Contributors
Anne Galloway is a Canadian ex-pat living in New Zealand. Trained in sociology and anthropology, she now teaches design and culture at Victoria University of Wellington. Her research investigates relations among people, places, animals and technologies, which basically means that she spends as much time as she can hanging out with merino sheep.
In the future
our social imagination will have caught up with our technological imagination – I hope.
our social imagination will have caught up with our technological imagination – I hope.
Nick Harkaway is the author of two novels, Angelmaker
and The Gone-Away World
, and a critical defence of digital culture, The Blind Giant
. He collects rare woodblock and kelp editions of William Gibson’s novels and eats no bivalves. He lives in London with his wife Clare, a human rights lawyer, and his daughter Clemency, an infant.
In the future
my great grandchildren will beat me at chess – but lose to me at squash.
my great grandchildren will beat me at chess – but lose to me at squash.
Paul McAuley worked as a research biologist and lectured in botany at the University of St Andrews before becoming a full-time writer. He has published over eighty short stories and nineteen novels, including Fairyland
(winner of the Arthur C. Clarke and John W. Campbell awards). He lives in north London.
In the future
the über-rich will adopt a new standard of beauty to befuddle ordinary mortals. We will howl at the moon in longing and loyalty.
the über-rich will adopt a new standard of beauty to befuddle ordinary mortals. We will howl at the moon in longing and loyalty.
T.D. Edge is the winner of the first Arc/Tomorrow Project fiction competition. His short fiction has appeared in Aeon
, Realms of Fantasy
, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
and Flash Fiction Online. Writing as Terry Edge, he has also published several "young adult" and children’s books. He has been a street-theatre performer, a prop-maker for Welsh National Opera, a signwriter, school caretaker, soft-toy salesman and a professional palm reader.
In the future
underachieving children will be recycled.
underachieving children will be recycled.
Holly Gramazio is a game designer for Hide&Seek, where she also curates the Sandpit, an event for designers and artists to try out new game ideas. Her most recent project was The New Year Games, for 12,000 players, which took place across Edinburgh, UK, on 1 January.
In the future
Lobby Ludd, cornered at last, will tear off his rubber mask and…
Lobby Ludd, cornered at last, will tear off his rubber mask and…
Simon Ings is the managing editor of Arc
. Of his novel Dead Water
the blogger Martin McGrath wrote, "He succeeds in getting you to care about what happens to these people and then he beats the living shit out of them." He is working on a history of Soviet science under Stalin, due from Faber in 2014, and consequently spends his spare time reading books about wheat and potatoes.
In the future
surgeons will replace our faces with amusing, easy-to-grasp emoticons.
surgeons will replace our faces with amusing, easy-to-grasp emoticons.
Kyle Munkittrick is by turns a bioethicist, a futurist and a critic. His musings on pop culture and the future of humanity have appeared all over the internet, including Discover Magazine
, io9, and Slate
. He lives in New York and wishes he lived in New New York.
In the future
the word "people" will no longer refer only to human beings; it will include other, novel forms of intelligent life.
the word "people" will no longer refer only to human beings; it will include other, novel forms of intelligent life.
Sumit Paul-Choudhury
Sumit Paul-Choudhury edits New Scientist
by day, acts as editor-in-chief of Arc
by moonlight and wins mild acclaim for his fiction by night.
In the future
we will change out of all recognition – as usual.
we will change out of all recognition – as usual.
Frederik Pohl Dubbed by Kingsley Amis "the most consistently able writer science fiction, in its modern form, has yet produced", Frederik Pohl has won most of the awards the field has to offer, as well as the American Book Award and the United Nations Society of Writers Award. His recent work of non-fiction, Chasing Science
, explores science as a spectator sport. He is the Encyclopedia Britannica
’s authority on the Roman emperor, Tiberius.
In the future
people will, slowly and painfully, be trying to undo the damage we’ve already done.
people will, slowly and painfully, be trying to undo the damage we’ve already done.
P. D. Smith writes for the Guardian, The Independent
, the Financial Times
and the Times Literary Supplement
. He is an Honorary Research Associate in the Science and Technology Studies Department at University College London. His most recent book is City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age
, published by Bloomsbury. His previous books include a history of superweapons, a life of Einstein, and a study of the German Weltanschauung
.
In the future
biology will no longer be fate. It will be an opportunity.
biology will no longer be fate. It will be an opportunity.
Sonja Vesterholt
Sonja Vesterholt has directed and produced around thirty documentaries and television programmes and has served on the jury at numerous international film festivals. Born in 1945 in the Soviet Union, she came to Denmark in 1970 and trained as a creative producer at the Danish Film School. She is the author of the bestseller Hunden er rask
("Dog is Well: Stories from my life in the USSR", 2011) and co-directed the documentary The Star Dreamer
(2002) with Mads Baastrup.
In the future
we will deploy a vaccine against evil.
we will deploy a vaccine against evil.
Regina Peldszus researches the human questions thrown up when people design for extreme environments – particularly deep space. With a background in design strategy and space studies, she has worked on projects for the European space industry and contributed design applications to mission simulations in Russia and the US.
In the future
we will all still be the victims of our glands.
we will all still be the victims of our glands.
Gord Sellar is a Canadian SF author who has lived in South Korea since late 2001. A past finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and a graduate of Clarion West, his work has appeared in many SF magazines and anthologies, and a complete collection of his stories is forthcoming in Korean translation.
In the future
we will snicker in our air-filtration masks at the sight of fanciful, archaic "Kurzweil curves" distributed by amused friends.
we will snicker in our air-filtration masks at the sight of fanciful, archaic "Kurzweil curves" distributed by amused friends.
Jeff VanderMeer is a two-time winner of the World Fantasy Award. His recent titles are Finch
, a novel, and The Third Bear
, a collection of stories. He is the co-founder of Shared Worlds, a unique science fiction/fantasy writing camp for teens in South Carolina. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida.
In the future
we will all have symbiotic goitres to store the toxins our bodies would otherwise accumulate from our increasingly polluted environment.
we will all have symbiotic goitres to store the toxins our bodies would otherwise accumulate from our increasingly polluted environment.