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Saga of the Skolian Empire
Visions of the Future
Visions of the Future is a collection of stories and essays including Nebula and Hugo award-winning works. In this anthology, you'll find stories and essays about artificial intelligence, androids, faster-than-light travel, and the extension of human life. You'll read about the future of human institutions and culture. But these literary works are more than just a reprisal of the classical elements of science fiction and futurism. At their core, each of these pieces has one consistent, repeated theme: us.
Contents:
Introduction (Visions of the Future (2015)) • essay by J. Daniel Batt
The Shoulders of Giants (2000) / shortstory by Robert J. Sawyer
Gift of a Useless Man (1979) / shortstory by Alan Dean Foster
Light and Shadow [Skolian Short Fiction • 6] (1994) / novelette by Catherine Asaro
Lungfish [Existence] (1986) / novelette by David Brin
The Birth of the Dawn (2015) / shortfiction by Nicole Sallak Anderson
The Weathermakers (1966) / novelette by Ben Bova
Last Day of Work (2015) / shortfiction by Douglas Rushkoff
I'm a What? (2015) / shortfiction by Frank White
The Listeners [The Listeners] (1968) / novelette by James E. Gunn
The Emperor of Mars [Near Space] (2010) / novelette by Allen Steele
Lunar One (2015) / shortfiction by Jasper T. Scott
My Father's Singularity (2010) / shortstory by Brenda Cooper
A Delicate Balance (2012) / shortstory by Kevin J. Anderson
More Than the Sum of His Parts (1985) / shortstory by Joe Haldeman
Lazarus Rising (1982) / shortstory by Gregory Benford
Unit 574 (2015) / shortfiction by Clayton R. Rawlings
Persistence (2015) / shortfiction by Keith Wiley
The Boy Who Gave Us the Star (2015)s / shortfiction by J. Daniel Batt
The Etiology of Infomania (2015) / shortfiction by Chris Hables Gray
Water (2013) / shortstory by Ramez Naam
Looking Forward: Dialogs with the Artilects (2015) / shortfiction by Frank W. Sudia
Teleporter (2015) /shortfiction by Jim Tankersley
The Spa (2015) / shortfiction by Donald Maclean
The Automated Ones (2015) / shortfiction by Hugh Howey
Afterword (Visions of the Future (2015) • essay by David Brin
.
Contents:
Introduction (Visions of the Future (2015)) • essay by J. Daniel Batt
The Shoulders of Giants (2000) / shortstory by Robert J. Sawyer
Gift of a Useless Man (1979) / shortstory by Alan Dean Foster
Light and Shadow [Skolian Short Fiction • 6] (1994) / novelette by Catherine Asaro
Lungfish [Existence] (1986) / novelette by David Brin
The Birth of the Dawn (2015) / shortfiction by Nicole Sallak Anderson
The Weathermakers (1966) / novelette by Ben Bova
Last Day of Work (2015) / shortfiction by Douglas Rushkoff
I'm a What? (2015) / shortfiction by Frank White
The Listeners [The Listeners] (1968) / novelette by James E. Gunn
The Emperor of Mars [Near Space] (2010) / novelette by Allen Steele
Lunar One (2015) / shortfiction by Jasper T. Scott
My Father's Singularity (2010) / shortstory by Brenda Cooper
A Delicate Balance (2012) / shortstory by Kevin J. Anderson
More Than the Sum of His Parts (1985) / shortstory by Joe Haldeman
Lazarus Rising (1982) / shortstory by Gregory Benford
Unit 574 (2015) / shortfiction by Clayton R. Rawlings
Persistence (2015) / shortfiction by Keith Wiley
The Boy Who Gave Us the Star (2015)s / shortfiction by J. Daniel Batt
The Etiology of Infomania (2015) / shortfiction by Chris Hables Gray
Water (2013) / shortstory by Ramez Naam
Looking Forward: Dialogs with the Artilects (2015) / shortfiction by Frank W. Sudia
Teleporter (2015) /shortfiction by Jim Tankersley
The Spa (2015) / shortfiction by Donald Maclean
The Automated Ones (2015) / shortfiction by Hugh Howey
Afterword (Visions of the Future (2015) • essay by David Brin
.
682 pages, Paperback
First published October 16, 2015
72 people are currently reading
264 people want to read
About the author
J. Daniel Batt
22 books5 followersJ. Daniel Batt is a writer, teacher, designer, artist, creator of communities, listener, and explorer.
He serves as Creative and Editorial manager for 100 Year Starship. Jason creates visual engagement for 100 Year Starship programs and activities. He is also the managing editor of the 100YSS Symposium Proceedings.
He serves on the Advisory Board for the Lifeboat Foundation with their Religious/Spirituality Board and the Space Settlement Board. He has previously served on the Sacramento Law Enforcement Chaplaincy Board. He was a panel speaker at the 2011 DARPA / NASA 100 Year Starship Symposium, a speaker at the 2012, 2013, and 2014 100 Year Starship Symposia, and host for the Science Fiction Stories Night at the 2013 and 2014 Symposia.
J. Daniel Batt is a writer that has penned the children’s fantasy book Keaghan in the Tales of Dreamside and the designer of many more, including The Human Race to the Future published by the Lifeboat Foundation. He served as a judge for the Lifeboat to the Stars award for science fiction literature, which was presented at the Campbell Conference in June 2013. His fiction has appeared in Bastion Science Fiction Magazine, Bewildering Stories, and in the upcoming Genius Loci anthology.
