Writing Future Worlds

This volume presents a comprehensive analysis of global future scenarios and their impact on a growing, shared culture. Ever since the end of the Cold War, a diverse range of future concepts has emerged in various areas of academia—and even in popular journalism. A number of these key concepts—‘the end of history,’ ‘the clash of civilizations,’ ‘the coming anarchy,’ ‘the world is flat,’ ‘soft power,’ ‘the post-American century’—suggest what could become characteristic of this new, interconnected world. Ulf Hannerz scrutinizes these ideas, considers their legacy, and suggests further dialogue between authors of the ‘American scenario’ and commentators elsewhere.

Discover the magic of Trudi Canavan with her brand new novel in the Traitor Spy trilogy. . . Events are building to a climax in Sachaka as Lorkin returns from his exile with the Traitor rebels. The Traitor Queen has given Lorkin the huge task of brokering an alliance between his people and the Traitors. Lorkin has also had to become a feared black magician in order to harness the power of an entirely new kind of gemstone magic. This knowledge could transform the Guild of Magicians -- or make Lorkin an outcast forever. The Traitor Spy trilogy, which began with The Ambassador's Mission and The Rogue, is the new series set in the world of the international bestselling Black Magician trilogy.

"Autonomous is to biotech and AI what Neuromancer was to the Internet."—Neal Stephenson "Something genuinely and thrillingly new in the naturalistic, subjective, paradoxically humanistic but non-anthropomorphic depiction of bot-POV—and all in the service of vivid, solid storytelling."—William Gibson When anything can be owned, how can we be free Earth, 2144. Jack is an anti-patent scientist turned drug pirate, traversing the world in a submarine as a pharmaceutical Robin Hood, fabricating cheap scrips for poor people who can’t otherwise afford them. But her latest drug hack has left a trail of lethal overdoses as people become addicted to their work, doing repetitive tasks until they become unsafe or insane. Hot on her trail, an unlikely pair: Eliasz, a brooding military agent, and his robotic partner, Paladin. As they race to stop information about the sinister origins of Jack’s drug from getting out, they begin to form an uncommonly close bond that neither of them fully understand. And underlying it all is one fundamental question: Is freedom possible in a culture where everything, even people, can be owned? At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

What are the possible future worlds of social science? How do these prospects compare with recent conclusions that social science “is generally a non-factor in policy debates and irrelevant to the lives of a host of real-world people,” as a well-known sociologist reported in the centennial volume of the American Sociological Association? This substantial study covers history, art and aesthetics, identity and the self, in seeking an answer to the question of ‘Future Worlds’.

Within the Future Worlds Sci-fi Anthology you will find stories spun from the webs of current Future House bestselling books. Whether you are a fan of space dinosaurs, population annihilating bugs, interstellar magicians, man vs. distant planet scenarios, or colonization troubles, this anthology will have something galactic for you. Come get to know the Future House Publishing sci-fi authors. Featuring Cameron Dayton (Etherwalker), Michael Darling (Got Luck), Jared Garrett (Beat), Mark R Healy (Dawn of Procyon), Josi Russell (Caretaker, Guardians), D.W. Vogel (Horizon Alpha: Predators of Eden).

The author of Dark Age America shares a harrowing vision of the future and what you can do to take action and make change. Americans are expressing deep concern about US dependence on petroleum, rising energy prices and the threat of climate change. Unlike the energy crisis of the 1970s, however, there is a lurking fear that, now, the times are different, and the crisis may not easily be resolved. The Long Descent examines the basis of such fear through three core themes: Industrial society is following the same well-worn path that has led other civilizations into decline, a path involving a much slower and more complex transformation than the sudden catastrophes imagined by so many social critics today. The roots of the crisis lie in the cultural stories that shape the way we understand the world. Since problems cannot be solved with the same thinking that created them, these ways of thinking need to be replaced with others better suited to the needs of our time. It is too late for massive programs for top-down change; the change must come from individuals. Hope exists in actions that range from taking up a handicraft or adopting an “obsolete” technology, through planting an organic vegetable garden, taking charge of your own health care or spirituality, and building community. Focusing eloquently on constructive adaptation to massive change, this book will have wide appeal. Praise for The Long Descent “At once erudite and entertaining, Greer’s exploration of the dynamics of societal collapse couldn’t be more timely.” —Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute, and author of The Party’s Over and Peak Everything “Candidates for public office, and the voters who elect them, should be required to read [Greer’s] accurate diagnosis of the terminal illness our fossil-energy subsidized industrial civilization has too long denied. He shows how stubborn belief in perpetual progress blinded us to the abyss toward which we were speeding and thus impeded wise preparation for our unavoidable descent into a deindustrial age. We must hope that the array of mitigating tools he prescribes may yet render that descent down the back side of Hubbert’s peak less devastating than it will be if we insistently claim a right to be prodigal in using this finite Earth.” —Willam R. Catton, Jr., author of Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change

Through essays, poetry, stories, and images, writers and artists offer their perceptions of how we fit into the world and where we might be headed.