Under African Skies (Future Earths) [Paperback]

Vernor Vinge (Author), Howard Waldrop (Author), Kim Stanley Robinson (Author), Gregory Benford (Author), Bruce Sterling (Author), Ian McDonald (Author), M. Shayne Bell (Author), Judith Dubois (Author), Mike Resnick (Editor), Gardner Dozois (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Future Earths | Publication Date: February 1, 1993

A collection of science fiction tales set in a futuristic African continent features the writing of Vernor Vinge, Gregory Benford, Bruce Sterling, Kim Stanley Robinson, Howard Waldrop, and Mike Resnick. Original.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Resnick ( Whatdunits ) and Dozois ( Year's Best Science Fiction ) present a kaleidescope of fictional futures for Africans that are both tainted with blood and tinged with optimism. Vernor Vinge shows how Earth's political landscape would shift after a limited nuclear and biochemical war destroys the superpowers: the blacks who stop at nothing to hunt down and murder their white oppressors risk their own humanity by satisfying their lust for revenge. Kim Stanley Robinson manages to redeem a self-centered yuppie who is more concerned with meeting sales quotas than his fellow humans. After the salesman "bumps" into the spirit of a brutalized African migrant worker, he is renewed by a sense of compassion and an appreciation for life. Visions of the future of sexual equality are also presented: in a story by Resnick, a gifted young African girl who lives on an artificial recreation of Kenya pesters her village mundumugu (wise man) to teach her to read and write. When he refuses, for fear of white culture again intruding on his society, she takes her own life.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: DAW; 1st edition (February 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0886775442
• ISBN-13: 978-0886775445
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,429,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mostly very good stories, June 2, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Under African Skies (Future Earths) (Paperback)

Mike Resnick assembled this collection of SF stories about Africa, or a possible Africa, or... you get the idea. Anyway, being a huge Resnick fan and interested in Africa to boot, I picked this up without knowing anything about it, a real rarity for me. I was not disappointed.
I won't give the plots of all the stories, but here are a few tantalizing themes set forth by the authors. Political: world hunger is solved - but the solution carries its own problem, in a creepy story called "Termites." Personal: two very different worlds collide briefly on a train, in "A Transect," by Kim Stanley Robinson. Epic: aliens come and steal Egypt, in "Of Space-time and the River"! Magical: a foolish tourist gets a taste of African shamanism in "Still Life With Scorpion." Poignant: In "The Quiet," George Guthridge tells of an African tribe placed in a preservation for conservation on the moon; sad and well-written. The unclassifiable: Judith Dubois' "Etoundi's Monkey" is just bizarre and very impressive. And many others...
The rating is an 8 because of some submissions that aren't great; none is an actual klunker, but a few are just okay. My main problems with these lesser stories is just that they could have been about any civilization, and the focus is supposed to be Africa. My only other complaint is that one of Resnick's two stories (both are unique and splendid as always) is a real rouser - Jesus meets the African gods! - but is a scant three pages!
This is a fine collection of science fiction with an interesting angle. Few of the authors are really big names, but don't let that sway you. Sometimes the best stories are just waiting to be discovered