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Escape From the Future and Other Stories
What if you had access to a time machine and could go back to visit a deceased love... one more time. Would you?
In 1962, Bobby Newman’s Grandpa, a basement inventor, loses his wife to cancer, then begins to lose his mind to grief. While tuning up his not-yet-perfected time machine for one last visit with his wife, he ends up going the wrong way... into the dystopian future of 2025. Inexplicably, he sends the machine back.
Fourteen-year-old Bobby uses it to lead Mom and Dad on a mission to find Grandpa and bring him back.
But Grandpa has other ideas...
This volume brings together five of Paul Clayton's most ambitious stories to date, stories that juxtapose a familiar America of the very recent past with ominous new versions of the country now coming into focus.
In 1962, Bobby Newman’s Grandpa, a basement inventor, loses his wife to cancer, then begins to lose his mind to grief. While tuning up his not-yet-perfected time machine for one last visit with his wife, he ends up going the wrong way... into the dystopian future of 2025. Inexplicably, he sends the machine back.
Fourteen-year-old Bobby uses it to lead Mom and Dad on a mission to find Grandpa and bring him back.
But Grandpa has other ideas...
This volume brings together five of Paul Clayton's most ambitious stories to date, stories that juxtapose a familiar America of the very recent past with ominous new versions of the country now coming into focus.
165 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 16, 2022
22 people are currently reading
583 people want to read
About the author
Paul Clayton
13 books76 followersPaul Clayton is the author of a three-book historical series on the Spanish Conquest of the Floridas ― Calling Crow, Flight of the Crow, and Calling Crow Nation (Putnam/Berkley), and a novel, Carl Melcher Goes to Vietnam (St. Martin’s Press), based on his own experiences. Carl Melcher Goes to Vietnam was a finalist at the Frankfurt eBook Awards, along with works by Joyce Carol Oates (Faithless) and David McCullough (John Adams). Paul's historical novel, White Seed: The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, was a semifinalist in the Amazon ABNA awards, a Readers Choice Bronze Medalist, an Honorable Mention at the San Francisco Book Festival, and a Finalist at the International Book Awards.
Paul writes sci-fi/fantasy as well, his latest works include: Strange Worlds, In the Shape of a Man, Van Ripplewink, Crossing Over, and Talk to a Real, Live Girl.
Paul currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his son and daughter.
Paul writes sci-fi/fantasy as well, his latest works include: Strange Worlds, In the Shape of a Man, Van Ripplewink, Crossing Over, and Talk to a Real, Live Girl.
Paul currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his son and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 21, 2022
Just want to say that I got a nice review from Big Al's Books and Pals. Here is the link:
http://booksandpals.blogspot.com//
and the facebook link:
https://www.facebook.com/BooksAndPals
Please check it out...
http://booksandpals.blogspot.com//
and the facebook link:
https://www.facebook.com/BooksAndPals
Please check it out...
November 4, 2025
Disappointing through and through.
Prior to reading ‘Escape to the Future and Other Stories’, I was not familiar with Paul Clayton or this collection of short stories. One of many indie books I entered Goodreads giveaways for after a cursory glance at the title and summary. I won a copy in 2022.
My lack of preconceived expectations for this was both a blessing and a curse. Cursed because this is a sad collection of poorly written stories that I would not have read without my ignorance. Blessed because my lack of awareness for what I was getting into let me be enjoyably baffled at the thematic concepts and execution. Because boy oh boy is this something.
Escape to the Future (story one)
The first 40 or so pages are unremarkable. Paper thin characters and a meandering plot brought to “life” with unremarkable prose. Nothing offensive if not a bit boring. I read on with a content indifference waiting to see where Clayton would take this story (a good premise and my initial draw towards the collection). It is shortly after these meandering and uneventful establishing pages that the story takes, for an ignorant reader like myself, a wild turn for the worse.
The young lead and his parents finally hop on his grandfathers mysterious Time Machine and head to the end of time: 2025. Within the span of perhaps 10 or less pages, a mountain of poorly constructed social and political critiques pile up; what little narrative existed to begin with falls and gives way for the authors ramblings about his frustrations with society. There’s beyond comical depictions of left leaning politics so bad that I found myself highlighting every other line.
