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Futureland
Walter Mosley, the author of the Easy Rawlins mystery novels (Devil in a Blue Dress; Black Betty; etc.) has a new story to tell. Instead of coasting on his success (Bill Clinton is a fan), in 1998 he took a left turn and published Blue Light, an allegorical sort-of science fiction novel that never quite found its voice, although it was a New York Times Notable Book. Blue Light must have been Mosley's SF false start, because Futureland rocks and roars from the first page.
Ostensibly a collection of short stories, Futureland reads more like a William Gibson novel. Minor characters in one story are major characters in another story, which gives the reader that MTV jump-cut sensation, but not so frantic with Mosley as it is with Gibson.
And what characters! The charm of Mosley's earlier books is that the characters are normal people in historical settings, getting by as best they can. But in Futureland the reader encounters the heavyweight boxing champion of the world (female); the most intelligent human ever; the mad scientist at the head of the world's largest corporation. These characters are neither normal nor historical.
So with sly nods to Hegel and DeLillo, Mosley abandons history and the common man. It's a great privilege for a reader to watch a good writer change his mind. In an essay on his website Mosley claims to have been an SF fan all his life. He knows the genre; he knows the language (before he published his first novel he was a computer programmer); and he knows that there is no better venue to change your mind than SF.
Mosley retains some of his favorite themes, though. All the exceptional characters in the book are full members of lively communities. The best story in the book-no surprise-is about a private eye. Like most hardboiled detectives, Folio Johnson needs friends on the force and on the street to survive. Unlike Easy Rawlins, though, he also needs wetware implants to keep from going down.
And race pervades this book like it pervades all Mosley's books. It is a theme handled well in all of the stories except for the final one ("The Nig in Me," go figure), where it is too over-the-top, and detracts from a lightweight story that was an SF cliché in the first place.
Also in the essay on his website, Mosley asserts that the next five years will see a wave of black SF writers. If Mosley stays with this genre, he'll lead them. He's as good as anyone writing SF today.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Futureland is bestselling mystery author Walter Mosley's first science fiction book since Blue Light, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Futureland's nine linked stories will provide an accessible and intelligent introduction to written science fiction for mystery or mainstream fiction fans who do not normally read the genre. Experienced science fiction readers, however, may be less than satisfied with Futureland. Reading it, you might decide Mr. Mosley grew up reading SF, respects the genre, and still watches SF movies, but has read little SF written during or after the New Wave of the 1960s. However, something more may be going on here than a genre newcomer making beginning-SF-writer mistakes. Mr. Mosley may be deliberately, and craftily, creating SF accessible to his large non-SF readership and to others who are strangers to this genre. Some have labeled Futureland cyberpunk, and it does present a dark, infotech-saturated, corporation-controlled future; but it is in fact an inversion of cyberpunk. Instead of that subgenre's cliche of cool, cutting-edge, street-smart, but not very believable outlaws who out-hack and outwit powerful multinational corporations, this Dante-esque collection presents outlaws and outcasts who may be street-wise, but who have little chance of overcoming the corporations and governments that control, and sometimes take, their lives. Like shockingly few other SF works, Futureland directly examines the lives of the working and the nonworking classes, the poor and the marginalized, the criminal and the criminalized. In other words, Futureland is set in a world quite alien to many veteran SF readers, and is therefore a book they should try. --Cynthia Ward
Ostensibly a collection of short stories, Futureland reads more like a William Gibson novel. Minor characters in one story are major characters in another story, which gives the reader that MTV jump-cut sensation, but not so frantic with Mosley as it is with Gibson.
And what characters! The charm of Mosley's earlier books is that the characters are normal people in historical settings, getting by as best they can. But in Futureland the reader encounters the heavyweight boxing champion of the world (female); the most intelligent human ever; the mad scientist at the head of the world's largest corporation. These characters are neither normal nor historical.
So with sly nods to Hegel and DeLillo, Mosley abandons history and the common man. It's a great privilege for a reader to watch a good writer change his mind. In an essay on his website Mosley claims to have been an SF fan all his life. He knows the genre; he knows the language (before he published his first novel he was a computer programmer); and he knows that there is no better venue to change your mind than SF.
Mosley retains some of his favorite themes, though. All the exceptional characters in the book are full members of lively communities. The best story in the book-no surprise-is about a private eye. Like most hardboiled detectives, Folio Johnson needs friends on the force and on the street to survive. Unlike Easy Rawlins, though, he also needs wetware implants to keep from going down.
And race pervades this book like it pervades all Mosley's books. It is a theme handled well in all of the stories except for the final one ("The Nig in Me," go figure), where it is too over-the-top, and detracts from a lightweight story that was an SF cliché in the first place.
