Description

Stories set in a variety of futures from the award-winning heir of Arthur C. Clarke: Traces gives a kaleidoscopic vision of the possibilities for humankind.

There are visions of histories which differ from our own, either through small changes – what if Germany had won WWI (`Mittelwelt ) – or through a fundamental difference in physical laws – what if Archimedes had been right in his clockwork-like cosmological vision (`No Longer Touch the Earth ).

There are visions of futures in which people struggle to survive in a variety of bizarre environments (`Downstream , `The Blood of Angels ), or, weakened and powerless, inhabit the end of worlds (`Inherit the Earth , `George and the Comet ).

There are explorations of astonishing events of our own lifetimes, in particular the grand expansion into space (`Zemlya , `Moon Six , `Pilgrim 7 ).

These visions give an impression of the contingency of our everyday here-and-now, surrounded as it is by an infinite array of possible pasts, presents, and futures.