Explores contemporary fiction set in the near future to shed new light on our culture's relationship to the Anthropocene.

Messages from Heaven about the near Future of our World. By our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and our Mother of Salvation Holy Virgin Mary. Virgin Mary is God's Final Preacher God is always trying to lead man away from self-destruction. He sends his preachers. He sends his teachers. But these are snuffed out. Their words are not listened to and their invitations are rejected. So, finally, he has sent me. I am his final teacher, his final prophet. I am his last opportunity to change the course of history. There is no one behind me, no other message, no other signs than the ones that I will give. When I tell the world that it must listen to me, I am not speaking from a selfish and arrogant spirit. I am speaking as one who sees the destruction, the hopelessness of mankind if my words are not heeded. The second of five books from 2011 until 2015

“1920 - Dips Into The Near Future” is a 1917 work by English economist John Atkinson Hobson. It contains a number of satirical writings that predict what life and the world will be life in 1920, just three years after the first publication of this book. In these short satirical pieces, Hobson attempts to point out some of the hypocrisies of the 'Never-Endian' attitude which betrayed “every cause of liberty at home in a war of liberty” and claimed to “end a war by refusing every opportunity of making peace”. Contents include: “The Aged Service Act”, “Reprisals”, “The Laboratory of War-truth”, “D.O.R.A.”, “The Military Service (Females) Act”, “War-bondage”, “War Aims”, and “The New Jerusalem”. John Atkinson Hobson (1858 – 1940) was an English social scientist and economist most famous for his work on imperialism—which notably had an influence on Vladimir Lenin—as well as his theory of underconsumption. His early work also questioned the classical theory of rent and predicted the Neoclassical "marginal productivity" theory of distribution. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition together with a specially-commissioned new introduction on World War I.

Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.

The cities of the world stand at a crossroads. Amidst radical social, economic, and technological transformations, will the city become a driving force of creativity, diversity, and sustainability, or will it be a mechanism of inequality, despair, and environmental decay? At this critical moment, where do the stakes lie and what are the agents of change? From the time of its birth, the city has been held together by the commons. The book includes essays by Alejandro Zaera, Hyungmin Pai, Maider Llaguno, Nerea Calvillo, Hyewon Lee, Lindsay Bremner, Alex Ivancic, Iñaki Abalos, Charles Waldheim, David Gissen, Carlo Ratti, Daniele Belleri, Antoine Pico, Saskia Saseen, Adam Greenfield, Jesse LeCavalier, Philip Rode, Duncan McLaren, Julian Agyeman, Gunter Pauli, Gramazio and Kohler, Mario Carpo, Dirk E. Hebel, Marta H. Wisniewska, Felix Heisel, Mitchell Joachim, and Christian Hubert. The first publication of the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2017, proposes a framework that sets basic commons ? an evolving network of agencies, resources and technologies ? as the critical issue in the move towards a sustainable and just urbanism. It shows an exploration not of distant utopias, but of the very near future, because the emerging commons is changing the way we connect, make, move, recycle, sense, and share, and the way we manage air, water, energy and the earth. Whether met with fear or hope, they will very soon change the way we live in the city.

Science fiction comes in many flavors. Technological advances not too far-fetched or far off. For better or worse. Humanity’s next great leap, from Earth to the solar system and beyond. And of course, what sorts of creatures and cultures await us among the stars. Jason A. Adams and Kari Kilgore explore these areas and more, each with their own unique voice and twists of imagination. Come along for the adventure, near and far, tomorrow and into the future! Includes The Sound of Murder, GS-304, Renovations, The Garbage Belt, and Sunlit Dispositions. The Sound of Murder Self-improvement can be deadly. Insurance agency programmer Dana Sanderson only wants peace and quiet at work. A desire her micromanaging boss somehow never respects. Then the investigation of a rash of suspicious natural death claims lands on Dana’s laptop. Failure means huge payouts for the company. Success means a huge bonus for her. Find out if Dana’s risks outweigh her rewards in this clever digital mystery. GS-304 Mighty explorers of the galaxy Portarr and Flandarr inspect a non-descript watery planet in G-Sector. What they discover changes their lives. GS-304, the specimen that refuses to be a subject. Join the intrepid adventurers as they discover a strange beast that conquers their hearts. Renovations Bob Henderson despises the modern world. Talking elevators. Automated cars. Smart phones that track every move, mood, and thought. The day his office building grows security cameras in the halls, Bob realizes the modern world might despise him right back. What happens when the network decides to search for itself? The Garbage Belt Looking for humans? Just look for the garbage. From bones to plastic to dead electronics, people rarely manage to clean up after themselves. Humanity takes a long time to learn how to manage limited resources, too. The rare and precious get lost with the useless and plentiful. Meet Gayle Simmons, pilot of the Treasure Hunt. Rare and precious, in her sights. Sunlit Dispositions Sometimes, only Alex will do. A space station just exploded, and the Sunlit Spirit Empire calls in Alex, Free Troubleshooter extraordinaire. No last name needed. Alex wades into the strange world of Sunlit Spirit intrigue, gamma blaster in hand. Join Alex as he learns the deceptions behind the Truth.

"For anyone who would like a little substance alongside their escapism." Reader Review "I'm still thinking about it." Reader Review "I can't stop telling others to read it so I can discuss it with them!" Reader Review A billionaire with something to hide, and the artist who tries to resist him. It's 2048. Automation has stolen vast swathes of jobs, and the government pays everyone a no-strings-attached income, enough to live on, in order to keep the economy going. Society is split into those who can get jobs; engineers, managers, creatives, and those who cannot. Iva Brooksbank, Senior Investigator of the Enforcement Office, has made a career of taking down corporate moguls who flout the rules, and now she has Guy Strathclyde, CEO of Cybax Technologies, firmly in her sights. She's sure he's up to something, and races to find evidence that will stick, before her time runs out. Lulu Banks, a celebrated artist, uses her work to highlight the deep inequalities and injustices the world now faces, perpetuated, she thinks, by the relentless march of technology. But when she finds herself the object of Guy's affections, and becomes embroiled in Iva's investigation, Lulu must decide if she can trust Guy's word, his intentions, and his proclamations of love.

Subliminal persuasion while the world drowns. As an ad copywriter, Frank earns his living manipulating people's opinions. Hired to use his talent help a politician he hates win a presidential election, can his own mind be rebeling? His true love calls him to reclaim his own consciousness. A near-future, dystopian science fiction short story about: Global warming/climate change Capitalism Consumerism Subliminal persuasion and influence, especially in advertising How explicit images in advertizing haunt and influence our imaginations Environmental physical pollution Mental/emotional pollution The vast amounts of packaging and other waste our society throws away Political campaign advertising If you've ever felt frustrated over the refusal of people to lower their materialistic lifestyles for the good of the planet . . . Or if you've ever felt frustrated because no matter how hard you work, how much money you make, you're still not happy . . . Or if you've ever felt your mind influenced against your will by advertising . . . You can relate to Mirror Maze. Warning: I've used a sort of semi-stream of consciousness style to convey the emotional collapse of the main character. As an advertising copywriter, he writes the ads, but is even more influenced by their words and images than the average person. Despite being one of the manipulators, he's as caught in the 'mirror maze' of our modern narcissistic society as any of us.

The friendly man shocks the bar by paying for everybody's drinks with a silver quarter. His ruthless killing in the street outside surprises nobody. When private detective Crain Dalton seeks out the beautiful widow, he uncovers a plot to buy local elections with the only kind of money worth anything anymore -- silver and gold, once again illegal to own. Down the mean streets of the near-future, a man must go . . . Welcome to the future of the United States: Economic malaise and poverty and want for the vast majority of people. Ecological decay. Lots of paper money that buys nothing. Criminal gangs and politicians cooperate to run the government, and split the swag. Big cities deteriorating into hellholes. A lot like the present, only worse . . . Yet, as the world grows more and more amoral, Crain battles the powerful in defense of humanity dignity. Until now, unavailable for over thirty years! A science fiction, hardboiled private detective short story, The Copper Quarter originally appeared in the February 1979 issue of AMAZING.

It's easy to make you disappear, she says. And the figure is gone. Just like that. In Vegas, a magician performs a final disappearing act. The end of the world is a magic trick – are you watching closely? Ghosts of the Near Future is a cowboy-noir fever dream about extinction. Colliding music, storytelling, and live micro-cinema, it is a hallucinatory road-trip through a vanishing landscape, a haunting collage of miracles and misdirection. It takes us to the brink of disaster and asks whether we're ready for what comes next. This edition was published to coincide with the production at Summerhall, Edinburgh, in August 2022.