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Future City
A vision of Man's urban future in all new stories by 22 leading writers of science fiction.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
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121 people want to read
About the author
Roger Elwood
183 books28 followersRoger Elwood was an American science fiction writer and editor, perhaps best known for having edited a large number of anthologies and collections for a variety of publishers in the early 1970s. Elwood was also the founding editor of Laser Books and, in more recent years, worked in the evangelical Christian market.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 26, 2020
Roger Elwood was one of the best-known and most controversial science fiction anthologists of the early 1970s, and edited quite a few books before leaving the field. Future City is a collection of mostly dark and dystopian stories of future urban environments, with a good introduction by Clifford D. Simak and an afterword from Frederik Pohl. The stories range from okay to pretty good, with no really outstanding or terrible ones. I remember liking the ones by Dean R. Koontz, andrew j. offutt, Joe L. Hensley, Barry N. Malzberg, Ray Russell, and Laurence M. Janifer, and the Harlan Ellison was okay.
May 5, 2024
Hopeful for the Koontz and Herbert within, but the first ended up fizzling and the later never took off. However Silverberg’s “Getting Across” was beyond outstanding and worth the few “bones” I paid for this one. The Ellison was, as always, incredible and stark.
October 19, 2021
Roger Elwood has some infamy for churning out low-grade anthologies in the 70s and damaging the ideal of the anthology format itself. He underpaid writers and hired nobodies to pad his collections. What you end up with is some meat and lots of fat.
The thing about the sort of science fiction that tries to predict a somewhat immediate future is that, not only is it almost guaranteed to fall flat on its face, but it reflects much more about its own time period than any possible future. In the 1970s people were frightened of and fixated on dystopias. A dystopia is probably the most reflective thing you can write about. It shows the fears of the times and, sometimes, the fears of the writers. State-run dystopias, usually with restrictions on sex, food, age and resources, were prevalent in the fictional media of the time. The looming fears of environmental degradation and overpopulation were the ever-present drivers.
This book's cover touts "22 leading writers" but many are small-time, several entries are poems, intros and afterwords, and 3 of them are Barry Malzberg under different names. The Robert Silverberg story, about an official that has to take the dangerous journey through the neighboring districts in a world where all communities are isolated and distinct, is probably my favorite. I'm deeply split on Barry Malzberg's Culture Lock, a story where men in a miserable city are forced into compulsory homosexuality. It's really dark and well written but the topic is questionable, and more explanation was needed. This is my first time reading Malzberg and all three stories imply that he doesn't give you the information you want but makes you ruminate on the world. The Dean Koonz story was a fun one and the R. A. Lafferty story based on textile designer William Morris was a trip.
One nice thing I can say about is that the collection moves on a trajectory. It's sort of the evolution of the city and eventually the end of the city and possibility the world. The intro by Simak and the afterword by Pohl frame it nicely. Many stories are quite bad though and I wouldn't go so far as to recommend it.
The thing about the sort of science fiction that tries to predict a somewhat immediate future is that, not only is it almost guaranteed to fall flat on its face, but it reflects much more about its own time period than any possible future. In the 1970s people were frightened of and fixated on dystopias. A dystopia is probably the most reflective thing you can write about. It shows the fears of the times and, sometimes, the fears of the writers. State-run dystopias, usually with restrictions on sex, food, age and resources, were prevalent in the fictional media of the time. The looming fears of environmental degradation and overpopulation were the ever-present drivers.
This book's cover touts "22 leading writers" but many are small-time, several entries are poems, intros and afterwords, and 3 of them are Barry Malzberg under different names. The Robert Silverberg story, about an official that has to take the dangerous journey through the neighboring districts in a world where all communities are isolated and distinct, is probably my favorite. I'm deeply split on Barry Malzberg's Culture Lock, a story where men in a miserable city are forced into compulsory homosexuality. It's really dark and well written but the topic is questionable, and more explanation was needed. This is my first time reading Malzberg and all three stories imply that he doesn't give you the information you want but makes you ruminate on the world. The Dean Koonz story was a fun one and the R. A. Lafferty story based on textile designer William Morris was a trip.
One nice thing I can say about is that the collection moves on a trajectory. It's sort of the evolution of the city and eventually the end of the city and possibility the world. The intro by Simak and the afterword by Pohl frame it nicely. Many stories are quite bad though and I wouldn't go so far as to recommend it.
January 23, 2020
3.25/5 (Average)
According to Future City, the cities of the future are to be avoided at all costs. There are no utopias here — only overpopulation, pollution, racial warfare, natural disasters, robot takeovers, and eventual reversion to primitivism! But there’s a trajectory! In fact, Roger Elwood, the editor of the volume, asked for new stories that fit along this arc. Elwood claims that there are twenty-two leading science-fiction writers who contributed to the volume. Unfortunately, three of these leading authors don’t submit stories: Tom Disch contributes a one page poem, Clifford D. Simak a brief introduction, and Frederick Pohl a short [..]
For the complete review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
According to Future City, the cities of the future are to be avoided at all costs. There are no utopias here — only overpopulation, pollution, racial warfare, natural disasters, robot takeovers, and eventual reversion to primitivism! But there’s a trajectory! In fact, Roger Elwood, the editor of the volume, asked for new stories that fit along this arc. Elwood claims that there are twenty-two leading science-fiction writers who contributed to the volume. Unfortunately, three of these leading authors don’t submit stories: Tom Disch contributes a one page poem, Clifford D. Simak a brief introduction, and Frederick Pohl a short [..]
For the complete review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
April 7, 2021
There were only a few stories at the beginning of the book which I enjoyed. As I progressed through the book the further the stories went from the stated purpose of the book about being about future cities. A lot of them were just about future people. Maybe I should stop picking books that are by authors asked to write a story about a book theme. I've not had much luck recently.
June 24, 2018
Una antologia di racconti sulle città, sulla città come possibile futuro, coi pregi e i difetti, le speranze e le paure. Abbastanza altalenante come qualità.
January 4, 2024
Between 2 and 3 stars.
2 because many of them are poor, or weak, or have been read a thousand times.
3 because some of them are interesting, forward-looking, conceptual, imaginative.
2 because many of them are poor, or weak, or have been read a thousand times.
3 because some of them are interesting, forward-looking, conceptual, imaginative.
April 23, 2025
Read only The Undercity by Dean Koontz short story. A day in the life story of a future hustler.
March 26, 2011
Twenty-four (mostly) dystopian essays, sf stories and poems about the urban future by (mostly) well-established authors in the genre. Purchased at a used book store in Chicago.
October 26, 2013
Pretty good anthology, just a few weak stories.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews