presentan ideas interesantes y que aún pueden ser seductoras pese a los años y la evolución lógica de la ciencia ficción. Realmente, cualquiera de las premisas de estos cuentos podrían servir de disparadores para cuentos escritos ahora, a principios del siglo XXI.
Lo negativo es que en la mayoría se nota demasiado que fueron escritos a fines de los 50 y principios de los 60 y no porque la tecnología imaginada para el futuro resulta obsoleta comparada con la que nosotros tenemos. Eso sería lógico y esperable. No, las marcas de época son socioculturales. La más notable de todas es el machismo implícito de todos los cuentos. No hay personaje femenino cuyo destino no sea el ser esposa y madre y no hay personaje masculino que no sea el macho alfa blanco. No creo que haya sido la intención de Budrys defender o sostener esos valores, otros aspectos de los cuentos parecieran decir que justamente lo contrario, y sin embargo están omnipresentes. Son cuentos que defienden valores conservadores muy a su pesar.
Otro elemento en contra, en especial en los dos últimos cuentos, es que los personajes principales suelen estar en un constante estado de furia. O sea, sí, el libro se llama "El futuro furioso" y muchas de las situaciones en las que se encuentran son irritantes pero no hay necesidad de estar con tanta bronca y actuar como energúmenos, en especial cuando los otros personajes con los que interactúan suelen ser amables (incluso cuando sus intenciones no sean buenas). Llevado al absurdo, es como si constantemente respondieran con insultos a los saludos.
La verdad es que me resultó raro. Otros libros de Budrys que leí no eran tan así, a pesar de ser de la misma época. En este los personajes están todos con una sobredosis de adrenalina. Y las mujeres son tratadas como seres inferiores, útiles solo para procrear y atender al marido.

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent but not exceptional collection of short stories by one of classic SF's lesser-known (at least these days, where apparently even writers such as Robert Silverberg is seen by some as "forgotten") but more interesting voices. While there is some variation here, the recurrent focus of this book is the verge of being human, with stories about human/alien contact, novel breeds of humans (e.g. a group who can pass almost entirely unnoticed among regular folk, until one who can actually make herself be seen--at least briefly--and can manipulate those who can see her, turns up), to human substitutes. Probably the strongest story is "Dream of Victory," about humanoid androids the production of which (or whom) was ramped up after a devastating war, to help rebuild, but who now are no longer needed, leading to plans to phase them out--and since they cannot reproduce, their race would cease to exist. For stories from the 1950s, these stand up pretty well, all things considered, though inevitably a few will rub some contemporary sensibilities the wrong way (e.g. the young woman who uses her near-invisibility and power to manipulate merely to gather pretty things for herself; she's much more of a cliche than anything else in the book). I wouldn't say there are any deathless classics here, but the stories are generally pretty solid, generally have a unique or unusual take on their subjects, and are generally well-written.

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best known for ROGUE MOON this book collects some of Algis Budrys's stories from the later half of the 50s. Budrys's characters are not typical Asimov or Heinlein hero archetypes but rather they tend to be flawed and cynical. It's as though they've stepped out of a film noir playing to a half empty theater and wandered into an old ASTOUNDING magazine. They smoke, drink, lust and look at the world with a dose of fatal pessimism. It sounds like they'd be great stories but they're a mixed bag. I liked most of them. But they're dated as any science fiction story from the 50s would be. But some have ideas about bigotry and racism and human nature that make them interesting for a fan of vintage science fiction.

[Peter Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This edition has a great cover and some above average contents. One has to remember that these are science fiction stories that all date from the 1950s. When they were first published they were probably cutting edge. Sixty years has dulled that edge but they still have the ability to intrigue and entertain. It helps that for the most part the stories in this collection aren’t particularly technology based but instead focus on how we might react to advanced forms of humanity emerging from, or being built, by the current form.

[Joachim Boaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...

"Algis Budrys has not fared particularly well on this site. Back in 2012 I read The Falling Torch (1959) and found it a functional military SF novel with some social commentary about the “inhumanity” of the Soviets. More recently I tackled his so-called “masterpiece” Michaelmas (serialized 1976) (short review) that despite all its pretensions to say something relevant about [...]"

[Paul Barnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Panther] (March 1966). SB. 173 Pages. Purchased from Zardoz Books.

Briefly introduced by “A.J.B.”

Nine short stories (1953-1958).

Mediocre writing. Innovative at times, but incoherent; invariably goes off the rails (where starting on them).

I might re-read “Silent Brother” and think it’s brilliant.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this on kindle unlimited and enjoyed this very much. Although most of these stories were written in the 50s they have held up well. I enjoy his writing style which is direct and linear.

[Marko]

I have the german edition: Die sanfte Invasion

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven, but the stories that work, work really well.

[J McEvoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stunning collection from Algis Budrys, The Furious Future gathers together some of his best short fiction. Of particular note are And Then She Found Him, the remarkably moving tale of an out-of-kilter super-heroine who refuses to be helped, even by her own kind, with tragic consequences; Lower Than Angels, a first contact story in which a newly recruited point-man has a painful and disheartening introduction to primitive alien cultures; Contact Between Equals, a frantic tale in which the blind narrator has his sight restored only to find himself inside a stranger's body; and so on. In fact, the quality of the author's imagination is such that these stories are evolved beyond a single human lifetime. If there is such a thing as forbidden knowledge, it must by necessity be only an index to the work of Budrys.

[Lawrence · Rating 2 out of 5]

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