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pepperandpages's review
3.0
I Remember the Future by Michael A. Burstein features fifteen short stories. My opinion of this book as a whole on this collection is mixed. There were definitely stories that stood out and some that really just left me disappointed. I found the science fiction element to many of these stories lacking or so minor that I honestly couldn’t really consider that it was science fiction at all.
Kaddish for the Last Story- The book opens with a story about a young woman visiting her grandfather, the world’s last Holocaust survivor. This story, while interesting, was just okay in my opinion. The science fiction element to the story felt almost forced.
Teleabsence/Telepresence- The following two stories in this collection were connected. Teleabsence tells the story of a young student wanting nothing more than to be a part of a virtual school classroom. Telepresence is set several years later when that same young student is an adult working to implement the virtual school system in public schools, rather than just private. These were decent stories. I found the concept of the virtual school systems to be interesting.
Broken Symmetry/Absent Friends/Reality Check/Empty Spaces- All four of these stories were also connected. I wish these stories had not been near the beginning of the collection because I honestly almost did not finish this book because of these four stories. These stories are about two parallel universes of Earth that are trying to keep a scientific research facility open. It involves several different characters, and their reasons for wanting this scientific research facility to remain open. My first issue with these stories is that the relationships between characters seemed unrealistic and very forced. The sense of loss Jack Levinson had for his friend Daniel that carried through all four stories was just so unrealistic to me, and it was honestly painful for me to read. I’m not at all implying that a truly great friendship cannot cause so much grief; I just have to agree with the other characters in that Jack let it define his life when at some point he really should have moved on. Additionally, it was drawn out too much over all four stories. If this had come up in just the first or second story, I probably wouldn’t have been bothered by it, but these stories were long and essentially boring to me. I think if a writer is going to work on a parallel universe set of stories, that it has to be a bit more spectacular. (i.e. China Mieville’s The City and The City being my personal favorite). I do recommend that as a reader, you either skip these stories or push through and keep reading because after these the collection starts to shine. That’s why I almost wish they had been left out or moved to the end.
Spaceships- A short but interesting story about the future of humanity.
Decisions-This story had a very hopeful message about the relationship between humans and aliens/extra-terrestrial life. The story begins with an astronaut being locked up/contained for returning from his space mission before he even left. This story is very positive, and it was good.
Time Ablaze- This was probably one of the best stories in the collection. Honestly, I wish it had been placed first. This story takes place in the early 1900’s and revolves around a young boarder in a German neighborhood in New York. I don’t want to spoil too much on this story, but it was a great piece about time travel and interfering with a fixed point in time.
Seventy-Five Years- I disliked this story. It was uninteresting and almost pointless to me. The one small nod to the science fiction genre was so slight it might as well have been non-existent to begin with. I understand from the author’s own comments that he wrote this story specifically for the 75th Anniversary edition of Analog, but I think readers will be sorely disappointed in this story. Also, once again the way in which the relationships were described between characters were unrealistic, awkward and poorly executed.
Sanctuary-This story wasn’t terrible, but it did drag on a bit in my opinion. The story is about an alien claiming Sanctuary before a priest on a space station to be protected from the laws which govern its own home planet regarding childbirth/abortion. I think the ending left a lot to be desired. It was a realistic ending, but it just made me feel like the story was almost pointless.
I Remember the Future-Also a wonderful story. I really enjoyed the little snippets included in the story from the main character’s (who is an author) own novels. This story was quite literally perfect, and definitely ties Time Ablaze for best story in the collection.
Cosmic Corkscrew-Average time travel story. Nothing really spectacular going on here.
Paying it Forward-Interesting, yet disappointing. My main issue with this story and so many others in the collection is that it was very dry. The stories told me a great deal, but I didn’t feel like they showed me anything. This story didn’t really seem to have a plot. It was just a fiction autobiography about an author’s rise to fame and how he accomplishes that through the relationship with a seemingly deceased and great science fiction writer.
This collection is good, but it isn’t great. I actually really love Analog magazine so I was excited to read this collection since most of these were previously published there, but I think that on the whole, this is one of the more disappointing collections of short stories I have yet to read.
Kaddish for the Last Story- The book opens with a story about a young woman visiting her grandfather, the world’s last Holocaust survivor. This story, while interesting, was just okay in my opinion. The science fiction element to the story felt almost forced.
Teleabsence/Telepresence- The following two stories in this collection were connected. Teleabsence tells the story of a young student wanting nothing more than to be a part of a virtual school classroom. Telepresence is set several years later when that same young student is an adult working to implement the virtual school system in public schools, rather than just private. These were decent stories. I found the concept of the virtual school systems to be interesting.
Broken Symmetry/Absent Friends/Reality Check/Empty Spaces- All four of these stories were also connected. I wish these stories had not been near the beginning of the collection because I honestly almost did not finish this book because of these four stories. These stories are about two parallel universes of Earth that are trying to keep a scientific research facility open. It involves several different characters, and their reasons for wanting this scientific research facility to remain open. My first issue with these stories is that the relationships between characters seemed unrealistic and very forced. The sense of loss Jack Levinson had for his friend Daniel that carried through all four stories was just so unrealistic to me, and it was honestly painful for me to read. I’m not at all implying that a truly great friendship cannot cause so much grief; I just have to agree with the other characters in that Jack let it define his life when at some point he really should have moved on. Additionally, it was drawn out too much over all four stories. If this had come up in just the first or second story, I probably wouldn’t have been bothered by it, but these stories were long and essentially boring to me. I think if a writer is going to work on a parallel universe set of stories, that it has to be a bit more spectacular. (i.e. China Mieville’s The City and The City being my personal favorite). I do recommend that as a reader, you either skip these stories or push through and keep reading because after these the collection starts to shine. That’s why I almost wish they had been left out or moved to the end.
Spaceships- A short but interesting story about the future of humanity.
Decisions-This story had a very hopeful message about the relationship between humans and aliens/extra-terrestrial life. The story begins with an astronaut being locked up/contained for returning from his space mission before he even left. This story is very positive, and it was good.
Time Ablaze- This was probably one of the best stories in the collection. Honestly, I wish it had been placed first. This story takes place in the early 1900’s and revolves around a young boarder in a German neighborhood in New York. I don’t want to spoil too much on this story, but it was a great piece about time travel and interfering with a fixed point in time.
Seventy-Five Years- I disliked this story. It was uninteresting and almost pointless to me. The one small nod to the science fiction genre was so slight it might as well have been non-existent to begin with. I understand from the author’s own comments that he wrote this story specifically for the 75th Anniversary edition of Analog, but I think readers will be sorely disappointed in this story. Also, once again the way in which the relationships were described between characters were unrealistic, awkward and poorly executed.
Sanctuary-This story wasn’t terrible, but it did drag on a bit in my opinion. The story is about an alien claiming Sanctuary before a priest on a space station to be protected from the laws which govern its own home planet regarding childbirth/abortion. I think the ending left a lot to be desired. It was a realistic ending, but it just made me feel like the story was almost pointless.
I Remember the Future-Also a wonderful story. I really enjoyed the little snippets included in the story from the main character’s (who is an author) own novels. This story was quite literally perfect, and definitely ties Time Ablaze for best story in the collection.
Cosmic Corkscrew-Average time travel story. Nothing really spectacular going on here.
Paying it Forward-Interesting, yet disappointing. My main issue with this story and so many others in the collection is that it was very dry. The stories told me a great deal, but I didn’t feel like they showed me anything. This story didn’t really seem to have a plot. It was just a fiction autobiography about an author’s rise to fame and how he accomplishes that through the relationship with a seemingly deceased and great science fiction writer.
This collection is good, but it isn’t great. I actually really love Analog magazine so I was excited to read this collection since most of these were previously published there, but I think that on the whole, this is one of the more disappointing collections of short stories I have yet to read.
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