If This Goes On

by Cat Rambo (Editor), E. Lily Yu (Contributor), Aimee Ogden (Contributor)

A bold new anthology born of rage and sorrow and hope. 30 writers look at what today's politics and policies will do to shape our world a generation from now. Some of today's most visionary writers of science fiction project us forward to the world of the future; a world shaped by nationalism, isolationism, and a growing divide between the haves and have nots. This anthology sits at the intersection of politics, speculative fiction, and American identity. The choices we make today, the policies of our governments and the values that we, as people, embrace are going to shape our world for decades to come. Or break it. Edited by Cat Rambo, the current President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the stories of If This Goes On invite you to worlds very like this one-- but just a little different.

Table of contents:
Green Glass: A Love Story by E. Lily Yu
Twelve Histories Scrawled in the Sky by Aimee Ogden
Dead Wings by Rachel Chimits
Welcome to Gray by Cyd Athens
The Stranded Time Traveler Embraces the Inevitable by Scott Edelman
Good Pupils by Jack Lothian
All the Good Dogs Have Been Eaten by Gregory Jeffers
The Sinking Tide by Conor Powers-Smith
Mustard Seeds and the Elephant’s Foot by Priya Sridhar
Mr. Percy’s Shortcut by Andy Duncan
A Gardener’s Guide to the Apocalypse by Lynette Mejía
But for Grace by Hal Y. Zhang
Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than The Last; The Inexorable March of Progress Will Lead Us All to Happiness by Nick Mamatas
The Last Adventure of Jack Laff: The Dayveil Gambit by Steven Barnes
Three Data Units by Kitty-Lydia Dye
One Shot by Tiffany E. Wilson
King Harvest (Will Surely Come) by Nisi Shawl
Counting the Days by Kathy Schilbach
Making Happy by Zandra Renwick
The Machine by Chris Kluwe
That Our Flag Was Still There by Sarah Pinsker
The Editor’s Eyes by Calie Voorhis
Free WiFi by Marie Vibbert
Discobolos by James Wood
Fine by Jamie Lackey
Bulletproof Tattoos by Paul Crenshaw
Call and Answer by Langley Hyde
A Pocketful of Dolphins by Judy Helfrich
Tasting Bleach and Decay in the City of Dust by Beth Dawkins
The Choices You Make by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley

Genres: Short Stories, Anthologies, Science Fiction, Fiction, Politics

296 pages, Paperback

First published March 5, 2019

About the author

F&SF writer Cat Rambo lives and writes in the Midwest. They have been shortlisted for an Endeavour Award, Locus Award, World Fantasy Award and most recently the Nebula Award. Their debut novel, BEASTS OF TABAT, appeared in 2015 from WordFire Press, the same year she co-edited AD ASTRA: THE SFWA 50TH ANNIVERSARY COOKBOOK. Their most recent book is DEVIL'S GUN (novel, Tor Macmillan). They are a former two-term President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and still volunteers with the organization.
They run the popular online writing school focused on fantasy and science fiction, the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers. (academy.catrambo.com)

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Reviews

[Miko Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

If This Goes On, edited by Cat Rambo
Published by Pavrus Press LLC
Publication date 05 March, 2019

This anthology of 30 science fiction stories is a self-proclaimed rally cry to Americans to stand up against their current administration’s ethics and policies. Though it never mentions Donald Trump by name, it does reference ‘45’, as in the 45th president of the United States, and it is glaringly obvious that the editor feels Trump is a problem. Although I’m not an American, am Canadian and British, living in the UK, I do follow American politics quite carefully and can’t help but agree, but this said, to me, one of the strengths of science fiction is its ability to address current cultural or political issues by taking the reader out of their frame of context and, by doing so, allowing them to form fresh opinions unhindered by preconceptions. In this way, the genre often has the power to reach people who would otherwise be defensive to the point of being unable to contemplate an opposing standpoint. Given this, it seems a shame that while the stories in this collection could have done this, could’ve reached the people whose minds need broadening the most, the editor’s notes that follow every story were so vitriolic and obvious in their agenda that it leaves the book with a restricted audience, essentially preaching to the choir. To be honest, though I agree with the editor’s concerns and frustrations, even I found her comments off-putting due to the overwhelming sense of bitterness. In the preface, she mentions this project is born of rage and hope, but it seems that, barring one or two comments towards the end of the book, the rage is prevalent and the hope is, if not lost, then at least not evident.