Immediately upon arriving in the mysterious future, our trio is confronted with the monstrous BLM protests. Crime is all but technically legal in this irrational liberal dystopia. While people steal from stores because it’s a non criminal offense, protesters roam the streets not advocating for equality but just looking for random people to beat up because that’s how Clayton views this movement. Of course there are no police because they were “de-funded”. Naturally, in the midst of this, there’s also obedient anti gay and trans rhetoric. Gay men trying to pray on the youth at pride parades and trans politicians getting an easy path to power because of their identity.
Saying Clayton portrays caricatures of his ideological opposites doesn’t even begin to encompass the pure absurdity of how quickly and sloppily this commentary comes into play. These are straw-men positions so detached from reality that it’s hard to even critique them as they aren’t aimed at any tangible issue.
The silver lining, and what makes the story enjoyable, is the fact that Clayton writes like a middle schooler. His writing style is unrefined, choppy, and incredibly blunt. Very much like that of a youth exploring storytelling for the first time. That type of juvenile prose parred with such incredulous positions makes for an, in all honesty, enjoyable experience. An unintended comedy.
Here I will include some excerpts that I chucked at. There are worse but these were what I actually remembered to screenshot for the review:
Of course borders are open in this future timeline. Our trio, when talking to the grandpa who has been living in this future for a while, learn about this fact. The dad is taken aback and says “you can’t have a country without borders” . To this, grandpa responds: "Well, we have some excellent Mexican and Haitian restaurants, but you're right... Putting a teaspoon of sugar in your coffee is one thing but dumping the whole sugar bowl in is... well, it ain't coffee anymore."
You can unpack that however you like.
After meeting the righteous and pure-hearted Christian/antivaxers we get this string of gems: "Cheryl said that Christians have become a target now, designated as a hate group."
"What the hell is a hate group?" said
Dad. "And how did that happen?"
"Well, she said the communists and the gays and the trans hate the Christians, the bible, and the commandments because they restrict their..." Mom paused and looked at me,
'... their behaviors."
When “antifa” harasses them while walking outside:
One of the antifa women approached Mom. You couldn't see her face, but her eyes were big with anger.
"Where's your mask, bitch?"
Mom flinched. "Why are you so upset that we're not wearing the masks?"
"Because you're spreading the disease."
Mom chuckled as she shook her head. "What disease? We're healthy."
"You probably have Covid 25. Did you get the vaccine?"
The young boy learning about the oppressive left from a tough, no nonsense, freedom fighter:
"They're the enforcers. Their job, as their bosses see it, is to make sure you're thinking straight."
"I don't get it. Why would they care what I'm thinking?"
He shrugged. "Well, if you don't have the same opinion as they do, they might be wrong, and they can't handle being wrong. It screws up their brains.
I may be overthinking it, but that's my take."
"Well, what do they want?"
"They say they want socialism, but most of them are just anarchist shitheads who want to hide in a mob and hurt people."
"We studied socialism a little in school," I said, "you know, everybody gets the same, no matter what kind of job they have or how hard they work."
"Pretty much. Doesn't seem right, does it?"
This was perhaps one of the funniest moments. After trying to ignore a antifa group, this occurs:
"Come on, Bill" said Mom, "just ignore them."
We started walking again and they quickly surrounded us in the intersection. They started chanting in a droning kind of sing-song, "Black lives matt-er, black lives matt-er..."
Like come on, is that not hilarious? An “antifa” mob chanting Black Lives Matter like an incantation while moving in to beat up a family on a walk. This is the entire back half of the short story. An attempt to be a cautionary tale undermined by ineptitude every step of the way. Even in this weirdly fetishized, self congratulating fictional future built on straw mans and ignorance, the main characters confusion about the state of the world is only enabled by their ignorance. Not once to we get into the actual issues or see complex deconstructions of things. This is operating under the assumption that you agree with this caricatures of leftists at the time of the stories release in 2022.
The final bit of irony to gap off this ramble is the that I, as an unintended result of delaying this read, consumed this in 2025, the year of future. In the real 2025, our nations actual climate proves the irrationality of the fear mongered alarmism present. The closest authorities abusing power and infringing on people’s rights is not these ambiguous left organizations but the guy running on the rhetoric the author seems to favor.
