'In 1738, English preacher, Isaac Watts wrote ‘The world to come’, a Christian tract about departed souls, death, and the glory or terror of the resurrection. Almost 300 years later the world to come still fascinates readers. It’s not only climate change, it’s the climate of everything: from technological ‘advances’ that threaten to create an immortal humanity; to an endless ‘war on terror,’ which means that, though we may never know war, nor will we ever truly know peace; to a thousand visions of post-Apocalyptic life in the media. The world to come is everywhere; it is with us now… In this anthology, twenty-one writers respond to the world to come – the one just around the corner, the hereafter and the everywhen.
''A veritable smorgasbord of sci-fi and speculative fiction by hand-picked writers from across the globe out to amaze, shock and stir readers with a palate for the unexpected and disconcerting. These stories are compelling works of creative genius.'' (Publication summary)
Only literary material by Australian authors individually indexed. Other material in this issue includes:
Fix by British author Leonie Ross
The Breaking of the Glass by Malaysian author Tham Chui-Joe
The Cure by British author Abir Hamdar
Caretakers by American author John Fulton
The Whale God by American author Jeanette Zissell
Progress by American author John J. Shulman
The Word for the Future by Cameroon author Eunice Ngongkum
Game by Denmark-based author Tabish Khair
The Future is Wow by French-born, Denmark-based Sébastien Doubinsky
Europe is Not a Country by Ugandan author Bwesigye bwa Mwesigire
'A document, purported to be from the future, describes the eutopia brought about through decentralization, living locally but connecting globally, and sustainable environmental practices.'
Source: Utopian Literature in English.
