Future on Ice [Anglais] [Relié]

The much-delayed follow-up to Future on Fire, another anthology of the best short SF from the 1980s, Future on Ice delivers a tight, choice collection from some of the genre's top names--Isaac Asimov, Octavia Butler, Greg Bear, George R.R. Martin, Nancy Kress, and others. SF anthologies live or die by the quality of their ideas, and Future on Ice doesn't disappoint: editor Orson Scott Card (a genre powerhouse himself) has put together an eclectic and thought-provoking set of 18 stories, from Butler's disturbing but imaginative vision of a burned-out future without language to Martin's Twilight Zone-esque retrospective on the life of an arrogant author, in which paintings of his characters come to life to haunt him. Other standouts include a classic dreaming android story from Asimov and Bear's galaxy-in-a-grain-of-sand tale, in which a person inadvertently becomes the living host to an entire universe. Card ably bookends the set with a story of his own and a compelling introductory essay on the Force and how sci-fi is really religious literature. (Other authors in the anthology include John Kessel, Gregory Benford, Andrew Weiner, David Zindell, C.J. Cherryh, Lewis Shiner, John Crowley, John Varley, S.C. Sykes, Karen Joy Fowler, and Walter Jon Williams.) --Paul Hughes

YA-A popular YA novelist and sci-fi writer has put together a second anthology of 18 short stories by important SF writers of the 1980s. It is just as powerful as Future on Fire (Tor, 1991). Set in places uncannily familiar or disturbingly bizarre, the selections tell of family love, robot ambitions, language and loneliness, misguided political negotiations, and, of course, an assortment of very strange creatures. Card's notes tell in a particularly humorous and anecdotal tone about his encounters with the authors. The book is also worth having just for Card's introductory essay in which he takes an intriguing look at the way religious "ideas" can be and are often explored at some depth in this genre. Thought-provoking and illuminating reading, but best of all, entertaining.
Cynthia J. Rieben, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This companion to Future on Fire (1989) presents short stories from the 1980s by some of the finest sf authors. Editor Card has chosen each story not only for its superior quality but also for the intriguing moral dilemma inherent to its theme. In "Robot Dreams" by Isaac Asimov, judgment is made on the evolution of a self-aware robot, and in "Dinosaurs" by Walter Jon Williams, the human race has evolved to consider genocide a part of its manifest destiny. Every author is a famous name in the genre; they include, besides Asimov and Williams, such powerhouses as Greg Bear, Octavia Butler, C. J. Cherryh, and John Kessel. Card's lengthy preface on the theme of "the Force" in sf is both interesting and curious in that it becomes a polemic on morality that decries the victimization of Clarence Thomas. Although that preface is questionable, the quality of Card's choices is above reproach. Eric Robbins

A collection originally intended as a companion to the 1989 volume Future on Fire (not seen), a showcase of 1980s science fiction stories; editor Card remarks on the hiatus but offers no explanation. He does, however, supply a hefty introduction that ties in such diverse topics as Star Wars, religion, science, and moral philosophy. Of these 18 pieces, 198387, several have gone on to fame and fortune: John Varley's computer paranoia, ``Press Enter''; ``Robot Dream,'' Isaac Asimov's metal Moses; George R. R. Martin's ``Portraits of His Children'' (which literally come alive); Lisa Goldstein's ``Tourists'' turned into a novel; Greg Bear's microscopic, intelligent computers that play ``Blood Music''; John Kessel's ``The Pure Product,'' which deals in corrupt futures; and ``Out of All Them Bright Stars,'' where Nancy Kress's blue aliens choose Earth to visit. Other tales are less famous but almost as good. Quality material, if a dollar over and a decade late. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

"An excellent anthology." --Denver Post
--Ce texte fait référence à l'édition Broché .

A widely varied, immensely enjoyable, and historically important anthology, Future On Ice is a showcase for the hottest stories by the coolest SF writers of the 1980s. Complete with a preface, introduction, and story notes by Card hilself, here are early stories from eighteen incredibly talented authors who have since shattered the face of science fiction.

The long-awaited companion volume to "Future on Fire", this anthology is designed to freeze readers in their tracks and change the way they think. Here are early stories from widely varied and immensely talented authors who have since shattered the face of science fiction.

Born in Richland, Washington in 1951, Orson Scott Card grew up in California, Arizona, and Utah. He lived in Brazil for two years as an unpaid missionary for the Mormon Church and received degrees from Brigham Young University (1975) and the University of Utah (1981). The author of numerous books, Card was the first writer to receive both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel two years in a row, first for Ender's Game and then for the sequel Speaker for the Dead. He lives with his wife and children in North Carolina.
--Ce texte fait référence à l'édition Broché .