There are a few short stories after but they aren’t worth much more. Each continues the theme of poorly articulated critiques in stories of varying quality. Anti environmentalism, more fear mongering of gender politics, etc. The writing continues to be subpar and unpolished. The final story had the most compelling concept.
Overall, I’d rate this collection of stories around 2-3/10. Since Goodreads doesn’t allow half stars, I’ll keep it at 2/5 since 1/5 is far too harsh. It’s poor storytelling but nowhere near the bottom of the barrel.
Prior to reading ‘Escape to the Future and Other Stories’, I was not familiar with Paul Clayton or this collection of short stories. One of many indie books I entered Goodreads giveaways for after a cursory glance at the title and summary. I won a copy in 2022.
My lack of preconceived expectations for this was both a blessing and a curse. Cursed because this is a sad collection of poorly written stories that I would not have read without my ignorance. Blessed because my lack of awareness for what I was getting into let me be enjoyably baffled at the thematic concepts and execution. Because boy oh boy is this something.
Escape to the Future (story one)
The first 40 or so pages are unremarkable. Paper thin characters and a meandering plot brought to “life” with unremarkable prose. Nothing offensive if not a bit boring. I read on with a content indifference waiting to see where Clayton would take this story (a good premise and my initial draw towards the collection). It is shortly after these meandering and uneventful establishing pages that the story takes, for an ignorant reader like myself, a wild turn for the worse.
The young lead and his parents finally hop on his grandfathers mysterious Time Machine and head to the end of time: 2025. Within the span of perhaps 10 or less pages, a mountain of poorly constructed social and political critiques pile up; what little narrative existed to begin with falls and gives way for the authors ramblings about his frustrations with society. There’s beyond comical depictions of left leaning politics so bad that I found myself highlighting every other line.
Immediately upon arriving in the mysterious future, our trio is confronted with the monstrous BLM protests. Crime is all but technically legal in this irrational liberal dystopia. While people steal from stores because it’s a non criminal offense, protesters roam the streets not advocating for equality but just looking for random people to beat up because that’s how Clayton views this movement. Of course there are no police because they were “de-funded”. Naturally, in the midst of this, there’s also obedient anti gay and trans rhetoric. Gay men trying to pray on the youth at pride parades and trans politicians getting an easy path to power because of their identity.
Saying Clayton portrays caricatures of his ideological opposites doesn’t even begin to encompass the pure absurdity of how quickly and sloppily this commentary comes into play. These are straw-men positions so detached from reality that it’s hard to even critique them as they aren’t aimed at any tangible issue.
The silver lining, and what makes the story enjoyable, is the fact that Clayton writes like a middle schooler. His writing style is unrefined, choppy, and incredibly blunt. Very much like that of a youth exploring storytelling for the first time. That type of juvenile prose parred with such incredulous positions makes for an, in all honesty, enjoyable experience. An unintended comedy.
Here I will include some excerpts that I chucked at. There are worse but these were what I actually remembered to screenshot for the review:
Of course borders are open in this future timeline. Our trio, when talking to the grandpa who has been living in this future for a while, learn about this fact. The dad is taken aback and says “you can’t have a country without borders” . To this, grandpa responds: "Well, we have some excellent Mexican and Haitian restaurants, but you're right... Putting a teaspoon of sugar in your coffee is one thing but dumping the whole sugar bowl in is... well, it ain't coffee anymore."
You can unpack that however you like.
After meeting the righteous and pure-hearted Christian/antivaxers we get this string of gems: "Cheryl said that Christians have become a target now, designated as a hate group."
"What the hell is a hate group?" said
Dad. "And how did that happen?"
"Well, she said the communists and the gays and the trans hate the Christians, the bible, and the commandments because they restrict their..." Mom paused and looked at me,
'... their behaviors."
When “antifa” harasses them while walking outside:
One of the antifa women approached Mom. You couldn't see her face, but her eyes were big with anger.
"Where's your mask, bitch?"
Mom flinched. "Why are you so upset that we're not wearing the masks?"
"Because you're spreading the disease."
Mom chuckled as she shook her head. "What disease? We're healthy."
"You probably have Covid 25. Did you get the vaccine?"
The young boy learning about the oppressive left from a tough, no nonsense, freedom fighter:
"They're the enforcers. Their job, as their bosses see it, is to make sure you're thinking straight."
