Future On Fire

by Orson Scott Card (Editor)

A provocative collection of short fiction, edited by one of science fiction's best-known names. Of particular interest are several stories from the cyberpunk school, as well as Pat Murphy's Nebula award winning `"Rachel in Love' and Ursula LeGuin's wonderful "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight.'

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 15, 1991

About the author

Orson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is (as of 2023) the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; his opposition to homosexuality has provoked public criticism.
Card, who is a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, was born in Richland, Washington, and grew up in Utah and California. While he was a student at Brigham Young University (BYU), his plays were performed on stage. He served in Brazil as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and headed a community theater for two summers. Card had 27 short stories published between 1978 and 1979, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 1978. He earned a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981 and wrote novels in science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and historical fiction genres starting in 1979. Card continued to write prolifically, and he has published over 50 novels and 45 short stories.
Card teaches English at Southern Virginia University; he has written two books on creative writing and serves as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest. He has taught many successful writers at his "literary boot camps". He remains a practicing member of the LDS Church and Mormon fiction writers Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton have cited his works as a major influence.

Reviews

[Howell Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 1991 anthology of stories from the 1980s, with writers like Ursula K. Le Guin and Kim Stanley Robinson and a bunch of others I am glad to have been introduced to. I found this book while going through some stuff to throw out and thought I would read just one story, but that one was good and so I read another, and another ... Unlike most anothologies I have read, the introductions are long (as many as six pages), but worth reading, because it's Orson Scott Card and he is a smart man who knows a lot about writing andthe authors here. And since I have not kept up with science fiction as much as I would have linked in recent years, this was a very good update (or partial update).

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading this collection of short stories (along with Future on Ice) when I was young and really enjoying the stories. This second time through, it felt that while some of the stories haven't really aged well, many of them are still quite solid. I particular liked Ursula LeGuin's 'Buffalo Gals Won't You Come Out Tonight' (that was really more of a fable than anything else) and 'Rachel in Love.' The other stories range from straightforward science fiction ('Rat,' 'Dogfight,' 'Down and Out in the Year 2000,' and 'Pretty Boy Crossover') to the very strange ('Angel Baby').

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short science fiction stories from the Eighties edited by Orson Scott Card. The stand-out: "Green Days in Brunei" by Bruce Sterling. Other stories are by Michael Swanwick & William Gibson, Lucius Shepard, Kim Stanley Robinson and Ursula LeGuin--and more. A very disturbing story by Connie Willis--"All My Darling Daughters."

[Andrej · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A handful of masterpieces of American sci-fi short fiction from the 1980s. Each is introduced in an opinionated yet very thoughtful way by Orson Scott Card. Despite the book's diversity, there are some recurrent themes of the era: cyberpunk, collapse of inner cities, war on drugs, nuclear war. Funny how the society and literature have changed since then.

[Stefu Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not my favorite collection of short stories. Orson Scott Card has a way of picking stories with heavy sexual themes. My favorites were: A Gift from the GrayLanders (Michael Bishop), I Am the Burning Bush (Gregg Keizer), and Vestibular Man (Felix C. Gotschalk).

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruce Sterling's story make this totally worth the read, and so are many of the other stories.

[Brown Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a nostalgia exercise, I decided to reread this during a sultry July, which is when I read it the first time. These stories unscrewed my lid when I was 19. Some of them are still fairly edgy after all the intervening decades and have maintained their power, most are good choices for best of decade. The 1980s gave the world an outstanding bounty of short fiction, most which went unnoticed at the time. This is a good, short introduction.

Card's ancillary material is more idiosyncratic, but he makes some good points.

Dozois' Years Best series covering the years 1983 and forward are the surest guides available for the subject matter. If you have an interest, give them a try.

[Szymon Szott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed this anthology from the Internet Archive to read a single story by Kim Stanley Robinson, which was recommended as an eerily close prediction of, well, now. But then I saw that three other stories were on the Classics of Science Fiction Short Stories list. In the end, I ended up reading the whole book, enjoying almost every story. It turns out Orson Scott Card was at the top of his game as an editor at the time and the author introductions he did were really interesting.

[Ken Foreman · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Vestibular Man" remains my favorite short story and worth the purchase of the book. This is my second time reading Orson Scott Card's collection, and Felix Gottschalk's “Vestibular Man” is my favorite author and style. He's closely followed by Ursula K. LeGuin and Bruce Sterling. Future on Fire is a good mix of styles and stories.

[Bill Borre]

"Rat" by James Patrick Kelly - Rat is a drug dealer cornered by a fed in his home and tries to stall for time when he notices the fed is an addict. Rat attempts to get security to kill the fed but the addict feels remorse over what's become of his life and just decides to kill Rat instead of taking his drugs.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really great stories by his friends. Great for quick reads.

[Keith Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very strong anthology featuring great work from some established writers interspersed with promising stories from some newcomers.

[Anna]

I hunted down this book to read "The Neighbor's Wife," by Susan Palwick (pg. 163), right after she blew me away with her debut novel, Flying in Place.