Also in the essay on his website, Mosley asserts that the next five years will see a wave of black SF writers. If Mosley stays with this genre, he'll lead them. He's as good as anyone writing SF today.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Futureland is bestselling mystery author Walter Mosley's first science fiction book since Blue Light, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Futureland's nine linked stories will provide an accessible and intelligent introduction to written science fiction for mystery or mainstream fiction fans who do not normally read the genre. Experienced science fiction readers, however, may be less than satisfied with Futureland. Reading it, you might decide Mr. Mosley grew up reading SF, respects the genre, and still watches SF movies, but has read little SF written during or after the New Wave of the 1960s. However, something more may be going on here than a genre newcomer making beginning-SF-writer mistakes. Mr. Mosley may be deliberately, and craftily, creating SF accessible to his large non-SF readership and to others who are strangers to this genre. Some have labeled Futureland cyberpunk, and it does present a dark, infotech-saturated, corporation-controlled future; but it is in fact an inversion of cyberpunk. Instead of that subgenre's cliche of cool, cutting-edge, street-smart, but not very believable outlaws who out-hack and outwit powerful multinational corporations, this Dante-esque collection presents outlaws and outcasts who may be street-wise, but who have little chance of overcoming the corporations and governments that control, and sometimes take, their lives. Like shockingly few other SF works, Futureland directly examines the lives of the working and the nonworking classes, the poor and the marginalized, the criminal and the criminalized. In other words, Futureland is set in a world quite alien to many veteran SF readers, and is therefore a book they should try. --Cynthia Ward
356 pages, Hardcover
First published November 12, 2001
86 people are currently reading
2681 people want to read
About the author
Walter Mosley
202 books3,889 followersWalter Mosley (b. 1952) is the author of the bestselling mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins, as well as numerous other works, from literary fiction and science fiction to a young adult novel and political monographs. His short fiction has been widely published, and his nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine and the Nation, among other publications. Mosley is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, a Grammy, and PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 201 reviews
March 13, 2008
I'm not much of a big weepy nancy-boy, but the first story in this collection almost made me cry. I said almost. Shut up.
February 5, 2008
Not only is the writing superb, but the dystopia he describes seems scarily plausible.
December 28, 2021
Futureland consists of nine thematically linked short stories, sharing the same near future dystopia. One name for this might be hypercapitalism, as corporations basically run Earth and own virtually everything. No one owns a house, a car, or even their cloths-- they are all 'leased' as their is more profit that way. Further, this is also a hypersurveillance world, were everyone has a 'chip' and a card that can be monitored 24/7. Those unlucky if you will not to have a job are deemed 'cyclers' and subsist on rice and beans in underground hives until they can get work again.
Within this setting, each of the stories fleshes out some aspect of the world dominated by corporate abuse and a search for humanity, or what it means to be human. These stories are also very heavily racially charged as well, as most of the lead characters are black and on the fringes of racist society. The stories vary quite dramatically in length, from a few dozen pages to almost a hundred. I will not even try to summarize all nine stories here, however. Beyond sharing the same world, Furtureland also shares many of the same characters among the stories.
What I liked the most is the utter plausibility of the dystopia. Futureland is about 20 years old now, and due to things like the patriot act, along with social media and such, the monitoring aspect hits pretty close to home. The growth of corporate power and its influence in politics portrayed here is not here yet, but growing all the time. The precarious nature of employment is again, not quite what Mosley cast here, but not too far off either. Definitely a rather disturbing near future created by Mosley here, extrapolating from current social/economic/political trends. It is hard to really develop characters in short stories and alas, that is the weakness of the book. Mosley keeps hitting the reader with a bleak future where people still strive for independence and freedom in a racist world gone corporate. Overall, an engaging read, but not a happy one. 3 bleak stars.
Within this setting, each of the stories fleshes out some aspect of the world dominated by corporate abuse and a search for humanity, or what it means to be human. These stories are also very heavily racially charged as well, as most of the lead characters are black and on the fringes of racist society. The stories vary quite dramatically in length, from a few dozen pages to almost a hundred. I will not even try to summarize all nine stories here, however. Beyond sharing the same world, Furtureland also shares many of the same characters among the stories.
What I liked the most is the utter plausibility of the dystopia. Futureland is about 20 years old now, and due to things like the patriot act, along with social media and such, the monitoring aspect hits pretty close to home. The growth of corporate power and its influence in politics portrayed here is not here yet, but growing all the time. The precarious nature of employment is again, not quite what Mosley cast here, but not too far off either. Definitely a rather disturbing near future created by Mosley here, extrapolating from current social/economic/political trends. It is hard to really develop characters in short stories and alas, that is the weakness of the book. Mosley keeps hitting the reader with a bleak future where people still strive for independence and freedom in a racist world gone corporate. Overall, an engaging read, but not a happy one. 3 bleak stars.
July 3, 2015
Nine short stories of horrifying science fiction, of a future that simply continues the problems of today with more advanced science. Each story provides a different look at this future society, and it isn't nice. It isn't a world in which I want to live, where your birth or lack of employment condemns you to a life of nothing. Where the system is sucking out man's ingenuity and spirit for the sake of production and profit.
The stories tie loosely together with a few common characters that crop up here and there. There's Akwande and his idealism and Tristan the First, Dominar of the Blue Zone, and his shared lack of compassion or humanity with Kismet. Folio Johnson is a far-seeing man — no pun intended — who has a sense of justice. Fera Jones, Pell, and Professor Jones have their ups and downs. And D'or of the China Diner who is one of the last remnants of our past is a common thread.
This ARC was sent to me by NetGalley and Open Road Media for an honest review.
The Stories
"Whispers in the Dark" will make you cry as Chilly Bent does his best to take care of his dying mother and brilliant young nephew. It's a future where the government takes your child if he or she tests smart. It's a future where interfering old biddies still think they know better than you. And it's an ending that makes me want to know more. Lots more.
"The Greatest" finds Fera Jones, a woman boxer, up against Jellyroll Gregory, and she's doing well. Beating men in KO fights. But she can't lose one lest her father lose access to the Pulse. It's a story of feminine rights, of standing up for yourself, of turning it around on the rich.
The flip and uncaring "Doctor Kismet" has his own island kingdom, Home, and owns most of the world, both business-wise and in religion. A benevolent tyrant as long as he wins, it's a contest of good versus evil, of idealism versus reality with a reference to Popo from "Whispers in the Dark". It's a dream Akwande has of relieving death and suffering in Africa. One he struggles to achieve only to realize that truth, that reality.
"Angel's Island" is a futuristic prison that sounds like a nightmare. One that only gets worse. I gotta say that I'm in favor of capital punishment, but I am not in favor of lying. Nor am I in favor of what is done in this prison. The whys of it. It's just nasty. And I gotta wonder about the justice of such a system. Their ideas of poor behavior.
"The Electric Eye" is both terrifying and exciting. I love the idea of Folio Johnson's eye, although how he got it is not my idea of a good time. And that's not the terrifying part. That comes at the end when Folio learns the horrid truth behind those assassinations.
"Voices" finds us dipping back into Fera Jones' life, as we meet back up with her Pulse-addicted father, Professor Leon Jones, and the treatment he's undergoing to save his life.
"Little Brother" explores the future's judicial system, and it hasn't changed from being a system that caters to the rich. What has changed is its automatic "capability" and a deeper lesson in why allowing man to set up a judicial system is a bad idea. It's another ending in which Mosley leaves us wondering.
"En Masse" is a nightmare 1984 as it looks at the mechanics and requirements of employment in the future. Anything can be an infraction and anything can get you fired. Being fired sends you down to Common Ground and the horrifying possibility of never working again.
Oh, lol, "En Masse" takes "in the cloud" to a whole new meaning. A system that wants to return man to being an innovative, thinking person with spirit. It's another depressing ending as we don't know the results of one half of the mission, and Neil…well, Neil isn't in much shape for anything.
"The Nig in Me" is all that's keeping Harold alive. It is gawd-awful depressing, but made me laugh about those "Caucasians" who discovered something about their genetic heritage. Yep, it's a brave new world after the virus from "En Masse" got changed around. Only, it's not brave or new. It's the same ol', same ol'.
The Cover and Title
A slim band of red frames in the cover at top and bottom in the yellow-green lights of the towering highrises against a misty gray night. The author's name and the title are in white using a digital font, a reflection of this Futureland of fear.
The stories tie loosely together with a few common characters that crop up here and there. There's Akwande and his idealism and Tristan the First, Dominar of the Blue Zone, and his shared lack of compassion or humanity with Kismet. Folio Johnson is a far-seeing man — no pun intended — who has a sense of justice. Fera Jones, Pell, and Professor Jones have their ups and downs. And D'or of the China Diner who is one of the last remnants of our past is a common thread.
This ARC was sent to me by NetGalley and Open Road Media for an honest review.
The Stories
"Whispers in the Dark" will make you cry as Chilly Bent does his best to take care of his dying mother and brilliant young nephew. It's a future where the government takes your child if he or she tests smart. It's a future where interfering old biddies still think they know better than you. And it's an ending that makes me want to know more. Lots more.
"The Greatest" finds Fera Jones, a woman boxer, up against Jellyroll Gregory, and she's doing well. Beating men in KO fights. But she can't lose one lest her father lose access to the Pulse. It's a story of feminine rights, of standing up for yourself, of turning it around on the rich.
The flip and uncaring "Doctor Kismet" has his own island kingdom, Home, and owns most of the world, both business-wise and in religion. A benevolent tyrant as long as he wins, it's a contest of good versus evil, of idealism versus reality with a reference to Popo from "Whispers in the Dark". It's a dream Akwande has of relieving death and suffering in Africa. One he struggles to achieve only to realize that truth, that reality.
"Angel's Island" is a futuristic prison that sounds like a nightmare. One that only gets worse. I gotta say that I'm in favor of capital punishment, but I am not in favor of lying. Nor am I in favor of what is done in this prison. The whys of it. It's just nasty. And I gotta wonder about the justice of such a system. Their ideas of poor behavior.
