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Jump to navigationJump to search22 Ideas About The Future by Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors) (view source)
Revision as of 12:59, 7 September 2022
, 12:59, 7 September 2022no edit summary
I've got a couple of confessions to make. I'm not keen on short stories as I find it easy to read a few stories and then forget to return to the book. There's got to be a very compelling hook to keep me engaged. Then there's science fiction: far too often it's the technology which takes centre stage along with the world-building. It's human beings who fascinate me: the technology and the world scape are purely incidental. So, what did I think of a book of twenty-two science fiction short stories? Well, I loved it.
Control over our lives has been subverted and in ''22 Ideas About The Future'' we look at what's happening in four different areas. I'll resist the temptation to tell you about each story as we could end up with a review that's longer than the book: it would be too easy to rave. In ''Technologisation of Healthcare'', ''Virtually Dead'' by Jule Owen makes a stunning opening for the section and the book. Mike Benz finds himself cancelled without recourse when the health-plan watch he wears malfunctions and declares him dead. Even his home is no longer his. It seemed all too worryingly possible.
''Recovery of the High Street'' opens with ''Viral Advertising '' by George Jacobs. The High Street has become something entirely different, home to the big names of commerce but Ren ''wouldn't let the high street kill the true independents''. We've seen the seeds of that already. ''Togetherness'' by Mark Huntley-James had me howling with laughter as his deliveries were rerouted around the country before they could get to his local pick-up point. Then I heard about an organisation which is - even now - finding that its post can take three weeks to arrive for similar reasons. ''The Time-Travelling Milkman'' by Jane Norris is a delightful story of how the distribution of milk has - and could - evolve.
Each section is pulled together by an ''Afterword''. They're all thought-provoking and highlight points that you might have missed: I loved the way that they pushed my mind into unvisited corners.
In most short stories story collections, some are weaker than others. In ''22 Ideas About The Future'' I found some stories which I ''preferred'' but they're all strong and the quality of the writing is excellent. Themes of the present are extended into the future and we see how our world could develop. I looked at the question of 'data' differently: we donate it too readily without appreciating the purposes for which it might be used: ''the winner is always the data scraper, rarely the data giver''. I'll always remember that ''ethical data'' is an oxymoron.
It's a different way to look at the near future and the stories free our minds ''to consider the inequalities embedded in our economic system'' and I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag. Reading was a real pleasure.
