Strange Economics: Economic Speculative Fiction

by David F. Shultz (Editor), Jo Lindsay Walton (Afterword), Karl Dandenell (Contributor)

What if souls were a form of currency? What if our potential could be bought and sold? What is the value of a memory?

These economic questions and more are explored through twenty-three science fiction and fantasy stories, appearing for the first time in this collection.

This anthology also includes economics discussion questions accompanying each of the stories, written by professional economist Elisabeth Perlman, and an afterword/essay exploring the relationship between speculative fiction and economics, written by guest editor Jo Lindsay Walton.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Economics, Anthologies

366 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 2018

About the author

David F. Shultz writes speculative fiction from Toronto, Canada, where he is Lead Editor at TDotSpec Inc, producing anthologies such as Imps & Minions, Strange Economics, and The Hamthology. He holds degrees in cognitive science, philosophy, law, and education.

Reviews

[Daniel Kenefick · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were literally stories that earned one, two, three, four, and five starts in this book, so overall it gets the average. Some Examples:

Supply Chains: 1 star. Too much nipple talk, and I can't parse the story at all.

Premium Care: 2 stars. Health Care dystopia. Its like a page and a half long, so its the equivalent of a caricature you get on the street: cartoonish and totally devoid of subtlety.

A renewable Resource: 3 stars. A dragon demands tribute from a city. An interesting concept, but didn't quite land for me.

The Slurm: 4 stars. A (anti?) hero in a fantasy world hunts a monster that is destroying the countryside. Exciting, interesting, and funny. Reminded me a bit of Orconomics.

The Price of Wool and Sunflowers: 5 stars. An agency conducts economic warfare by using magic to create and destroy goods within their kingdom. Was it a thin metaphor for the Fed? Sure - but a great concept and well written.

[Suzanne F. · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were stories that I liked within this anthology and ones that I wasn’t the biggest fan of — that was to be expected as mentioned by the compilers. All of the shorts in here are worth a read, some are worth a re-read or multiple reads. The afterword was A+ too.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Disclaimer: I contributed a story to this collection. My review is based on the other stories.)

4.5 stars

A very interesting -- and entertaining -- thought experiment. What if economic principles were examined through the lenses of science fiction and fantasy? That question is answered in this new anthology.

The stories collected here range from traditional fantasy to alternate history to modern science fiction, with a few that defy easy categorization. For the most part, the authors deliver some thoughtful, funny, disturbing, and simply curious stories that explore characters and situations, always with an eye toward the system of capital, trade, value, and exchange.

As an added bonus, the editor has enlisted an economist to write an afterward to provide some critical analysis of the stories, along with classroom-ready discussion questions.

Strange Economics is something a hybrid beast: part academic experiment, part anthology. Overall, definitely worth looking into.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology looks at economics through the lens of sci-fi and fantasy, speculating on other ways an economy could work.

What if a personal destinies could be bought and sold? What if you could harvest emotions to make the perfect cup of coffee? How would hell's economy change if the bottom dropped out of the souls market? What would it be like to be an actuary for the entire human species?

A fascinating examination of a major part of what makes us tick, but be warned – most of these stories have grim endings and/or are set in fairly dystopia settings. It makes sense – economics taken to extremes tends to end up in some bad places, so just don’t enter here expecting anything light and fluffy.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm one of the authors (the short story "Grass Is Always Greener") so obviously I'm biased. But I got to read the whole book (I got a free copy, though I also bought a print copy for my shelves), and it's really good. My favorite story is probably "The Slurm," a hysterically tongue-in-cheek account of a villain trying to destroy a monster; next would be "The Price of Wool and Sunflowers," in which an economist wizard has to work to keep the kingdom's balance of trade favorable. Some stories are heavily about economics, others, like mine, focus on a trade in magical goods of some sort.
I'm very pleased to be in this one.

