Future on Ice (Future on Fire) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

There are several reasons why I enjoyed the book so much. First, the roster of authors is impressive, with Nancy Kress, Octavia Butler, Greg Bear, Gregory Benford and Card himself, just to name a few. With these authors, the quality and entertainment value of the stories has to be high.

Second, it seemed almost each story had great depth, plot and sci-fi content. This is a rarity in anthologies; I have a personal ranking system for anthologies, and if I can legitimately say that 50% or more of the short stories held my interest and were of high-quality, then I can consider the anthology itself a success and my time was not wasted. I would say that "Future," to the best of my recollection, has a perfect batting average in this regard (again, a huge rarity that I enjoyed every story).

Third, most of the stories had some great catch; either it was an unexpected ending, a plot twist or a profound message. After my fourth or fifth story, I had become hooked and read each story awaiting the surprise.

Last, this anthology is somewhat historical in nature, in that the reader is given a glimpse of some of these now-great authors when they were not-so-great (the 1980's). Oftentimes, this kind of early work is refreshing and different than the work a recognized author may produce.

I hate to use a cliche, but this would be one of my "must have's" for the serious collector of sci-fi anthologies.

But it's a really great anthology, one that you can't miss.

As for Orson Scott Card's introductions, they're nice, not all too informative, and well written (of course). The degree to which you'll enjoy them depends on how much you're willing to tolerate Card's well intentioned conservatism.

But it's the stories, not those who tell them. Other than Lewis Shiner's story, I liked all of them, but I'm gonna talk about the ones that made the most impression on me: Isaac Asimov's Robot Dreams, John Varley's Press Enter, Walter Jon William's Dinosaurs, and George R. R. Martin's Portraits of His Children.

I could probably write an essey that would be longer than the story about Asimov's Robot Dream. It is a dlightful return of Susan Calvin, one I wasn't aware of. It also continues the theme Asimov has had in his last decades, of the thinning difference between the human and the Robot. It isn't as full as 'That Thou Art Mindful of Him' or 'The Bicential Man', and Susan Calvin lacks her passion for Robots, but it is fascinating anyway.

I've read John Varley's story about 5 years ago, and I thought it was one of the best short fiction pieces I've ever read. It is every bit as good in the second reading. Varley writes a tale that is even more chilling today, in the days of internet, than it was in the 80s. He proves he understands History, Computers, Medicin - but most importantly, character.

Walter Jon William's Dinosaurs was an incredible surprise. I've read some of Williams's Wild Cards stories, and I've liked them well enough, but Dinosaurs is one a whole new class. It is a story as powerful as any SF short fiction, a real classic of the field, imaginative and page turning. Williams has immidiately become and author to watch out for.

And than we come to George R. R. Martin. I've left his story for the last, and so I'll also talk about it at the end. Martin is my favorite living author (Asimov is probably my favorite all time author, though it's a close call), but every time I get to read one of his stories, I think " It can't probably be THAT good", and yet, it allways is.

Portraits of His Children isn't a Science Fiction story - it is a Dark Fantasy/Horror story, but it is no less powerful for that. It is clever, unique, and most of all, touching. It has won its Nebula deservedly.

Those were my favorites, but they don't have to be yours. Greg Bear wrote a kick ess story about micro-aliens. Octavia Butler wrote a Hugo award winning tale about a post-apocaliptical world that is a place familiar in tone to all Butler fans, myself included. C.J Cherry(sp?) wrote POTS, a unique Space Opera tale that was the first of her works I've read, but surely not the last. And Orson Scott Card finishes the book with a story about the future of Civilazation - where the world might be different, but people aren't.

This is a unique anthology. I read all of it in record tim, and enjoyed it tremendously. It truly has some of the best SF stories out there - Viva the Eighties.

This is a collection of 18 stories by prominent science fiction authors in the 1980's. Before reading this book, I hadn't even heard of most of them. Honestly, I expected it to be similar to some of Isaac Asimov's anthologies, where there is usually one or two good stories and a whole lot of mediocre ones. But Card really surprised me.

Out of 18 stories, two of them rank up there with some of my favorite short stories of all time (S.C. Syke's "Rockabye Baby" and Orson Scott Card's "The Fringe" -- both of which, ironically, dealt with severely handicapped characters).

Almost all the others were also much better than I expected, especially George Martin's "Portraits of His Children", Octavia Butler's "Speech Sounds", and John Crowley's "Snow".

Unfortunately, as is the case in most anthologies, there were also two real stinkers in the book: Asimov's uninspired "Robot Dreams" and Lisa Goldstein's "Tourists".

One the whole, however, I'd heartily recommend this book one to any fan of science fiction, but also to any open-minded reader who enjoys character-driven fiction with a twist of the imaginative.

Orson Scott Card has also edited other anthologies, including FUTURE ON FIRE (1980 - a companion volume), TURNING HEARTS (1994), DRAGONS OF LIGHT (1980), and DRAGONS OF DARKNESS (1981). He also had a small role in co-editing BLACK MIST AND OTHER JAPANESE FUTURES with two other authors.