Just a quick note to congratulate tireless Futurismic columnist Brenda Cooper, whose short story “The Hebras And The Demons And The Damned”appears in the TOC of Hartwell and Cramer’s 16th Year’s Best SF anthology… alongside some other very fine authors, I might add.
Bravo, Brenda!
Well, here we are: the last piece of Futurismic fiction for a while. But talk about ending on a high note! When Chris sent across Lori Ann White‘s “World In Progress” for me to look at, it felt as if she’d been carefully following the stuff I blog about here day after day, picking out some of my favourite riffs, memes and ideas, and rendering them down into one wonderful – and very human – story. It’s a super piece, and I’m proud to be publishing it; scroll down, read on, and find out why. 🙂
And in The Far Corner, Wearing a
Too-Tight Jock Strap and a Crown of Thorns–
CLOSE UP on a face. Calm, pale, waves of black hair brushed back from a broad forehead. Retro Guy. Grade A, 100% Pure Professional Athlete. No drugs, no mods, no tweaks, no prods. Just like the old farts ordered.
He’s staring at the wall above the mirror through eyes blue as an Artic bay. Pan to the wall, to the framed honest-to-god newsprint, photo of a thick-necked thug in too-tight jacket. He’s small, like Retro Guy, like they all used to be, but the smug grin and his squinty eyes radiate “big guy” waves. He’s got one arm around a sad brunette.
The caption: “Bruisin’ Brawler Gene O’Connor: ‘No God-Damned Upgrades! My Boy Will be a Real Boxer, Just Like His Old Man.'”
The camera pans back to Retro Guy’s face.
“Hey, Old Man,” he whispers. “This fight’s for you.” Continue reading NEW FICTION: WORLD IN PROGRESS by Lori Ann White
For Genevieve Valentine, it certainly is! Few things make this particular publisher happier than seeing the authors he’s published getting published elsewhere, and so it’s lovely to see Genevieve Valentine’s Futurismic dystopia “Is This Your Day To Join The Revolution?” nestling in the TOC of the insanely prolific John Joseph Adams’ latest anthology, Brave New Worlds… among some very notable names indeed, I might add*.
Bravo, Genevieve! 🙂
[ * I can’t help but giggle every time I see “Harlan Ellison®” in a TOC; there’s something charmingly odd about an author achieving their apotheosis as registered brand while still alive. ]
Memory has always been a popular theme in Futurismic‘s fiction selection; maybe that’s a sign of the times, as I seem to blog about neuroscience and memory a lot in recent months, or maybe it’s just one of the frontiers that science fiction will always be best equipped to explore.
Either which way, I’m super proud to have Stephen Gaskell return to the site with “Platform 17”. What would you do to cure your child’s nightmares? Would you go so far as to penetrate to their heart? And what might doing so make you become?
Enjoy!
Orsi stroked her son’s head. He slept fitfully, his hair sweaty and matted. From time to time, he moaned, made a low, frightened noise like a cornered animal. She’d rocked him to sleep an hour earlier, then carried him to his bed with numb arms.
“Oh, kicsi,” she whispered, straightening the rumpled blankets. She thought about singing a lullaby, but immediately felt silly at the idea. Csaba was ten, not two.
He jerked his neck back, eyelids twitching. His whole body shuddered and his arm came up to his head as though he were about to shield himself from a blow. “No, no,” he muttered, frantic. The arm across his face trembled, then lurched downwards as if it were being moved against his will. Then, as the previous night and the five before, he began screaming. Not a hearty shriek, but a terrible, hoarse, broken wail like fingernails raking down a blackboard.
“Csaba!” Orsi gripped his shoulders, shook him. “Csaba, wake up! It’s only a dream.”
His eyes blinked open, but he kept screaming. His face was pale, horrified.
“What did he do to you?” Orsi said, hugging her son too hard. “What did your father do to you?”
His screams faded, became whimpers. He didn’t answer. Continue reading NEW FICTION: PLATFORM 17 by Stephen Gaskell
Thanks very much to those of you who voted; we had a tie for second place, so to keep things fair and impartial from the editorial side I flipped a coin to decide between them. The Futurismic nominations for the Phoenix Pick Award are:
Best of luck to Sandra and Silvia! I’ll keep us updated as news arrives