He serves as Creative and Editorial manager for 100 Year Starship. Jason creates visual engagement for 100 Year Starship programs and activities. He is also the managing editor of the 100YSS Symposium Proceedings.
He serves on the Advisory Board for the Lifeboat Foundation with their Religious/Spirituality Board and the Space Settlement Board. He has previously served on the Sacramento Law Enforcement Chaplaincy Board. He was a panel speaker at the 2011 DARPA / NASA 100 Year Starship Symposium, a speaker at the 2012, 2013, and 2014 100 Year Starship Symposia, and host for the Science Fiction Stories Night at the 2013 and 2014 Symposia.
J. Daniel Batt is a writer that has penned the children’s fantasy book Keaghan in the Tales of Dreamside and the designer of many more, including The Human Race to the Future published by the Lifeboat Foundation. He served as a judge for the Lifeboat to the Stars award for science fiction literature, which was presented at the Campbell Conference in June 2013. His fiction has appeared in Bastion Science Fiction Magazine, Bewildering Stories, and in the upcoming Genius Loci anthology.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 19, 2016
A good anthology on the future of men. I tend to buy anthologies and then read one or two stories and ... put them down. I ended up reading more stories in this anthology than I have ever read in any other. So it must be good, right? And the answer is: yes. So here are a few mini reviews of some of the stories, so you can get an impression of what is in there:
The Shoulders of Giants. By Robert J Sawyer. Story about humanity once again sending frozen people to the stars. Sounds like same-old at first but then gets a fun twist. (4*)
Gift of a Useless Man. By Alan Dean Foster. A man hurtles through space and crashes on a small, empty-seeming planet. He's about to die and I was about to give up on this story when the actual story begins. A fun re-telling of a classic this time with telepathic space-bugs. (4*)
Light and Shadow. By Catherine Asaro. Story about a grieving, suicidal pilot and an AI who get to test a new plane with a fascinating concept for an FTL drive. I did not stay to study the mathematical explanations of Riemann surfaces that came with the story but rest assured they are there. (5*)
Lungfish. By David Brin. This is actually my first ever encounter with Brin. Though I've heard a lot about his Uplift universe. This story is about humanity finally meeting von Neumann probes, about the reasons we so far haven't and of course the Fermi Paradox. It is beautiful and still has me thinking. Because the story ends just before the meeting and leaves much to the imagination about how it will go and what the Purpose of the waiting AI is (5*)
Water. By Ramez Naam. This one is reminiscent in style and world of his Nexus novels. But here he explores what happens when the ad-supported fremium business models enter our heads by way of implants. It's all about a bottle of water and it's digital label. I found this an incredibly fascinating look at what advertising is and does to us, and how invasive it can be come in an ever more digital world. (5*)
More than the sum of his parts. By Joe Haldeman. In this a man suffers a terrible accident and is "rebuilt" by the doctors with more than a few cybernetic parts. The story describes his progress of at first slow acceptance and then exhilaration as he is seduced by his new capabilities. (5*)
The Shoulders of Giants. By Robert J Sawyer. Story about humanity once again sending frozen people to the stars. Sounds like same-old at first but then gets a fun twist. (4*)
Gift of a Useless Man. By Alan Dean Foster. A man hurtles through space and crashes on a small, empty-seeming planet. He's about to die and I was about to give up on this story when the actual story begins. A fun re-telling of a classic this time with telepathic space-bugs. (4*)
Light and Shadow. By Catherine Asaro. Story about a grieving, suicidal pilot and an AI who get to test a new plane with a fascinating concept for an FTL drive. I did not stay to study the mathematical explanations of Riemann surfaces that came with the story but rest assured they are there. (5*)
Lungfish. By David Brin. This is actually my first ever encounter with Brin. Though I've heard a lot about his Uplift universe. This story is about humanity finally meeting von Neumann probes, about the reasons we so far haven't and of course the Fermi Paradox. It is beautiful and still has me thinking. Because the story ends just before the meeting and leaves much to the imagination about how it will go and what the Purpose of the waiting AI is (5*)
Water. By Ramez Naam. This one is reminiscent in style and world of his Nexus novels. But here he explores what happens when the ad-supported fremium business models enter our heads by way of implants. It's all about a bottle of water and it's digital label. I found this an incredibly fascinating look at what advertising is and does to us, and how invasive it can be come in an ever more digital world. (5*)
More than the sum of his parts. By Joe Haldeman. In this a man suffers a terrible accident and is "rebuilt" by the doctors with more than a few cybernetic parts. The story describes his progress of at first slow acceptance and then exhilaration as he is seduced by his new capabilities. (5*)
December 29, 2023
A Hopeful Mix of Stories
An anthology such as this one almost always has both satisfying and frustrating stories, stories that make great sense and stories that make no sense. The stories reflect authors’ varied takes on the future, both technological and biological. Blending mostly fictional stories with works of nonfiction works better than I expected.
An anthology such as this one almost always has both satisfying and frustrating stories, stories that make great sense and stories that make no sense. The stories reflect authors’ varied takes on the future, both technological and biological. Blending mostly fictional stories with works of nonfiction works better than I expected.
August 6, 2016
Seeing the Future
Is our Vision of the Future clear? Can we see what is coming? These selections certainly help us think through the possibilities. To boldly go...
Is our Vision of the Future clear? Can we see what is coming? These selections certainly help us think through the possibilities. To boldly go...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews