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The Future Below: A Short Story Collection
This is a collection of fifteen science fiction stories long and short, near and far future, high and low tech. A few have appeared previously in sci-fi magazines or anthologies but many have never been seen before. Some, like Skyball and Two Fools in Love, deal with people on the edge in a dystopian future. Others, like Finding the Future and Gays and Commies, deal with the way hope defines us even when things look their bleakest. Three of these stories are set in the author's Timesplash universe, the rest take place in worlds more or less plausible. All of them are about people like us, struggling to find love or salvation or even just a place to grow in a future they didn't make – just as we do now, in the future in which we find ourselves.
126 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 4, 2015
About the author
Graham Storrs
51 books54 followersGraham Storrs lives on a mountaintop in rural Australia with his wife, an Airedale terrier and a Tonkinese cat. He writes science fiction - exploring how science and technology might change our lives and how we might react to it.
He has published children's science books as well as other non-fiction work but, in the past few years, has focused on fiction. His previous novel, Heaven is a Place on Earth, explores the deceptions allowed in a world dominated by augmented and virtual realities. His new novel, Cargo Cult, is a sci-fi comedy adventure.
His début novel, Timesplash, a sci-fi thriller, and its Aurealis Award shortlisted sequel, True Path are published by Pan Macmillan/Momentum.
He has published children's science books as well as other non-fiction work but, in the past few years, has focused on fiction. His previous novel, Heaven is a Place on Earth, explores the deceptions allowed in a world dominated by augmented and virtual realities. His new novel, Cargo Cult, is a sci-fi comedy adventure.
His début novel, Timesplash, a sci-fi thriller, and its Aurealis Award shortlisted sequel, True Path are published by Pan Macmillan/Momentum.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 17, 2018
I read this as a judge for the 2015 Aurealis Awards. This review is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
Overall: There are some could-be-good pieces here, but the work is not really at professional publication standard. Some of the pieces I would have rejected out of hand from the slush pile, some of them I might have published. And this is not a good thing for a collection - given that the author has professional publications happening, vanity publishing this seems such a waste.
Stand out stories:
"Two fools in love" - This one is soft and lyrical. Weirdly, the same story-telling style that hasn't worked for me in previous stories in the collection.
"Swan Song" - this one grabbed at me, and I really liked the pacing, as well as the premise. Ending is a bit flat, a lot predictable, but kind of the right cliff hanger point.
"Finding the future" - spaceship arrives at planet, discovers that the terraforming has failed, everyone is depressed. I really hate the trope that says unhappy people fight physically. Catching cute robot shrew, surprises in store! And yet, this is a fabulous story, and I very much enjoyed it. And it did the ‘oh, we will all die, the project will fail, nope, look at our clever solution’ fake out well.
Most memorable complaint:
"Snowy" - Aaargh. Research assistants as sexy and thus incompetent; lab assistants as stupid (as portrayed by the characterisation of the viewpoint character). Research doesn’t work like that. “...educating us dumb grunts...” my ass. The story was okay, but I was so cranky about the objectifying of the researchers (presumably PhD students), and the ‘nobody gets it but the lab grunt’ attitude, that I didn’t like it at all.
Too many of the stories read as vignettes, as incomplete scenes.
Overall: There are some could-be-good pieces here, but the work is not really at professional publication standard. Some of the pieces I would have rejected out of hand from the slush pile, some of them I might have published. And this is not a good thing for a collection - given that the author has professional publications happening, vanity publishing this seems such a waste.
Stand out stories:
"Two fools in love" - This one is soft and lyrical. Weirdly, the same story-telling style that hasn't worked for me in previous stories in the collection.
"Swan Song" - this one grabbed at me, and I really liked the pacing, as well as the premise. Ending is a bit flat, a lot predictable, but kind of the right cliff hanger point.
"Finding the future" - spaceship arrives at planet, discovers that the terraforming has failed, everyone is depressed. I really hate the trope that says unhappy people fight physically. Catching cute robot shrew, surprises in store! And yet, this is a fabulous story, and I very much enjoyed it. And it did the ‘oh, we will all die, the project will fail, nope, look at our clever solution’ fake out well.
Most memorable complaint:
"Snowy" - Aaargh. Research assistants as sexy and thus incompetent; lab assistants as stupid (as portrayed by the characterisation of the viewpoint character). Research doesn’t work like that. “...educating us dumb grunts...” my ass. The story was okay, but I was so cranky about the objectifying of the researchers (presumably PhD students), and the ‘nobody gets it but the lab grunt’ attitude, that I didn’t like it at all.
Too many of the stories read as vignettes, as incomplete scenes.
May 29, 2015
Enjoyed this collection of small apocalypses. A grim look at our future, but not completely without hope.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews