Futures Near and Far

by Dave Smeds

A future where murder is only a misdemeanor. A colony world where humans can remain only if they are worthy of their tenancy. A woman who journeys to postapocalytic Africa in search of her childhood best friend. Welcome to a dozen tales of futures near and far. Futures transformative or lethal. Futures to show us who we are.

“...astonishing both in range and quality. Dave Smeds conjures a future where regeneration and eternal youth are made possible through nanotechnology; his story tells what happens to a dysfunctional mother and a daughter in a world where suicide is a hobby and murder a misdemeanor.” -- Publishers Weekly on Full Spectrum 4

218 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 25, 2014

Reviews

[Sara Stamey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought-provoking scenarios with fully-fleshed characters. These are terrific stories, and I dare you to stop at just one. Smeds writes the best kind of science fiction, in which the impact of possible technological changes resonate on a very personal level with society and individuals. His characters are fully realized, with believable human strengths and weaknesses that set off dramas played out in creative and surprising settings. As with his fantasy stories, Smeds shows his empathy for female characters as well as male, especially in the testy mother/daughter relationship of "Suicidal" and the two very different women in "Termites," both set on near-future versions of earth. Most of his characters face moral choices that resonate today and tomorrow, raising questions that stayed with me. Bravo, Dave Smeds!

[te_lanus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not really into speculative fiction, nut this was a good read. Each story is introduced by the writers thoughts about the premise for the story, something that I quite liked.

For the Stories themself, most was quite enjoyable. Some I did feel could do with a little more flesh, since a few felt like reading a "few" chapters in the story, where you miss chapter one and the last chapter, Suicidal Tendencies was one that felt a bit short

But over all it doesn't distract from the stories

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories are consistently interesting and well written and I liked that some of them had common threads running through them so that it was possible to become familiar with the future that the stories represented. My only real gripe was the introductions at the start of each story which I thought were quite unnecessary.

I don't think it is a book I would normally read from cover to cover but it is one that I would keep on the shelf to dip into when I have some spare time.

[Tabby Shiflett · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
A collection of traditional Sci-fi short stories, each with an interesting introduction. If you like Philip K. Dick or pulp magazine SFF, you will probably like this book. I like "Suicidal Tendencies" (dark humor) and "Evaporation" (think Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes) but "Fearless" is my favorite.

LT Early Reviewers