"I don't get it. Why would they care what I'm thinking?"
He shrugged. "Well, if you don't have the same opinion as they do, they might be wrong, and they can't handle being wrong. It screws up their brains.
I may be overthinking it, but that's my take."
"Well, what do they want?"
"They say they want socialism, but most of them are just anarchist shitheads who want to hide in a mob and hurt people."
"We studied socialism a little in school," I said, "you know, everybody gets the same, no matter what kind of job they have or how hard they work."
"Pretty much. Doesn't seem right, does it?"
This was perhaps one of the funniest moments. After trying to ignore a antifa group, this occurs:
"Come on, Bill" said Mom, "just ignore them."
We started walking again and they quickly surrounded us in the intersection. They started chanting in a droning kind of sing-song, "Black lives matt-er, black lives matt-er..."
Like come on, is that not hilarious? An “antifa” mob chanting Black Lives Matter like an incantation while moving in to beat up a family on a walk. This is the entire back half of the short story. An attempt to be a cautionary tale undermined by ineptitude every step of the way. Even in this weirdly fetishized, self congratulating fictional future built on straw mans and ignorance, the main characters confusion about the state of the world is only enabled by their ignorance. Not once to we get into the actual issues or see complex deconstructions of things. This is operating under the assumption that you agree with this caricatures of leftists at the time of the stories release in 2022.
The final bit of irony to gap off this ramble is the that I, as an unintended result of delaying this read, consumed this in 2025, the year of future. In the real 2025, our nations actual climate proves the irrationality of the fear mongered alarmism present. The closest authorities abusing power and infringing on people’s rights is not these ambiguous left organizations but the guy running on the rhetoric the author seems to favor.
There are a few short stories after but they aren’t worth much more. Each continues the theme of poorly articulated critiques in stories of varying quality. Anti environmentalism, more fear mongering of gender politics, etc. The writing continues to be subpar and unpolished. The final story had the most compelling concept.
Overall, I’d rate this collection of stories around 2-3/10. Since Goodreads doesn’t allow half stars, I’ll keep it at 2/5 since 1/5 is far too harsh. It’s poor storytelling but nowhere near the bottom of the barrel.
January 24, 2024
A Review -Won through Goodreads Giveaways
Imagine living in the 1960's and then being transported to the year 2025. This is where a family goes to find their grandfather and bring him home. They are transported to an area around San Francisco. They find out that South San Francisco has been burned down due to riots. They come across Antifa, BLM and gays, whom they are not accustomed to, and are tormented by. They eventually find their grandfather, but he is unwilling to return with them, as he wishes to put order where he lives.
------------
A man who lives by the Human Exclusion Zone, meets a girl who returns home with him. In the morning he finds she is gone, as well as some of his things, which includes a hovercraft. He takes a second hovercraft to search for her. While searching, he crashes and injures his leg. Later a man and three of his kids arrive where he is. Eventually they leave him because a grizzly in the zone killed one of their siblings.
-----------
A man writes a book that he hopes will get published one day and make it to Oprah. At some point he is in an elevator and accidentally steps on her toe where she is suffering from gout. Find out if it gets published.
----------
A woman and her husband find out he has cancer and it is terminal. The doctors say they can save his brain and he can be with her and have conversations with her. She takes him to a Chinese restaurant (his brain is in a watery tank). A boy who enters the restaurant is very curious about the tank and notices she is talking to it. At some point the tank falls to the floor and the fluid leaks out. Her communication with him is met with silence.
----------
Imagine a world where your age dictates how long you're an active part of society. Our world has become socialist and the government has control over everything. A man is running from the entities who control this process. He does okay until he is caught at a library. He is imprisoned until he is released and crosses over into Mexico.
A very interesting book. These stories show examples of what happens when our world and democracy fall apart.
Imagine living in the 1960's and then being transported to the year 2025. This is where a family goes to find their grandfather and bring him home. They are transported to an area around San Francisco. They find out that South San Francisco has been burned down due to riots. They come across Antifa, BLM and gays, whom they are not accustomed to, and are tormented by. They eventually find their grandfather, but he is unwilling to return with them, as he wishes to put order where he lives.