[Red7paulbrennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the stories were upsetting, few fun. Overall worth the read. An excellent example of negative emotions from good fiction.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a whole, the stories aren't great, but I generally give a pity point to self-published works, and I can appreciate what this collection is trying to do. It's not just an anthology of SFF stories on a niche topic (as opposed to too many self-pub entries that are obviously based on somebody's ToTaLlY oRiGiNaL DnD campaign), it also ties them directly to concepts in economics with essays and discussion questions suitable for a high school or college ECON 101 class. Things like shorting a stock, the concept of fiat currency, etc.

It's not the first time SFF short stories have been used as a framing device for a college textbook (I distinctly remember delving into Thought Probes: Philosophy Through Science Fiction Literature from my mom's shelf when I was about 10), but this online collaboration of (mainly Canadian) SFF writers and social scientists is the sort of foray into digital humanities that's actually useful. (And also what gets the $$$ on grant applications when dealt with appropriately.)

As for the stories themselves... There are a few gems that probably deserved to be published elsewhere, a few total stinkers, and an actual tentacle porn story.

Note: the Jo Lindsay Walton who provides the intro to the scholarly content is not the Jo Walton.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hello. I'm one of the authors in STRANGE ECONOMICS, my story being "Warm Storage," and I just wanted to say it was quite a thrill writing a piece for this gem of a book. The subject matter was initially a challenge, but I soon found several of my favorite though disparate topics/interests/reads jumping onto the same bed in my mind to commence an orgy of melding ideas that spawned my tale (Zombies, Larry Niven's novel ARM, Logan's Run, the history of Slavery, etc.). I hope you have as much fun reading my story as I did writing it.

On another note, I just submitted two stories to Editor David F. Shultz, one for the upcoming STRANGE RELIGION anthology, and one for the upcoming STRANGE WARS anthology. I have no idea if either will make the cut, but they were certainly fun to research and write. The "Strange" Series of anthologies is a beautiful opportunity to connect Academia with Fiction in a fun and intelligent manner... both for the Writer, and the Reader.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just okay

I was SO EXCITED when I saw this book and started the first story. But, well, I really disliked the ending of the Slow Bomb, and the rest of them were much less conceptually interesting and mostly less well written (I rolled my eyes a few times at the This Is Deepness of it all). Kind of fun and definitely something I'd love to see explored more, but yeah, wish these had a little bit more to chew on.

(And warning, one of them, I Can Always Tell a John, is just gross faux-deep writing with a male rape played as just desserts/kinda for laughs.).

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

While entertaining, most of the stories are underwritten and only tangentially related to economics, though they explore some of the concepts in amusing ways. Some explore the idea of value/valuation, or how trade sanctions, or moneyless vs capitalist societies, or mythological versions of markets. I was going to go with two stars, but the author/editor's afterword was definitely worth reading, and a few of the stories near the end were actually quite enjoyable.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a couple of stories I liked. My favorites were "Renewable Resource" and "The Monument." However, overall I found this anthology disappointing. I found most of the exploration of economic ideas to be pretty shallow. More frustrating, some of the speculative elements (technologies or magic) in the stories actually would have interesting economic implications, but many of these implications remain unexamined.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a couple of stories I liked. My favorites were "Renewable Resource" and "The Monument." However, overall I found this anthology disappointing. I found most of the exploration of economic ideas to be pretty shallow. More frustrating, some of the speculative elements (technologies or magic) in the stories actually would have interesting economic implications, but many of these implications remain unexamined.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was wild. Like any anthology the quality varies by story, but overall most were quite good, if as depressing as you might expect for economics crossed with fiction. I think my favorite involved a dragon's perspective on renewable resources.

[Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short stories are pretty hit-and-miss, and for me these were mostly misses.

[Kevin Postlewaite · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abandoned after first 4-5 short stories. Not very good, not very economic, and the economics that there is is not very good. Allegedly an economist on the editorial committee which should embarrass that economist.

[Kevin jones]

Good idea, but not well done. We may do a sci fi contest for transform.