The stories themselves were for the most part a joy, addressing current issues—social media, mental health, gun crime, population control and many more—in an entertaining and thought-provoking manner. I enjoyed the range of styles and themes, like opening a wrapped box with contents unknown, this collection gave me the feeling that each story held endless possibilities. One of the highlights for me was “Three Data Units’ by Kitty-Lydia Dye, which was seemingly about artificial intelligence, identity, and the relationships amongst humans and artificial intelligences, though through its world building, was so much more, also commenting on the evolution or devolution of society. It seemed to me a modern fairytale, both beautiful and sad. Another story that stuck with me was “Making Happy” by Zandra Renwick; on a superficial level, the world the author constructed was so different from our own, with pixelated sidewalks and internal screens, but if you stripped back the dressings, you were left with something that uncannily was the world we live in, with all the traps of social media and the echo chambers we inhabit.

As it stands, I’d recommend the anthology to anyone with liberal leanings who has an interest in speculative fiction. With either a change in tone or elimination of the editorial notes, or perhaps even a restructuring of the book so the notes were at the very end of the book where they wouldn’t detract from the immersive nature of the fiction, I would also happily recommend it to people who weren’t already politically aligned with the message of the book.

If This Goes On is published by Pavrus Press LLC and will be released 05 March, 2019.
I was provided with an advance copy via NetGalley.

[Dave Creek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cat Rambo, in her Preface to her anthology IF THIS GOES ON, states, "This project is born of rage and sorrow and hope." She doesn't mention any names or specific developments in current politics, but it's clear she and her contributors aren't happy about the direction of the country under the current administration. Some of the stories anthologized here, she acknowledges, "will despair," but others, she knows, will be "lamps to light the path and show the pitfalls as we continue upwards."

The writers whose work she chose come through in grand style. Just a few highlights:

E. Lily Yu's "Green Glass: A Love Story" shows us a country even more divided between the haves and have-nots than our current one. A man sends a robot to the moon to gather a glass bead to place on a chain for his fiancé. They spend a fortune to obtain the ingredients to make ice cream. But the tears of one server at their wedding form the introduction to how the "other half" lives.

In "Mr. Percy's Shortcut," Andy Duncan presents the folksy story of Mr. Percy Seaton. It's set in a future in which the only mining in Appalachia is data mining and flooding from global warming has brought disasters in Miami and Norfolk. Seaton is the nation's last coal miner, but even in retirement he finds a reason to dig. And dig.

"A Gardener's Guide to the Apocalypse" by Lynette Mejia is the story of a woman whose journal of her month-by-month effort to maintain her garden after a nuclear war reveals a desperate optimism. Seemingly mundane details of seeds, topsoil, and weeding remain her focus even as the ash continues to fall and her husband becomes deathly ill.

I'm certain IF THIS GOES ON will be listed as one of this year's best SF anthologies. Highly recommended.

[E.D.E. Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of politically-driven fiction stories meant to illustrate how the world could continue to be affected by the policies and ideologies of the current (the Trump) administration and related parties. Thus the stories are written as dystopian futures, with a few more artistic or metaphorical. Some are more literal and others more grotesque. The stories are not about nuance and complication - they are about ideology and its extension. The collection delivers on that promise. As such, the tone is dark, but there are moments of hope as well - balancing both the urgency of not letting oppressive policies gain too much momentum with the reminder that even when they do, people will not give up. While the stories often take ideas to an extreme, that is the point: to consider the seriousness of the questions that face us now through their extension, especially in the context of power, who holds it, and how deeply they are permitted to hold it. (And then there is the scariest part, which is that some of the extensions don't feel so extended.)

I might not be saying any of this right, but it's a book worthy of musing so I tried. : )

I always like to consider who a book is for. This one is interesting that way, because the primary audience is intended (I think) to be people already on the left to far-left range of the political spectrum, meant as a rallying cry to inspire activism, as opposed to one focused on introducing people to or convincing people of these perspectives. I couldn’t help but view it on other layers too: one, as just pure political art. The sort a group could read and discuss. It’s also a real archive, an element that fascinated me. I wonder if when historians or scholars study the Trump administration in a hundred years, if this won’t be standard reading. (Assuming we are in a different place then.) As for whether it would convince someone of new perspectives, well, if you feel apolitical, don’t identify on the political left, or don't feel that liberty and decency are under attack - but are open-minded and appreciate art, you should try it. Maybe you'll be swayed or at least driven to give these issues more thought.

I like that the editor adds her own comments after each story; I found that insightful and interesting. And the stories are creative and powerful.

There were so many poignant and highly-creative stories, but some that made a strong impression with me are:
The Stranded Time Traveler Embraces the Inevitable by Scott Edelman
A Gardener’s Guide to the Apocalypse by Lynette Mejía
Three Data Units by Kitty-Lydia Dye
Making Happy by Zandra Renwick

And I think if I look back in a year, these are the two that will most stick in my mind:
Green Glass: A Love Story by E. Lily Yu
That Our Flag Was Still There by Sarah Pinsker

Content warnings for sensitive issues such as gun violence, racism, and reproductive scenarios.

[Marlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published at Reading Reality

I picked this up around the same time I received Cory Doctorow’s Radicalized to review for Library Journal. Just from the descriptions, it seemed that these two books either springboarded off the same event, were in dialog with each other, or both. (This is also a giant hint that if this book interests you that one will too!)

They’re not exactly in dialog with each other, but they certainly arose out of the same event – the 2016 election. Both are wrapped around the question about what the state of the US – and by extension the world – will be in the future if the hateful politics and policies that were given voice and force by the election of 45 continue into the future relatively unchecked.

That premise is explicit in If This Goes On, and implicit in Radicalized, but it is definitely there in both books.

They are very different collections, however. Radicalized consists of four novellas by a single author, where If This Goes On is a collection in the broader sense, of relatively short stories by 30+ authors around the single theme.

A theme that the collection is screaming about – loudly and with metaphorical expletives. As far as the authors and editor are concerned (and this reader) the policies of those elected in that mess are undoing much of the good that the US has done and are making both the country and the world into a worse place than it was.

None of the writers want the situation to continue – and have done science fiction’s usual excellent job of extending the present out into the possible, even plausible, end point of the contemporary mess in order to show just how awful things can be.

In the hopes that we will band together and do something about it before it is too late.

Escape Rating B+: My feels are all over the place on this one.

First, because it bothered the hell out of me and presumably will other people, the title of the collection sounds familiar because it is. If This Goes On— is the title of a novella by Robert A. Heinlein, a novella which would itself feel at home in this collection.

Whether the title of the collection is in homage or not, there is still plenty of resonance between the two.

This is not a collection to be read late at night, particularly with only the light of one’s screen to push back the darkness. Because there’s plenty of darkness in these stories. While some of them border on horror in the traditional sense, most of the stories give the reader the sense that they are looking at something horrible. And I was appropriately – and shudderingly – horrified.

There is some humor in some of the stories, but it is primarily humor of the “gallows” persuasion. These futures are all bleak in one way or another. While the stories themselves are excellent, the overall tone is fairly dark.

Each story is followed by an editor’s note that tends to hit that dark tone over the head with a baseball bat. The stories generally speak for themselves so that repeated emphasis felt a bit like being bludgeoned with the point of the collection – over and over again. I was already metaphorically bleeding so this was a case where the beatings didn’t need to continue until morale improved because it wasn’t going to happen. But there’s something about the reference to that t-shirt saying that seems appropriate just the same – possibly because hearing the news these days does feel a bit like that proverbial beating.

As much as I agreed with the authors’ and the editor’s perspectives, I’ll admit to getting tired of having it beaten into my head over and over again. YMMV.

These stories stand on their own. Sometimes swaying in the wind from the apocalypse, but they do stand. And the collection is well worth reading. If you read nothing else from this collection, look for Mustard Seeds and the Elephant’s Foot by Priya Sridhar – it’s lovely.

As the saying goes, in reference to the collection as a whole, “Read ‘em and weep.”

[Weldon Burge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leaning mostly libertarian politically, I found several of the stories offputting. That said, I have the utmost respect for Cat Rambo, the anthology's editor, and found the stories entertaining, well-written, and thought-provoking. You can't really ask for anything more in such a collection of short fiction.

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, an this is just a personal opinion, I found most of these stories to be boring. Yes some have these odd ideas about the future, but many were just a polemic that fit Cat Rambo's view of the current world. She's allowed her opinion, and I'm allowed mine.

[Rt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Speculative fiction collection focused on trends in the US given the 2016 elections. Would have been better without the on-the-nose explanations of what you just read from the editor. Some nice variants, though, including Priya Sridhar’s Mustard Seeds and the Elephant’s Foot, about old myths returning under newer conditions.

[Mairead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of shorts based loosely on the future of the U.S. post Trump.
Some excellent and some new authors to read more from.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love anthologies. I would agree that this one is filled with bold stories. I won't review each one, but overall I liked them. Like all collections, some are better than others, but this is a solid collection. I didn't know most of the authors, but I'll check out many other their other works. Thanks very much for the opportunity to read the advanced copy!!

[Pablo · Rating 1 out of 5]

This feedback will be brutally honest, so depending on your political leanings you will love it or hate it. I knew going in that the book was probably left-leaning but I gave it a chance because (1) it might consider the current political situation in the US to be everyone's responsibility, and (2) an anthology has to have a couple good stories in it, right?

The book was under Read Now, so that plus the title was the warning I ignored. I googled the editor first and she appeared legit but when I d/l'ed the book I saw that (1) I had never heard of any of the authors, and (2) the long intro was a scathing leftwing attack on all things Republican. Turns out all the political problems are solely the fault of President Trump and the Republican party and the only solution is to vote them all out and replace them with Democrats. Nonetheless, I soldiered on.

The first story was amateurish, as expected. It was an OK read, just a beginner's work, and while it carried a neutral theme the editor added a preachy, "it's all Trump's fault" afterword to show how the story really did apply to him and his part.y. The second story was given the same treatment, and so on throughout the book. It got to be unbearable fairly quickly.

By now you've probably made up your mind about me and my politics, but all I'm trying to do is review the book from a neutral position. If you lean left, you'll find a book of amateur SF stories, mostly dystopian, and you'll likely agree with most or all of the editor's vitriol. If you lean right, you'll find yourself getting irritated very quickly and that won't be worth the effort to read these new author works. Either way, I can't recommend it.

[Craig Pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where to start? Cat Rambo hates Donald Trump. It is difficult to see why an anthology editor would use that as a basis for a collection of stories. Her editorializing after each story was quite anoying and unnecessary. Science fiction by its nature is speculative and I have read many stories of a simmilar nature that were not based on the over wrought imagination of Trump haters. I can easily see a book based on 44's presidency with stories such as a depopulated country based on a society that enjoys abortion on demand at the local convenience store. How about whole families incarcerated in internment camps for worshiping a religion other than Muslim/atheism? Alternatively a story about a society where nobody works because the government is taxing at 100% to pay for social service pay-outs. This book gets three stars for the stories but one for the editor.

[My]

I honestly thought I would like this book. It had several of my favorite elements: science fiction, diversity, actuality. But I thought it was too much.

This is an anthology of 30 authors, but although there is a common ground (we hate Trump), there isn't enough to make a cohesive body of work.

I enjoyed some stories more than others, but that is only natural in a comprehensive project with 30 authors. I preferred to read the stories as a stand-alone, over a long stretch of time.

On the plus side, I got a glimpse of some authors that I really would like to read more of it.

#IfThisGoesOn #NetGalley

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this collection free from NetGalley. The stories contained within were pretty hit or miss. Some I really enjoyed (All the Good Dogs Have Been Eaten, A Gardener's Guide to the Apocalypse, Free WiFi, A Pocketful of Dolphins) but others not so much. Some of the stories also felt like a loose fit at best for the theme; generic sci-fi stories shoehorned into this collection.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like to revel in dystopia (I do), check out this collection. Some standouts from a reading perspective: Dead Wings, Mustard Seeds and the Elephant’s Foot, A Gardener’s Guide to the Apocalypse, Three Data Units, Free WiFi. Just scrolling back through them for titles reminded me of their punch, though.

[Omar · Rating 3 out of 5]

One-sided. Would’ve been nice to include views of the Right for balance.

Besides that, this is my first intro into sci-fi anthologies, and there are a lot of feels here, more-so than your average full-length novel.

A good read but held down by the bias.

[P. K. Torrens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous collection of stories that have made me reflect for days after.

Very, very cool.

[Elizabeth]

I wasn't blown away by this collection, but it's good.

"A Pocketful of Dolphins" in particular, I think, will stick with me.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a warning. Take heed.

[behsforensics]

Cutting is for Good Pupils
By Jack Lothian

Another cutting is for The Machine
By Chris Kluwe

[Adri Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection, kickstarted last year by the small Parvus Press, sets itself an interesting goal: encompassing the sense of disaster and impending doom that current political and environmental factors evoke (mainly focused on the USA) while also incorporating notes of hope. The result is slightly uneven, as some stories contain little more than a grimly extrapolated premise, but others do shine. Of these, it was the stories with a feeling of historical weight to them which really grabbed me. "Mr. Percy's Shortcut", by Andy Duncan, recounts the tale of an Appalachian miner - one of the few in his version of the future who hasn't switched to data mining - who spends his life digging through a mountain in order to reach the other side. It's a story of almost nonsensical triumph, but it feels "lived in" and the speculative elements are compelling but understated. On the much grimmer side, the stories "A Gardener's Guide to the Apocalypse" and "Free Wifi" present very different testimonials which we have reason to suspect would never be canonically read - the former, by Lynette Mejia, is a diary charting a year in the life of a gardener recording the growth around her despite the destruction which has taken all but her and her partner; the latter, by Marie L. Vibbert, a story of young rebellion in a corporatised world which is crushed in actuality but not in spirit. Both have strong character voices, underscored by the modes of telling, which really underscore the premises and stop them from being too grim despite the subject matter.

Some other gems in here include "Welcome to Gray", by Cyd Athens, a superhero origin story with notes of Henrietta Lacks and a great subversive take on representing dialect, and E. Lily Yu's story, "Green Glass: A Love Story", a no-expense-spared romance in very late capitalism which manages to keep the protagonist's wish - to have real ice cream served at her wedding - naively sympathetic, without flinching from showing the widespread destruction and misery which surrounds those without the means to keep themselves insulated. All in all, this is a neat little collection despite its ups and downs, and while it's very tied to the political moment, if you're interested in on-the-pulse speculative fiction this is one to consider.

[Elaysee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley.

Anthologies are tricky, of course, and a “response” anthology trickier than most. And inevitably, any reader will prefer some stories and enjoy others less.

I settled in to try and describe what this anthology is about, for those who aren’t sure if it’s for them. It’s not a collection of rants against the current state of politics - there’s some of that, but rarely in a shrill or crude way. The majority of the stories jump off from other concerns.

I went through the TOC and tried to write down one or two concerns for each story, and ended up with a list of 13 among the 30 stories. The top four were: information control/censorship, totalitarianism, health care, and jobs/opportunities. The stories that considered how technology affects the information we take in were some of my favorites.

My favorite story may have been Conor Powers-Smith’s The Sinking Tide, which takes some current developments in consumerism to a future I hope can’t happen.

Other stories I enjoyed, for the voice or the setting included
A Gardener’s Guide to the Apocalypse - Lynette Mejía
The Last Adventure of Jack Laff: The Dayveil Gambit - Transcribed by Steven Barnes
Making Happy - Zandra Renwick
Call and Answer - Langley Hyde

[Christina Simpson · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with all short story books, there are stories you like and stories you don't. There were a few stories in here that really captured by attention,; A Gardener's Guide to the Apocalypse, A post apocalyptic story that takes place during the year following what seems to be a nuclear attack; The Stranded Time Traveler Embraces the Inevitable, a story of a time traveler sent back in time to stop someone from having a grandson who would become president of the US and destroy the country. And there were some that I had a hard time getting through, like Welcome to Gray.