------------
A man who lives by the Human Exclusion Zone, meets a girl who returns home with him. In the morning he finds she is gone, as well as some of his things, which includes a hovercraft. He takes a second hovercraft to search for her. While searching, he crashes and injures his leg. Later a man and three of his kids arrive where he is. Eventually they leave him because a grizzly in the zone killed one of their siblings.
-----------
A man writes a book that he hopes will get published one day and make it to Oprah. At some point he is in an elevator and accidentally steps on her toe where she is suffering from gout. Find out if it gets published.
----------
A woman and her husband find out he has cancer and it is terminal. The doctors say they can save his brain and he can be with her and have conversations with her. She takes him to a Chinese restaurant (his brain is in a watery tank). A boy who enters the restaurant is very curious about the tank and notices she is talking to it. At some point the tank falls to the floor and the fluid leaks out. Her communication with him is met with silence.
----------
Imagine a world where your age dictates how long you're an active part of society. Our world has become socialist and the government has control over everything. A man is running from the entities who control this process. He does okay until he is caught at a library. He is imprisoned until he is released and crosses over into Mexico.
A very interesting book. These stories show examples of what happens when our world and democracy fall apart.
April 22, 2022
Disclosure: An endorsement by me appears on the back cover of this fine collection of stories. I was one of the author's beta readers, which means I had the pleasure of reading and discussing it before publication.
At the risk of repeating myself these cover a variety of situations but share a rather well-founded suspicion of the postmodern world that's now staring us down. My personal favorite—because it's funny and I know humor is not easy—is "Sometimes a Great Lotion." However, both the title story and the concluding piece, "Adios, America," are fine narrative adventure stories, and frankly they're all worth reading more than once.
About that title story: It revisits a concept that Paul Clayton previously tackled in Van Ripplewink . Specifically, it asks us to look at the present-day world (or something very, very close to it) from the perspective of just a few decades ago. It's an invitation to consider effects of the choices each of us makes. Extrapolating, there is a future beyond the present day (unless Grandpa's time machine is right), and we might as well behave as if we can help shape it.
I've read most of Paul Clayton's works, both the historical fictions and the modern-day fantasies. The older ones are good, but he just keeps getting better.
At the risk of repeating myself these cover a variety of situations but share a rather well-founded suspicion of the postmodern world that's now staring us down. My personal favorite—because it's funny and I know humor is not easy—is "Sometimes a Great Lotion." However, both the title story and the concluding piece, "Adios, America," are fine narrative adventure stories, and frankly they're all worth reading more than once.
About that title story: It revisits a concept that Paul Clayton previously tackled in Van Ripplewink . Specifically, it asks us to look at the present-day world (or something very, very close to it) from the perspective of just a few decades ago. It's an invitation to consider effects of the choices each of us makes. Extrapolating, there is a future beyond the present day (unless Grandpa's time machine is right), and we might as well behave as if we can help shape it.
I've read most of Paul Clayton's works, both the historical fictions and the modern-day fantasies. The older ones are good, but he just keeps getting better.
May 21, 2022
The five short stories in this collection are each vastly different, but paint a possible future that is … well, you can decide whether each of these futures is good or not so good. These future worlds range from the almost-now, when a family from 1962 uses grandpa’s time machine to chase him all the way to 2025. This one definitely hits close to home for the obvious reasons. It (more or less literally) feels like it is happening right now, tomorrow at the latest, as it looks at some of the dystopian possibilities of our current world.
The other stories feel like they’re a bit more into the future, but not too far and, just like the first one, these stories get you thinking about the direction the world is headed, or at least potentially could be. While the future is far from predictable, what I look for in this kind of science fiction is exactly what is delivered here, some visions of the future to trigger my imagination and get me pondering the world of the future.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
The other stories feel like they’re a bit more into the future, but not too far and, just like the first one, these stories get you thinking about the direction the world is headed, or at least potentially could be. While the future is far from predictable, what I look for in this kind of science fiction is exactly what is delivered here, some visions of the future to trigger my imagination and get me pondering the world of the future.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
October 23, 2022
Five stories about the future. All good
January 21, 2024
Reactionary. If Bradbury exuded boomer energy & constantly made straw men & was afraid of the future. Horrible “hot takes” about race & gender. Barf. Give me a break. Skip this hot garbage
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews