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Unlimited Futures: speculative, visionary blak+black fiction by Rafeif Ismail, Ellen van Neerven
bridge_b00ks's review
challenging
medium-paced
A challenging read in a largely good way and only a tiny bit of a bad way. Some of the stories were really beautiful and creative, others didn’t appeal to me as much, and some made me uncomfortable. Some of my favourites were Fifteen Days On Mars, Bridge, The Debt, History Repeating and Mami Wata.
I noticed that I assumed every author/narrator was a woman unless I felt something in the text suggested otherwise. Interesting, huh.
Because our current global and domestic political climate feels really bleak, some of the near-future speculative futures, while they sounded awesome, didn’t feel very realistic. Which they’re probably not supposed to be?
The Prime Minister was interesting for a few reasons. Firstly, it was cool to read an Aboriginal speculative work written around the time of the stolen generation. For what he likely experienced, his outlook for the future of Australia, especially Queensland was very positive. I’m glad to know that UQ had an important role to play in expansion of earth’s civilisation to space. But, some of the tech, like the mirrors on the poles, knowing what we do now about climate change, would obviously not work. It was strange to read about polar ice melting as a good thing.
I noticed that I assumed every author/narrator was a woman unless I felt something in the text suggested otherwise. Interesting, huh.
Because our current global and domestic political climate feels really bleak, some of the near-future speculative futures, while they sounded awesome, didn’t feel very realistic. Which they’re probably not supposed to be?
The Prime Minister was interesting for a few reasons. Firstly, it was cool to read an Aboriginal speculative work written around the time of the stolen generation. For what he likely experienced, his outlook for the future of Australia, especially Queensland was very positive. I’m glad to know that UQ had an important role to play in expansion of earth’s civilisation to space. But, some of the tech, like the mirrors on the poles, knowing what we do now about climate change, would obviously not work. It was strange to read about polar ice melting as a good thing.
tiffabell's review
5.0
This would have to be the best collection of work I have ever read. Powerful speculation fiction in both prose and short stories. This book honestly deserves 6 stars and needs to be read by more people!! Some of the stories still haunt me.
archytas's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
There are some outstanding stories in this volume, especially the contributions from Amberlin Kwamullina and Alison Whittaker and the poem from Tuesday Atzinger. The recently revived story from SJ Minniecon is a bit of a standout as world. Unsurprisingly, not every story works, but when it is strong, it is very strong indeed.
jem_of_the_brew's review
Unlimited Futures is an anthology of speculative, visionary Blak and Black fiction edited by Rafeif Ismail and Ellen Van Neerven. It includes short stories and poetry by established writers such as Alison Whittaker, Mykaela Saunders and Ambelin Kwaymullina, and also introduces a raft of new and emerging talent. These Own Voices stories by First Nations and Blak and Black writers run the gamut of spec fic, from futuristic technology to sentient creatures and land; the breadth and depth of imagination found in these works is wholly original and inspired.
The introduction to this collection is a series of transcribed conversations between the editors over a period of months, discussing the purpose of the anthology and what it will do. At one point Ellen Van Neerven says:
‘..[this work] makes no apologies; it gives no explanations. Sometimes our communities feel like they have to write for a certain audience, sometimes there’s a pressure as a First Nations writer to represent First Nations people. We wanted to free writers from those pressures.’
Unlimited Futures, page 13
In keeping with this intention, the stories in this work are engaging and profound, their meanings sometimes layered beyond what reading them in English can reach. For example, Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes’s poem ‘I have no country’ is presented in both Amharic – Indigenous Ethiopian script – and English, the texts set side by side. The poem is strange and beautiful, full of movement and place and the intersections of mind, body and spirit. At the end there is a postscript explaining the philosophies behind the poem and what it aims to do. Then it says:
‘The translation is as close to the original Amharic as possible, but with major phrasing changes given English and Amharic have such different syntax structures. Unfortunately, the English translation loses much of the Amharic rhyme and rhythm, but I have tried to make the English as elegant as possible while still communicating the Amharic message.’
Unlimited Futures, page 125
The poem in English is a beautiful piece of writing, but including the Amharic script and then the postscript after it presents the reader with a challenge; knowing that the poem was written and intended to be read in another language, a First Nations language, means that a reader reading it in English will always miss part of it. The script is there in the book, it can be read in its full, original form if the reader learned, or already knew, that language. But in this way, the deeper meaning and experience of this piece of writing is kept within the words of an non-colonial language, accessible only to outsiders if they took the steps to learning that language. English-readers can read and enjoy the poem, but it is not the full, deep, entire work, and thus the writer shifts the power-balance away from colonial, white-centric English to become First Nations-centric.
Later in the anthology Afeif Ismail’s piece ‘White Dunes’ is presented first in English and then in Arabic script, but this piece does not have a postscript; the reader is left to assume that the Arabic version contains more details and nuance than the English one, like Woldeyes’s piece.
