The Way the Future Was

The Way the Future Was. Greenberg, Martin H., and Rebecca Lickiss, editors. New York: DAW Books, 2007.

Reviewed by Ed Carmien, SFRA Review #283 (Winter 2008): pp. 9-10.[1]

These 16 stories, from folks you’ve heard of such as Mike Resnick and Kristine Kathryn Rusch and others, dip into retro SF themes and go beyond. Greenberg, of Tekno Books fame, leads a cadre of book packagers based in Wisconsin. [...]. With Lickiss, it seems they gave writers permission to not be cutting edge, permission to be old fashioned, at least in some ways.

“All the science fiction that I read,” writes Lickiss[...], “clearly implied that the future would hold wonders . . . that would revolutionize our lives.” She foresaw a utopia built through technology. Sadly, she notes she doesn’t live on the moon: “Someone, somewhere along the line didn’t keep the implied promise of the future.” Hence The Way the Future Was. (p. 9)

Includes such relevant stories as "A Rosé for Emily," "Good Old Days," "Alien Voices," and "My Father the Popsicle," which see.

RDE, finishing, 3Jan21