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Fractal Dreams That Unmake: A Speculative Fiction Anthology
Experience the future through bold South Asian imagination in this genre-defying speculative fiction masterpiece.
Fractal Dreams That Unmake delivers 15 visionary short stories that blend science fiction, fantasy, and horror with the rich cultural landscapes of the Indian subcontinent. Perfect for readers who love the philosophical depth of Ted Chiang, the cultural insight of Ken Liu, and the social consciousness of Octavia Butler.
Each story explores urgent contemporary issues—caste systems in alien worlds, climate collapse threatening indigenous communities, queer love in floating dystopian cities, and authoritarian regimes crushing freedom. From terracotta artists witnessing economic collapse to honey collectors facing sentient marine life, these tales offer a gimps of the future.
Whether you're passionate about climate fiction, South Asian futurism, LGBTQ+ narratives, or dystopian literature, this collection delivers unforgettable stories of resistance and reimagination. Soham Guha crafts immersive worlds that echo with both mythological depth and urgent relevance, making this essential reading for anyone seeking speculative fiction that challenges, transforms, and inspires.
Stories that don't just entertain—they unmake and remake how we see our world and our future.
Fractal Dreams That Unmake delivers 15 visionary short stories that blend science fiction, fantasy, and horror with the rich cultural landscapes of the Indian subcontinent. Perfect for readers who love the philosophical depth of Ted Chiang, the cultural insight of Ken Liu, and the social consciousness of Octavia Butler.
Each story explores urgent contemporary issues—caste systems in alien worlds, climate collapse threatening indigenous communities, queer love in floating dystopian cities, and authoritarian regimes crushing freedom. From terracotta artists witnessing economic collapse to honey collectors facing sentient marine life, these tales offer a gimps of the future.
Whether you're passionate about climate fiction, South Asian futurism, LGBTQ+ narratives, or dystopian literature, this collection delivers unforgettable stories of resistance and reimagination. Soham Guha crafts immersive worlds that echo with both mythological depth and urgent relevance, making this essential reading for anyone seeking speculative fiction that challenges, transforms, and inspires.
Stories that don't just entertain—they unmake and remake how we see our world and our future.
340 pages, Paperback
Published April 4, 2025
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4 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 23, 2025
Fractal Dreams is like a dream book for readers who love short stories of distant worlds where supernatural happenings take place with rich backdrops, and a play of dystopian worlds with newly created societies that reflect the dilemmas of the present we face with a blend of technologically advanced but crooked horrific futures. I am very very happy to have picked this book up as I thoroughly enjoyed the stories that I have read from this collection!
You get 15 spine chilling thought provoking stories where in these future possibilities and layered complex realms, quite similar to our humanity on Earth, the societies are now challenged in every way by the misuse of its brain cells toward greed for power and shortsightedness.
These fifteen stories blend sci-fi, fantasy, and horror to explore social issues like casteism, economic disparity, and totalitarianism. Set in dystopian worlds, they highlight survival, freedom, and humanity’s struggles amid environmental and societal collapse.
Every story blends science-fiction, fantasy, the supernatural, and mythology against dystopian backdrops.
I met sprawling casts like humans, gods, AIs, and mysterious species like toxinymphs and, though they live on distant planets or in parallel universes, I kept seeing us in them.
The stories stayed with me long after each tale ended. Like a cocktail of vibrant juices, the narratives pour out harsh socio-political truths: our greed for resources, the hunger for power, and the misuse of science and technology to control and segregate.
I pictured futures where AI patrols bloodstreams, politicians weaponize divisions through gender, nationalities, castes and whole worlds crack under humanity’s excesses.
Through each story I walked very possible futures that bring spine chilling feel in me.
The backdrops are richly imagined ! Shifting fantasy realms, futuristic dimensions, and myth-laden histories that make me question our own uncertain present.
I felt compelled to explore every possibility the author raises national security warped by tech, medicine twisted into domination, communities fractured by dirty politics and what not!
Each story arrives with its own vigorous blend of various genre, yet together they form a cohesive warning about where a crooked human mind might lead. Every thing feels atmospheric!
Like in the very first story 'Ascesion', on the twin-sunned planet Jambha, Raka journeys with priestesses to uncover her fate amid tribal myths, divine wars, and a goddess's secrets in a world ruled by shifting powers captured my mind.
The Children Between Lines made me reflect on how wars cause deep trauma, especially for women and children, and revealed the potential dangers of AI robots in medical fields.
Even the stories like- Terminal City and The Old Home at the End of the Universe deeply influenced me, each unfolding like a rainbow bloom into something that made me contemplate for a long time.
I’m excited to read more from this collection. I won’t mince words: this book feels like a masterpiece. Every entry is mindfully chosen, atmospherically crafted, and essential for any deep sci-fi lover’s shelf and, in my case, for my hands and mind. It’s available on Amazon India and worldwide.