There are many names that could be used for the kinds of writing presented in this anthology: magical realism; mythology; science fiction. The broadest of these terms – speculative fiction (spec fic) – is defined as ‘a genre of fiction that encompasses works in which the setting is other than the real world, involving supernatural, futuristic, or other imagined elements.’ This is what the work is marketed as, but it doesn’t quite do justice to the worlds and ideas that are glimpsed through these stories. The collection truly is unique, beyond established definitions for fiction writing – and the ‘visionary’ of the tagline indicates not only the bright and hopeful scope of the work, but also a projected time when such writing – and such ideas and futures – are the norm.
This anthology was published in a collaboration between Fremantle Press and Djed Press and continues a welcome and essential change in the tide of publishing in Australia towards centering and celebrating Own Voices stories. It is essential reading for everyone, not just lovers of speculative fiction and poetry, and debuts many new and emerging voices into the Australian literary scene.
This review was first published here: https://oddfeather.co/2022/03/31/review-unlimited-futures-anthology-edited-by-rafeif-ismail-ellen-van-neerven/
The introduction to this collection is a series of transcribed conversations between the editors over a period of months, discussing the purpose of the anthology and what it will do. At one point Ellen Van Neerven says:
‘..[this work] makes no apologies; it gives no explanations. Sometimes our communities feel like they have to write for a certain audience, sometimes there’s a pressure as a First Nations writer to represent First Nations people. We wanted to free writers from those pressures.’
Unlimited Futures, page 13
In keeping with this intention, the stories in this work are engaging and profound, their meanings sometimes layered beyond what reading them in English can reach. For example, Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes’s poem ‘I have no country’ is presented in both Amharic – Indigenous Ethiopian script – and English, the texts set side by side. The poem is strange and beautiful, full of movement and place and the intersections of mind, body and spirit. At the end there is a postscript explaining the philosophies behind the poem and what it aims to do. Then it says:
‘The translation is as close to the original Amharic as possible, but with major phrasing changes given English and Amharic have such different syntax structures. Unfortunately, the English translation loses much of the Amharic rhyme and rhythm, but I have tried to make the English as elegant as possible while still communicating the Amharic message.’
Unlimited Futures, page 125
The poem in English is a beautiful piece of writing, but including the Amharic script and then the postscript after it presents the reader with a challenge; knowing that the poem was written and intended to be read in another language, a First Nations language, means that a reader reading it in English will always miss part of it. The script is there in the book, it can be read in its full, original form if the reader learned, or already knew, that language. But in this way, the deeper meaning and experience of this piece of writing is kept within the words of an non-colonial language, accessible only to outsiders if they took the steps to learning that language. English-readers can read and enjoy the poem, but it is not the full, deep, entire work, and thus the writer shifts the power-balance away from colonial, white-centric English to become First Nations-centric.
Later in the anthology Afeif Ismail’s piece ‘White Dunes’ is presented first in English and then in Arabic script, but this piece does not have a postscript; the reader is left to assume that the Arabic version contains more details and nuance than the English one, like Woldeyes’s piece.
There are many names that could be used for the kinds of writing presented in this anthology: magical realism; mythology; science fiction. The broadest of these terms – speculative fiction (spec fic) – is defined as ‘a genre of fiction that encompasses works in which the setting is other than the real world, involving supernatural, futuristic, or other imagined elements.’ This is what the work is marketed as, but it doesn’t quite do justice to the worlds and ideas that are glimpsed through these stories. The collection truly is unique, beyond established definitions for fiction writing – and the ‘visionary’ of the tagline indicates not only the bright and hopeful scope of the work, but also a projected time when such writing – and such ideas and futures – are the norm.
This anthology was published in a collaboration between Fremantle Press and Djed Press and continues a welcome and essential change in the tide of publishing in Australia towards centering and celebrating Own Voices stories. It is essential reading for everyone, not just lovers of speculative fiction and poetry, and debuts many new and emerging voices into the Australian literary scene.
This review was first published here: https://oddfeather.co/2022/03/31/review-unlimited-futures-anthology-edited-by-rafeif-ismail-ellen-van-neerven/
windupboy's review
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
happy2behere's review
I read (and didn’t finish this) for my English major
In just not into short story collections ATM.
The stories I did read were great though, particularly; 15 days on mars & thylacine.
It was also interesting to look at my country (Australia) through the lens of (what I understood to be) The Dreaming.
I really enjoyed what I read of this, and will probably finish it sometime soon🙏
In just not into short story collections ATM.
The stories I did read were great though, particularly; 15 days on mars & thylacine.
It was also interesting to look at my country (Australia) through the lens of (what I understood to be) The Dreaming.
I really enjoyed what I read of this, and will probably finish it sometime soon🙏
animelanie's review
3.0
Read for PRC
Some great short stories & poetry, quite enjoyed the majority of them. 3.5 stars
Some great short stories & poetry, quite enjoyed the majority of them. 3.5 stars
jess64au's review
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
An interesting mix of short stories.