"The Electric Eye" is both terrifying and exciting. I love the idea of Folio Johnson's eye, although how he got it is not my idea of a good time. And that's not the terrifying part. That comes at the end when Folio learns the horrid truth behind those assassinations.
"Voices" finds us dipping back into Fera Jones' life, as we meet back up with her Pulse-addicted father, Professor Leon Jones, and the treatment he's undergoing to save his life.
"I think we're all the same color, just more of some colors and not so many of others."It's another terrifying story of future possibilities. One that entices you in, gives you hope that future medical care truly can save you. And then it makes you want to run in fear, hoping, hoping to be saved from something more invasive, more threatening. I couldn't actually tell what happened at the end, as Mosley leaves it rather vague.
"Little Brother" explores the future's judicial system, and it hasn't changed from being a system that caters to the rich. What has changed is its automatic "capability" and a deeper lesson in why allowing man to set up a judicial system is a bad idea. It's another ending in which Mosley leaves us wondering.
"En Masse" is a nightmare 1984 as it looks at the mechanics and requirements of employment in the future. Anything can be an infraction and anything can get you fired. Being fired sends you down to Common Ground and the horrifying possibility of never working again.
Oh, lol, "En Masse" takes "in the cloud" to a whole new meaning. A system that wants to return man to being an innovative, thinking person with spirit. It's another depressing ending as we don't know the results of one half of the mission, and Neil…well, Neil isn't in much shape for anything.
"The Nig in Me" is all that's keeping Harold alive. It is gawd-awful depressing, but made me laugh about those "Caucasians" who discovered something about their genetic heritage. Yep, it's a brave new world after the virus from "En Masse" got changed around. Only, it's not brave or new. It's the same ol', same ol'.
The Cover and Title
A slim band of red frames in the cover at top and bottom in the yellow-green lights of the towering highrises against a misty gray night. The author's name and the title are in white using a digital font, a reflection of this Futureland of fear.
January 15, 2018
I don’t really know what to make of this. I thought that Mosley’s writing was strong and engaging, but somehow the stories — all set in the same world, with stronger or weaker links between them depending on the story — didn’t quite work for me. There are so many fantastic ideas explored, but I found some of the endings of the stories a bit too predictable, and one or two of the stories left little impression on me because of that. Some of the stories worked beautifully, but others felt like they lacked something — paciness, mostly, or a real understanding for the reader of the tensions under the surface. One blurb says that “Futureland is an all-American nightmare just waiting to happen”, and I think that might be partly why it didn’t work for me, not being American and not having those exact worries and that history and context.
Nonetheless, it’s definitely an interesting collection, and I should totally check out more of Mosley’s work.
Reviewed for the Bibliophibian.
Nonetheless, it’s definitely an interesting collection, and I should totally check out more of Mosley’s work.
Reviewed for the Bibliophibian.
September 8, 2014
I picked up this e-book from our local library, knowing nothing about the author. I just read the description on the library's website and thought, as a casual sci-fi fan, it sounded intruiging. Wow. I'm totally blown away.
This is a story (actually several stories that interconnect) about a frighteningly possible world. Corporate greed, social immobility, and wealth-inequity taken to logical extremes in an all-too-near future. A world far closer in some regards than when it was written (2001).
Mosley allows us to slowly crawl into the world he's created. The first story starts in the rural Southern US. One of the characters speaks (and is therefore written) with a speech impediment from a stroke; others speak with heavy accents. Be patient. As we move from story to story, from location to location and from character to character, a world starts to form around you. This is a dystopia, but even more-so a chess game, seen from the point of view of the pawns. Perhaps even a 3D chess game, where the strata are the levels of a future New York City in which upper/mid/lower refer not to latitudes but altitudes. The poorer classes live "lower", closer to a ground level nearly devoid of sunlight. The completely disenfranchised live lower still, in the Common Ground where citizenship and life itself are marginalized.
Each of the earlier stories is independent (a love story, a mystery, etc.) with a few characters that are discussed or pass through from one to another. The stories work together, though, in creating the frame that houses the final two stories that are simultaneously personal and global.
I could go on and on about the clever ways Mosley constructs the social mores of this world and how he introduces them to the reader. I won't, though. Far more interesting for you to discover them for yourself.
Side note: this was excellent on the Kindle because I was able to use X-ray to easily find where characters popped up earlier in the book so I could reintroduce myself to them.
This is a story (actually several stories that interconnect) about a frighteningly possible world. Corporate greed, social immobility, and wealth-inequity taken to logical extremes in an all-too-near future. A world far closer in some regards than when it was written (2001).
Mosley allows us to slowly crawl into the world he's created. The first story starts in the rural Southern US. One of the characters speaks (and is therefore written) with a speech impediment from a stroke; others speak with heavy accents. Be patient. As we move from story to story, from location to location and from character to character, a world starts to form around you. This is a dystopia, but even more-so a chess game, seen from the point of view of the pawns. Perhaps even a 3D chess game, where the strata are the levels of a future New York City in which upper/mid/lower refer not to latitudes but altitudes. The poorer classes live "lower", closer to a ground level nearly devoid of sunlight. The completely disenfranchised live lower still, in the Common Ground where citizenship and life itself are marginalized.
Each of the earlier stories is independent (a love story, a mystery, etc.) with a few characters that are discussed or pass through from one to another. The stories work together, though, in creating the frame that houses the final two stories that are simultaneously personal and global.
I could go on and on about the clever ways Mosley constructs the social mores of this world and how he introduces them to the reader. I won't, though. Far more interesting for you to discover them for yourself.
Side note: this was excellent on the Kindle because I was able to use X-ray to easily find where characters popped up earlier in the book so I could reintroduce myself to them.
March 8, 2018
*4.5 stars*
An article comparing books to the TV series Black Mirror brought this short story collection to my attention, and the similarities are definitely there! Mosley's deft writing connects these stories to showcase a future world that has taken technology and used it to make the poor even poorer, the prison systems even more unfair, and to tempt fringe groups to use it for their racist agendas. It is immersive and heart-breaking, and definitely worth the read.
An article comparing books to the TV series Black Mirror brought this short story collection to my attention, and the similarities are definitely there! Mosley's deft writing connects these stories to showcase a future world that has taken technology and used it to make the poor even poorer, the prison systems even more unfair, and to tempt fringe groups to use it for their racist agendas. It is immersive and heart-breaking, and definitely worth the read.
August 13, 2018
GoodRead! Nine short stories.....Some better than others nevertheless All Good.
June 20, 2018
This anthology has created a future that is both advanced and backward –– a world where technology plays a drastic role in both large-scale convenience and oppression. In this world, we see how such technology has been used in different ways: how it is a tool that can expand, or limit, the breadths of human horizon. This is very evident in the way people are segregated. Those who belong to the upper classes stay high above the ground, and those who own nothing stay deep underneath… literally.
There are 9 stories in this anthology and I can’t pick which one I like best. The ones I really liked were: Whispers in the Dark, The Greatest, Angel’s Island, and The Electric Eye. While the timeline is not explicitly stated, it can be inferred that the stories are in chronological order. They may not be directly connected with each other but we can think that each of them is a torn part of a single photograph –– the bigger picture that shows a system that is highly organized and yet broken in a lot of aspects.
To my delight, the characters were well-developed despite the limited number of pages. It is basically the same world for every story, with each new character offering a different take on it. It was interesting to read how all their lives are linked in a subtle manner to represent the different forms of devastation that one can experience in that society. The writing style was pleasant as it sets the motion of the stories in the right pace.
This is the first work I’ve read from this author and it was a good experience. However, one should be warned that a happy tale is not to be expected, though I don’t think this will rob any reader of a good time. Futureland is a fine read that draws haunting images of a future we should be scared of. It’s a nice blend of science fiction, mystery, and dark humor that is gripping and thought-provoking.
There are 9 stories in this anthology and I can’t pick which one I like best. The ones I really liked were: Whispers in the Dark, The Greatest, Angel’s Island, and The Electric Eye. While the timeline is not explicitly stated, it can be inferred that the stories are in chronological order. They may not be directly connected with each other but we can think that each of them is a torn part of a single photograph –– the bigger picture that shows a system that is highly organized and yet broken in a lot of aspects.
To my delight, the characters were well-developed despite the limited number of pages. It is basically the same world for every story, with each new character offering a different take on it. It was interesting to read how all their lives are linked in a subtle manner to represent the different forms of devastation that one can experience in that society. The writing style was pleasant as it sets the motion of the stories in the right pace.
This is the first work I’ve read from this author and it was a good experience. However, one should be warned that a happy tale is not to be expected, though I don’t think this will rob any reader of a good time. Futureland is a fine read that draws haunting images of a future we should be scared of. It’s a nice blend of science fiction, mystery, and dark humor that is gripping and thought-provoking.
January 13, 2009
I realized from my readings over the Christmas season why I enjoy well-written books from Black culture more than most science fiction books (though I do like them a great deal!). They rank higher in my favorite books because these treasures ring true to what I know, they convey in their narratives truths about Black culture and its complex situatedness to America. Science fiction often catapults from reality to a clean slate largely of the author’s imagination. The stories in Mosley’s Futureland combine strengths of both aspects. The stories are rich in cultural observance and Black stylings while the force of Mosley’s imagination is in full effect in this complex corporate world of the future.
I like the book because Mosley really plays with culture. Sometimes he takes familiar elements –even verging on stereotypes—and jazzes them up. Other times he jams together disparate parts and conflicting ideas. Throughout the book, characters enter, leave, and re-enter to create a powerful Futureland world populated by detectives and criminals, athletes and their fans, sex workers production workers and genius tycoons,.
“The Greatest” is one of the stories I truly enjoyed reading. It’s a sports story, and a love story. It accelerates into social commentary when the protagonist, a female boxing champion considers her power outside the ring. The story takes the Tiger Woods’ and Venus Williams’ celebrity and elaborates it for an exaggerated future and then draws it outside of the world of sports to raise a critical lens to our relationships with athletics and celebrity.
Still, I didn’t like every story evenly. I liked reading them all but I didn’t feel the same urgency of reading throughout the whole book. A few stories I read just to see how the story His sillyness and cultural symbolism reminds me of Ishmael Reed. A great sci-fi find.
I like the book because Mosley really plays with culture. Sometimes he takes familiar elements –even verging on stereotypes—and jazzes them up. Other times he jams together disparate parts and conflicting ideas. Throughout the book, characters enter, leave, and re-enter to create a powerful Futureland world populated by detectives and criminals, athletes and their fans, sex workers production workers and genius tycoons,.
“The Greatest” is one of the stories I truly enjoyed reading. It’s a sports story, and a love story. It accelerates into social commentary when the protagonist, a female boxing champion considers her power outside the ring. The story takes the Tiger Woods’ and Venus Williams’ celebrity and elaborates it for an exaggerated future and then draws it outside of the world of sports to raise a critical lens to our relationships with athletics and celebrity.
Still, I didn’t like every story evenly. I liked reading them all but I didn’t feel the same urgency of reading throughout the whole book. A few stories I read just to see how the story His sillyness and cultural symbolism reminds me of Ishmael Reed. A great sci-fi find.
November 28, 2018
Of all the books I read (and collected to read yet) under the science fiction/speculative or dystopian literature—or any label which complicates our intellectual borders; Futureland by Walter Mosley is perhaps the least I expected to bloom—to be erudite or radical, or at least worth it for the price I paid and for the space it would consume in my troves of readings. But I was wrong, and completely ashamed of all the doubts I had after reading futile works of revered western fictionists backed by their Hugo and Nebula Awards. Futureland is what I have been looking for. This anthology of semi-connected stories is sharp in social realism, raw in dialogue and even the characters, with America in the future torn by its corporate avarice and racial prejudice. Perhaps he was scarce to predict certain technological advancement and had overlooked the advent of social media, or not as poetic as William Gibson in Neuromancer; Mosley stood out here, not hindered to be critical and review the great land of capitalism and racism through cyberpunk concepts.
From American ghetto to America's greatest, Walter Mosley is the author America needs right now.
From American ghetto to America's greatest, Walter Mosley is the author America needs right now.
October 26, 2017
A brilliant collection of dystopian short stories focused on black people -especially African-Americans- experiences and how oppressive governments and society always affects them the worst. Some of the stories are quite disturbing but brilliant and the critique is incredible. Only thing I missed was more female characters and stories with female protagonists (there was only one) but it is still an amazing book I definitely recommend everyone to read.
February 28, 2021
Mosley is mainly known for his mysteries, but he's written a bit of science fiction as well that I've been meaning to check out for a while.
This is not (as it might sound like) a short story collection. In fact, I read it more like a novel consisting of vignettes, because the stories are relatively tightly connected, most obviously by setting but also many of the same characters appear in more than one story.
Mosley takes up a lot of the tropes of cyberpunk and dystopian science fiction. A mysterious drug? Check. Unchecked corporate power that controls every aspect of people's lives, mostly to make them shittier? Check. A noir detective in the future? Check. Implausibly vast changes to the structure of society in a matter of a decade or two? Check. Big Brother is watching? You bet. A bleak warning that we ought to change our ways because a lot of this seems horrifyingly plausible given the direction of our current society? Oh, yeah.
The great thing about this book is that Mosley does interesting things with these tropes, and manages to invent a few of his own. You can also tell he's a seasoned writer of digestible prose (some of the stories aren't easy to read, but it's because of the content not the style). I particularly enjoyed Fera Jones, a female boxer who decimates her male opponents, Folio Johnson, cybernetic detective, the Kafkaesque riff on Office Space meets 1984 with Neil Hawthore's story, and some of the really weird WTF? stuff that happens in the last story that I shouldn't spoil (especially as it may be weirdly relevant during the current pandemic).
It's also worth noting that Mosley foregrounds African Americans in most of these stories to explore how America's problematic past might evolve into the future. There's a weird new religion with a charismatic follower (another trope used effectively) that mostly recruits Black people around the world, including in the US. A Neo-Nazi organization is looming with nefarious plans while trying to present as innocuous, even hiring a Black detective to work for them (this story line maybe hits closer to home than I'd like these days).
The main function of dystopian fiction (aside from, "it could be worse" or "I could survive that") is to act as a warning. And if Mosley's grim warning of the future doesn't scare you, I don't know what will. He published this in 2001. While not everything he predicted has come true yet, a lot of the world here in 2021 isn't looking much better. The warning still stands.
Check out a version of this review on my blog: https://examinedworlds.blogspot.com/2...
This is not (as it might sound like) a short story collection. In fact, I read it more like a novel consisting of vignettes, because the stories are relatively tightly connected, most obviously by setting but also many of the same characters appear in more than one story.
Mosley takes up a lot of the tropes of cyberpunk and dystopian science fiction. A mysterious drug? Check. Unchecked corporate power that controls every aspect of people's lives, mostly to make them shittier? Check. A noir detective in the future? Check. Implausibly vast changes to the structure of society in a matter of a decade or two? Check. Big Brother is watching? You bet. A bleak warning that we ought to change our ways because a lot of this seems horrifyingly plausible given the direction of our current society? Oh, yeah.
The great thing about this book is that Mosley does interesting things with these tropes, and manages to invent a few of his own. You can also tell he's a seasoned writer of digestible prose (some of the stories aren't easy to read, but it's because of the content not the style). I particularly enjoyed Fera Jones, a female boxer who decimates her male opponents, Folio Johnson, cybernetic detective, the Kafkaesque riff on Office Space meets 1984 with Neil Hawthore's story, and some of the really weird WTF? stuff that happens in the last story that I shouldn't spoil (especially as it may be weirdly relevant during the current pandemic).
It's also worth noting that Mosley foregrounds African Americans in most of these stories to explore how America's problematic past might evolve into the future. There's a weird new religion with a charismatic follower (another trope used effectively) that mostly recruits Black people around the world, including in the US. A Neo-Nazi organization is looming with nefarious plans while trying to present as innocuous, even hiring a Black detective to work for them (this story line maybe hits closer to home than I'd like these days).
The main function of dystopian fiction (aside from, "it could be worse" or "I could survive that") is to act as a warning. And if Mosley's grim warning of the future doesn't scare you, I don't know what will. He published this in 2001. While not everything he predicted has come true yet, a lot of the world here in 2021 isn't looking much better. The warning still stands.
Check out a version of this review on my blog: https://examinedworlds.blogspot.com/2...
June 12, 2010
Science fiction at its best - thanks Sunny for recommending it!
June 21, 2020
As I have mentioned, Mosley seems comfortable and adept in many genres. Futureland is organic Black science fiction, and it is creative and awe-inspiring.
February 4, 2021
He wrote this book in 2001. He is a genius!
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November 30, 2019I read this book.
May 30, 2014
'Futureland' by Walter Mosley is a collection of nine Science Fiction stories he wrote a number of years ago collected into an ebook format. There is a distinct cyberpunk feel to the stories, and they intertwine some of the characters.
We are introduced to a young boy named Ptolemy Bent whose father will go to great lengths to make sure his son gets the right education. We meet Fera Jones, a heavyweight fighter and her designer drug addicted father. Folio Jones is the "last private detective in New York" and has a computer for an eye.
This is the future, but it's a future where rights and privileges are nonexistent for the common people. Rich, megomaniacal people rule the poor, run the prisons and collect the few who are smart enough to benefit them. Racism is still very much rampant, even to the extent of biowars.
It's a bleak future, but the stories are interesting, the characters are memorable, and the message is loud and clear. This is great stuff from someone who isn't known for this type of writing.
I was given a review copy of this ebook by Open Road Integrated Media and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this book.
We are introduced to a young boy named Ptolemy Bent whose father will go to great lengths to make sure his son gets the right education. We meet Fera Jones, a heavyweight fighter and her designer drug addicted father. Folio Jones is the "last private detective in New York" and has a computer for an eye.
This is the future, but it's a future where rights and privileges are nonexistent for the common people. Rich, megomaniacal people rule the poor, run the prisons and collect the few who are smart enough to benefit them. Racism is still very much rampant, even to the extent of biowars.
It's a bleak future, but the stories are interesting, the characters are memorable, and the message is loud and clear. This is great stuff from someone who isn't known for this type of writing.
I was given a review copy of this ebook by Open Road Integrated Media and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this book.
January 1, 2025
I read this shortly after it came out. I remember grabbing it off the library's paperback shelf with excitement. I was in 7th grade and just discovering there was a world of sci-fi outside of Star Trek, which didn't particularly grab me. I've read this collection a couple of times and it remains one of my favorites. It has stuck with me because Mosley, who is better known for exploring societal ills through the lens of his noir detective hero Easy Rawlins, is equally talented at applying a critical lens to science fiction. This book deals with issues unique to African-Americans and their experiences are at the forefront when he thinks about what would happen if aliens, nuclear war, or an epidemic were to strike the world. People of color are all too often erased in the science fiction genre, but not here. While he isn't as well known in the genre as Octavia E. Butler, I've found his work much more easily digestible. Highly recommend.
January 10, 2019
2018 Reading Challenge - A cyberpunk book
I hate to say it, but Walter Mosley should stick to mysteries. I found this book absolutely awful. It was a total dystopian view of the possible future (present? since some of the dates were earlier than this year). But it wasn't just that it was dystopian, it was how this dystopia was imagined. It was a dystopia that didn't seem to be able to get through one story without a woman walking around in public "naked and completely hairless from head to toe". So, women, that's what we get in the future, we get to be sex bots with no hair, looking prepubescent. Honestly, it was disturbing. Every other aspect of the stories was equally morbid. I don't recommend it, at all.
I hate to say it, but Walter Mosley should stick to mysteries. I found this book absolutely awful. It was a total dystopian view of the possible future (present? since some of the dates were earlier than this year). But it wasn't just that it was dystopian, it was how this dystopia was imagined. It was a dystopia that didn't seem to be able to get through one story without a woman walking around in public "naked and completely hairless from head to toe". So, women, that's what we get in the future, we get to be sex bots with no hair, looking prepubescent. Honestly, it was disturbing. Every other aspect of the stories was equally morbid. I don't recommend it, at all.
October 2, 2015
I started this book thinking "9 Stories of an Imminent World" meant it was a collection of self-contained short stories. It's true, but not the full picture. They all take place in the *same* world, and the stories cross paths, overlap and influence each other. I wish I'd known this at the beginning, because now I'm going to have to re-read it.
If you enjoy dystopian sci-fi set in the not too distant future, give it a read. It's la better-written, grown up version of the Hunger Games/Divergent/etc.
If you enjoy dystopian sci-fi set in the not too distant future, give it a read. It's la better-written, grown up version of the Hunger Games/Divergent/etc.
September 27, 2015
Extremely pleased with how much I ended up enjoying this fascinating set of stories. I don't recall how I heard about this one but I was thoroughly engrossed. I typically like the style of this type of collection, where stories build on one another, and this was done with more success and style than I remember encountering in a long time. The stories themselves are eerie, smart, scary, and deep. I will be seeking out more by Mosley.
September 2, 2017
Futureland is a thought provoking page-turner. It fits in with other depictions of a hypercapitalist future such as Oryx and Crake and Snowcrash. It is a book of short stories, but they all take place in the same world and milieu, so in a way it is like reading a novel. I felt like I could have known many of the characters, or seen myself in their shoes.
January 9, 2018
The short stories in this book were each so poignant in their own way. I connected with the characters very quickly through the excellent writing and though I didn't want their stories to end they each wrapped up perfectly. I loved the way the plot developed through different perspectives and connected in surprising ways. An visionary warning of how our world could end up.
December 19, 2020
A group of short stories set in the same imminent dystopian future (which is mostly the past now, since the book was published in 2001). The writing is good, but the stories feel thin somehow, and the author seems to have something of an obsession with women who have had all their hair shaved off walking around in public.
October 15, 2022
Fantastic world building and a couple of phenomenal stories but the women “characters” are atrocious. All but 1 or 2 are sex slaves or prostitutes basically just objects for our main characters one who repeatedly has sex with an UNDERAGE sex slave and he’s a “good” guy
February 6, 2025
I’ve read this 2-3 times and it’s fantastic! It’s so creative and scary. It’s one of the only utterly bleak books that I could get through without feeling depressed afterwards.
February 20, 2022
Wow, this utterly fascinating novel blew me away! I enjoyed every single time I dipped into it, and I sincerely wish there had been more of it, like a series or something. If anyone knows of any more sci-fi that Mosley has written, please let me know!
My favorite stories in this collection were Whispers in the Dark, Angel Island, the Electric Eye, Voices (especially this one), and En Masse. I seriously want more.
I agree with most of what my friend Phil says about this novel in his review, except for the part where the stories were weakest. I didn’t find them weak at all:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I also find that my friend Vincent understand what this author was trying to say better, and the genius of Walter Mosley’s writing as well:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
All in all, I will definitely read more of Mosley’s works, and soon. I mean I was going to already, but reading this novel has rocketed Mosley’s works right up to the top of my tbr pile.
4 stars, and highly, enthusiastically recommended.
My favorite stories in this collection were Whispers in the Dark, Angel Island, the Electric Eye, Voices (especially this one), and En Masse. I seriously want more.
I agree with most of what my friend Phil says about this novel in his review, except for the part where the stories were weakest. I didn’t find them weak at all:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I also find that my friend Vincent understand what this author was trying to say better, and the genius of Walter Mosley’s writing as well:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
All in all, I will definitely read more of Mosley’s works, and soon. I mean I was going to already, but reading this novel has rocketed Mosley’s works right up to the top of my tbr pile.
4 stars, and highly, enthusiastically recommended.
August 6, 2025
I love Walter Mosley. I loved his detective novels. I read Futureland even though it was a collection of stories and not one story. Not my favorite but there are moments. I like Mosley's perspective. He has a unique vision of American society in the future. Enjoyable but not happy that the nine stories could have been stitched into one great novel. Maybe?
March 7, 2024
When this was published it must have read like a dystopic vision of the future. Today in 2024 it feels like realistic description of tomorrow. Themes of oppression, corporatism, capitalism and lack of freedom are the core of the loosely connected stories. Actually the short stories are more like chapters of a novel, each from a new viewpoint with new characters on different part of the timeline. They could be separate pieces but they are clearly meant to form a whole.
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