You get 15 spine chilling thought provoking stories where in these future possibilities and layered complex realms, quite similar to our humanity on Earth, the societies are now challenged in every way by the misuse of its brain cells toward greed for power and shortsightedness.
These fifteen stories blend sci-fi, fantasy, and horror to explore social issues like casteism, economic disparity, and totalitarianism. Set in dystopian worlds, they highlight survival, freedom, and humanity’s struggles amid environmental and societal collapse.
Every story blends science-fiction, fantasy, the supernatural, and mythology against dystopian backdrops.
I met sprawling casts like humans, gods, AIs, and mysterious species like toxinymphs and, though they live on distant planets or in parallel universes, I kept seeing us in them.
The stories stayed with me long after each tale ended. Like a cocktail of vibrant juices, the narratives pour out harsh socio-political truths: our greed for resources, the hunger for power, and the misuse of science and technology to control and segregate.
I pictured futures where AI patrols bloodstreams, politicians weaponize divisions through gender, nationalities, castes and whole worlds crack under humanity’s excesses.
Through each story I walked very possible futures that bring spine chilling feel in me.
The backdrops are richly imagined ! Shifting fantasy realms, futuristic dimensions, and myth-laden histories that make me question our own uncertain present.
I felt compelled to explore every possibility the author raises national security warped by tech, medicine twisted into domination, communities fractured by dirty politics and what not!
Each story arrives with its own vigorous blend of various genre, yet together they form a cohesive warning about where a crooked human mind might lead. Every thing feels atmospheric!
Like in the very first story 'Ascesion', on the twin-sunned planet Jambha, Raka journeys with priestesses to uncover her fate amid tribal myths, divine wars, and a goddess's secrets in a world ruled by shifting powers captured my mind.
The Children Between Lines made me reflect on how wars cause deep trauma, especially for women and children, and revealed the potential dangers of AI robots in medical fields.
Even the stories like- Terminal City and The Old Home at the End of the Universe deeply influenced me, each unfolding like a rainbow bloom into something that made me contemplate for a long time.
I’m excited to read more from this collection. I won’t mince words: this book feels like a masterpiece. Every entry is mindfully chosen, atmospherically crafted, and essential for any deep sci-fi lover’s shelf and, in my case, for my hands and mind. It’s available on Amazon India and worldwide.
May 14, 2025
Soham Guha’s Fractal Dreams that Unmake is not merely a short story collection—it’s an act of cartography. Each story sketches an alternate map of scars, struggles, and simmering hopes. Through fifteen speculative tales that cut across science fiction, fantasy, and horror, the author does something remarkable: he holds a mirror to our fractured realities by distorting them just enough to reveal the truths we often look away from.
The collection opens with Ascension, a haunting meditation on casteism set on a tidally locked world. It asks questions we’ve long avoided—what happens when the sun never sets on oppression?
There is heartbreak in Children Between Lines, which asks—how does one keep the soul intact in a regime that rewrites truth? And there is tenderness too, in The Old Age Home at the End of the Universe, a cosmic elegy for aging parents left behind as the world ends, as time itself bends around forgotten love and remembered kindness.
What makes Fractal Dreams that Unmake stand apart is its rootedness. These stories are not speculative just for spectacle—they are urgent, unflinching, and deeply local. The author writes with the confidence of someone who has felt the tremors of history and the weight of societal evils. Yet he balances the heavy with moments of wry humor, absurdity, and human connection.
This isn’t a collection you breeze through. It’s one that lingers, like the taste of monsoon on warm concrete, like an unanswered question on the tip of your tongue. With Fractal Dreams that Unmake, the author doesn't just imagine new worlds—he deconstructs ours, dream by fractal dream.
The collection opens with Ascension, a haunting meditation on casteism set on a tidally locked world. It asks questions we’ve long avoided—what happens when the sun never sets on oppression?
There is heartbreak in Children Between Lines, which asks—how does one keep the soul intact in a regime that rewrites truth? And there is tenderness too, in The Old Age Home at the End of the Universe, a cosmic elegy for aging parents left behind as the world ends, as time itself bends around forgotten love and remembered kindness.
What makes Fractal Dreams that Unmake stand apart is its rootedness. These stories are not speculative just for spectacle—they are urgent, unflinching, and deeply local. The author writes with the confidence of someone who has felt the tremors of history and the weight of societal evils. Yet he balances the heavy with moments of wry humor, absurdity, and human connection.
This isn’t a collection you breeze through. It’s one that lingers, like the taste of monsoon on warm concrete, like an unanswered question on the tip of your tongue. With Fractal Dreams that Unmake, the author doesn't just imagine new worlds—he deconstructs ours, dream by fractal dream.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews