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The City: A Cyberfunk Anthology
The City anthology is a unique creation. It’s a concept anthology, a collection of stories where eighteen different authors share their vision of a single idea. It’s Cyberfunk, cyberpunk stories that play with future concepts from an African/African American perspective. Most of all it’s engaging, exciting, thought provoking and fun.
Like the inhabitants, the City is perceived in various ways by the various writers. Some stories intersect, some diverge, but they all entertain. The result is a journey into a unique world described by unique and engaging voices.
Like the inhabitants, the City is perceived in various ways by the various writers. Some stories intersect, some diverge, but they all entertain. The result is a journey into a unique world described by unique and engaging voices.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 23, 2015
35 people are currently reading
268 people want to read
About the author
Milton J. Davis
78 books246 followersMilton Davis is owner of MVmedia, LLC , a small publishing company specializing in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Sword and Soul. MVmedia’s mission is to provide speculative fiction books that represent people of color in a positive manner. Milton is the author of eight novels; his most recent The Woman of the Woods and Amber and the Hidden City. He is co-editor of four anthologies; Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and Griot: Sisters of the Spear, with Charles R. Saunders; The Ki Khanga Anthology with Balogun Ojetade and the Steamfunk! Anthology, also with Balogun Ojetade. MVmedia has also published Once Upon A Time in Afrika by Balogun Ojetade.
Milton resides in Metro Atlanta with his wife Vickie and his children Brandon and Alana.
Milton resides in Metro Atlanta with his wife Vickie and his children Brandon and Alana.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 19, 2015
Imaginative world building and interesting characters. Great idea to have the "City" itself as a character and setting. Some stories were stronger than others. My faves were Washed Pure, Washed Clean, The Mole, Glitch and The Runner's Ball
October 19, 2015
In the interest of self-disclosure, my name is Otis Galloway. I am the DJ for THE CITY.
In what I’m sure is a mutually amenable situation (I don’t think anybody can officially say how this actually happened…), I serve as a parallel narrative to the cyberfunk anthology, THE CITY.
I tell my story via a series of curated mixtapes that serve to complement the stories within.
Why am I telling you all this?
Because, brothers and sisters, before I was a contributor, I was a reader, and in order to tell you what I’m going to tell you I had to digest all of this so that I could truly overstand, and the words here are from a reader and a witness…
THE CITY reminds me of a tightly-knit group of jazz musicians. They are virtuosos in their own respective spheres, able to stand out with distinction, but when working as an ensemble, they play off each other beautifully, flawlessly, with the kind of dynamic tension that allows for magical things to take place during the performance.
Anthologies can be a strange beast. Quite often they end up being several chicks in one basket, all competing for attention by chirping the loudest. Weak stories often get shunted in favor of the stronger ones. The contradictions threaten to tear apart the larger narrative.
THE CITY is seamless in its delivery. The stories are definitely eighteen distinct voices, but the world is not fragmented by them. If anything, you feel fully immersed in this dangerous, mysterious, but endlessly fascinating world.
Characters appear and reappear, moving between writers. The spirit of camaraderie and friendly rivalry only serves to bring out the best, like musicians egging each other on with solos, all the time bringing it back to the central groove, building upon it, intensifying it.
Like any great group of writers, they have influences that permeate their writing. The thing that sets the stories of THE CITY apart, are how they play with said influences. Just when you think you’ve nailed it, the authors throw clever curve balls at you that take the stories in an unexpected direction. The cultural and historical references pop up at moments that will put a smile across your face or have you nodding in acknowledgement.
It’s difficult to write a review and not reveal anything about the anthology, but that’s how good THE CITY is. You don’t want to reveal any of it. You want the reader to discover this world on their own terms. Like any well constructed universe, it has all the needed elements for great storytelling to take place. Pacing, emotion, connection with its characters, tension, drama.
Singling out any one particular writer for praise seems unfair, because each writer does his or her part, and the whole comes together with barely a seam between worlds. They blend and mesh so effortlessly, it almost feels as if one person wrote this instead of eighteen. It is a beautiful example of how a creative collective can deliver a consistent and distinct vision without there being a clash of egos.
THE CITY transcends genres to exist on the level of being an example of great literature. As a reader, you owe it to yourself to dive headfirst into this world and stay for a while.
You probably will be returning not long after your first visit. I guarantee it.
In what I’m sure is a mutually amenable situation (I don’t think anybody can officially say how this actually happened…), I serve as a parallel narrative to the cyberfunk anthology, THE CITY.
I tell my story via a series of curated mixtapes that serve to complement the stories within.
Why am I telling you all this?
Because, brothers and sisters, before I was a contributor, I was a reader, and in order to tell you what I’m going to tell you I had to digest all of this so that I could truly overstand, and the words here are from a reader and a witness…
THE CITY reminds me of a tightly-knit group of jazz musicians. They are virtuosos in their own respective spheres, able to stand out with distinction, but when working as an ensemble, they play off each other beautifully, flawlessly, with the kind of dynamic tension that allows for magical things to take place during the performance.
Anthologies can be a strange beast. Quite often they end up being several chicks in one basket, all competing for attention by chirping the loudest. Weak stories often get shunted in favor of the stronger ones. The contradictions threaten to tear apart the larger narrative.
THE CITY is seamless in its delivery. The stories are definitely eighteen distinct voices, but the world is not fragmented by them. If anything, you feel fully immersed in this dangerous, mysterious, but endlessly fascinating world.
Characters appear and reappear, moving between writers. The spirit of camaraderie and friendly rivalry only serves to bring out the best, like musicians egging each other on with solos, all the time bringing it back to the central groove, building upon it, intensifying it.
Like any great group of writers, they have influences that permeate their writing. The thing that sets the stories of THE CITY apart, are how they play with said influences. Just when you think you’ve nailed it, the authors throw clever curve balls at you that take the stories in an unexpected direction. The cultural and historical references pop up at moments that will put a smile across your face or have you nodding in acknowledgement.
It’s difficult to write a review and not reveal anything about the anthology, but that’s how good THE CITY is. You don’t want to reveal any of it. You want the reader to discover this world on their own terms. Like any well constructed universe, it has all the needed elements for great storytelling to take place. Pacing, emotion, connection with its characters, tension, drama.
Singling out any one particular writer for praise seems unfair, because each writer does his or her part, and the whole comes together with barely a seam between worlds. They blend and mesh so effortlessly, it almost feels as if one person wrote this instead of eighteen. It is a beautiful example of how a creative collective can deliver a consistent and distinct vision without there being a clash of egos.
THE CITY transcends genres to exist on the level of being an example of great literature. As a reader, you owe it to yourself to dive headfirst into this world and stay for a while.
You probably will be returning not long after your first visit. I guarantee it.
December 1, 2015
This book plays like a jazz session. In this case the authors are riffing off a central theme. That theme being life in a seemingly ageless and endless City in the middle of nowhere. The City is futuristic relative to our own but it also has plenty of cracks, gaps and shadows for both good and evil to flourish. Many of the humans that live among the over 1500 alien species that occupy the city seem to be of African descent. The reason for this is yet another mystery of the place that breeds as many questions as answers. The City has as many stories as it has residents. In this anthology we get a 15 of them. This book showcases quite a few new and interesting African-American Science Fiction talent. All the stories were interesting but I'm going to limit my comments to a few:
Move by ZZ Claybourne: Played like a good Ridley Scott flick. It's about protecting the ones you love at any price
Dreamer’s Recall: A haunting story that would have been right at home on the twilight zone.
The Man with No Name by DK Gaston: Cinematic, action packed story that shows us the darker sides of the city, bonus: nicely linked with another story in the Anthology
Welcome to Liberty by Howard Night: an excellent futuristic police procedural with twist.
Would love to see this anthology to expand into future volumes.
January 23, 2016
I sometimes wonder what it would be experince the fictional worlds I read about first hand and while The City is not a place I'd necessarily want to live or visit I damn sure loved reading about it! An extremely diverse compilation of stories with a common thread to tie them together. Mystery, Sci-Fi, Steamfunk, Cyberfunk, Horror even the Superhero genre coexist in this world seamlessly. With so many cooks in the kitchen this anthology could have easily been a hodgepodge of random tales but each writer represented their own inspiration while keeping the core concept of this anthology in mind. A thrill ride from start to finish. -M
1 Review
February 2, 2020
I acquired a copy of The City: A Cyberfunk Anthology from Davis at a convention in 2017, I believe. I met him at a subsequent convention at which he autographed my copy. (I’ll have to get the other contributors to sign it as well.) So, I've had this one in the 'to read' slot for a while now. Prior to this past month, I had made some head way, but fell away from the book, for a variety of reasons. (Mostly me.) However, before I get into talking about The City, I want to break it down into two parts: technical merits and creative merits. I wore two hats, as I often do, when reading a selection. One is that of self-published author, which takes in a work’s format, layout, etc.; and that as a “reluctant” reader, as I adamant about limiting the influence of other works on my own.
That said, of the 360 pages, the header(s) stood out first and foremost. I would have preferred to see “The City: A Cyberfunk Anthology” on even (left) pages and the title of shorts on the odd (right) pages. Again, that’s just a preference. With that, the title pages of the shorts were inconsistent, with some starting on the left and others on the right. As the right page at any point with opening a book is the first to be seen, stories should start on the right—in my opinion. Then is it’s kind of odd that some stories beginning on the left page do so after a blank right page.
While graphics are employed at the beginning of some shorts, I think having graphics for all eighteen shorts would have helped with the blank pages and story placement—as some stories depended on preceding ones. Moreover, as I learned from self-publishing, blank pages cost money, so some ink should be placed on them, even if it is a page number.
Lastly, the cover is just awesome.
On the creative side, the first three shorts (Glitch, Mission: Surreality, and Free Your Mind) are a good introduction to The City, though admittedly it was hard to grasp the relationship between its residence and “the city” itself. The City comes off as an anomaly, which is overseen by a handful of others—I presume The Watchers or their masters, and if I perceived well Move, the very last short story. (That one was just weird to me; I’ll have to reread it.) Of course, the overarching theme of the shorts combined reveals a very complex environment. Through the variety of styles, which telling proved more effective than showing (for the more action based narratives), and vice versa with those stories more character driven, The City introduces a very diverse and futuristic population of humans, cyborgs, Helium Breathers and Fudokiht. (And this is just the beginning to the number of species in The City.)
The closest environment to The City is that of the Matrix; but where there are the dystopian and constructed realities in the Matrix, there is just The City and The Lush outside it. The Lush is construed as The Promise Land for most residence in The City. Those who “unplug” by having their Tell removed—either surgically or through Ooze consumption—strive for The Lush as to be free from the grind of The City. (Without a Tell as to be tracked and controlled, one is persecuted in The City.)
By the fourth short, The Man With No Name, The City kicks into overdrive, as to continue the previous story line of Free Your Mind from a different POV. This occurs with a few other stories as well, which lends itself to unifying the different works. Then the pacing takes a turn with Collard Greens, Hummingbirds and Spider Silk. If there were ever a story to capture the essence or spirit of how a black narrative is told, in that antebellum vibe, this would be it. And it works, for the premise of the short in the genre. From it though, the roller coaster ride of The City begins to level out, and even offers a quasi grim-dark piece with Darkest Light. This is offset by the magical tone of Washed Pure, Washed Clean.
Unfortunately, by Edge of Innocence, the grammar becomes an issue and declines from there. So much so that for it and Dreamer’s Recall—both of which stood out most notably for this—a reader has to be quick to process the errors, mentally auto-correct and keep it moving as to not be jarred out of the stories. Of course, I know for some readers, the expectation may be high, and so with any such error, they’ll close the book and be done with it at the very first error. To this, I say work with those particular stories. The concept and visualization in each are worth it. So much so, I can understand why Dreamer’s Recall (along with The Verdict which was error free) were placed to anchor The City—ahead of Move.
Overall, The City: A Cyberfunk Anthology is a captivating read and showcases quite well themes of the Black American experience—particular with the notion of running for one’s life and the quest for “freedom”, or the sense of having it. Hence, #theblackmatrix. Check it out.
That said, of the 360 pages, the header(s) stood out first and foremost. I would have preferred to see “The City: A Cyberfunk Anthology” on even (left) pages and the title of shorts on the odd (right) pages. Again, that’s just a preference. With that, the title pages of the shorts were inconsistent, with some starting on the left and others on the right. As the right page at any point with opening a book is the first to be seen, stories should start on the right—in my opinion. Then is it’s kind of odd that some stories beginning on the left page do so after a blank right page.
While graphics are employed at the beginning of some shorts, I think having graphics for all eighteen shorts would have helped with the blank pages and story placement—as some stories depended on preceding ones. Moreover, as I learned from self-publishing, blank pages cost money, so some ink should be placed on them, even if it is a page number.
Lastly, the cover is just awesome.
On the creative side, the first three shorts (Glitch, Mission: Surreality, and Free Your Mind) are a good introduction to The City, though admittedly it was hard to grasp the relationship between its residence and “the city” itself. The City comes off as an anomaly, which is overseen by a handful of others—I presume The Watchers or their masters, and if I perceived well Move, the very last short story. (That one was just weird to me; I’ll have to reread it.) Of course, the overarching theme of the shorts combined reveals a very complex environment. Through the variety of styles, which telling proved more effective than showing (for the more action based narratives), and vice versa with those stories more character driven, The City introduces a very diverse and futuristic population of humans, cyborgs, Helium Breathers and Fudokiht. (And this is just the beginning to the number of species in The City.)
The closest environment to The City is that of the Matrix; but where there are the dystopian and constructed realities in the Matrix, there is just The City and The Lush outside it. The Lush is construed as The Promise Land for most residence in The City. Those who “unplug” by having their Tell removed—either surgically or through Ooze consumption—strive for The Lush as to be free from the grind of The City. (Without a Tell as to be tracked and controlled, one is persecuted in The City.)
By the fourth short, The Man With No Name, The City kicks into overdrive, as to continue the previous story line of Free Your Mind from a different POV. This occurs with a few other stories as well, which lends itself to unifying the different works. Then the pacing takes a turn with Collard Greens, Hummingbirds and Spider Silk. If there were ever a story to capture the essence or spirit of how a black narrative is told, in that antebellum vibe, this would be it. And it works, for the premise of the short in the genre. From it though, the roller coaster ride of The City begins to level out, and even offers a quasi grim-dark piece with Darkest Light. This is offset by the magical tone of Washed Pure, Washed Clean.
Unfortunately, by Edge of Innocence, the grammar becomes an issue and declines from there. So much so that for it and Dreamer’s Recall—both of which stood out most notably for this—a reader has to be quick to process the errors, mentally auto-correct and keep it moving as to not be jarred out of the stories. Of course, I know for some readers, the expectation may be high, and so with any such error, they’ll close the book and be done with it at the very first error. To this, I say work with those particular stories. The concept and visualization in each are worth it. So much so, I can understand why Dreamer’s Recall (along with The Verdict which was error free) were placed to anchor The City—ahead of Move.
Overall, The City: A Cyberfunk Anthology is a captivating read and showcases quite well themes of the Black American experience—particular with the notion of running for one’s life and the quest for “freedom”, or the sense of having it. Hence, #theblackmatrix. Check it out.
October 16, 2019
I wanted to love this book but a decent chunk of the stories just weren't grabbing me. This could easily be a me problem and I did really enjoy a few of the stories.
The world seems really cool but I do wish there was a bit more of a forward to set up the setting that all the stories take place in.
Overall, it was an ok to solid book but didn't leave me wanting to keep coming back.
The world seems really cool but I do wish there was a bit more of a forward to set up the setting that all the stories take place in.
Overall, it was an ok to solid book but didn't leave me wanting to keep coming back.
April 15, 2016
I enjoyed most of the stories themselves, but the editing was terrible. My favorite story from the collection was probably "Welcome to Liberty".
June 18, 2024
Disappointing. Not so much an anthology as a published version of a writer’s workshop. Ability level and creativity of the stories vary from good to mostly mediocre.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews