When putting together a short-fiction collection, any author who writes across a variety of genres is tempted to offer a sample of that range. Some readers appreciate that eclectic sort of approach. But I’ve been at this fiction-writing game for a while. I have enough stories of various types that I don’t have to mix-and-match. My last collection, Raiding the Hoard of Enchantment, was made up entirely of imaginary-world selections. Futures Near and Far is for those of you out there who prefer science fiction and just science fiction. As in, tales of space travel and nanotechnology and genetic engineering and virtual reality and extraterrestrial lifeforms. Here you are. Nary a dragon nor a vampire nor a superhero-in-tights to be seen.