Stephen OramRezensionen

"Vital Signals: Virtual Futures Near-Future Fictions" stands as a captivating anthology, offering readers a kaleidoscopic journey through speculative narratives that explore Virtual Persons, Post-Brain, Disease, and Conflict. With 31 short stories curated under these thematic sections, the anthology provides a diverse and thought-provoking exploration of near-future scenarios.
In the Virtual Persons section, "Memory, Inc." and "The Smile" emerge as captivating tales that showcase imaginative storytelling. These stories not only entertain but also provoke contemplation on the potential evolution of virtual entities. The Conflict section continues the anthology's strong momentum, featuring narratives such as "Trial by Combat," which offers a refreshing take on Augmented Reality, and "The End of War," skillfully navigating the dynamics of interactions with Artificial Intelligence. "The Changing Man" adds a poignant layer by addressing gender fluidity within the context of societal shifts.
Transitioning to the Post-Brain section, "Secrets of the Sea" by Jennifer Marie Brissett stands out as a touching story that artfully weaves supernatural recollections with an emotional father-son narrative amidst ecological collapse. Brissett's storytelling prowess shines through, creating a memorable reading experience. In the Disease section, "The Needs of the Few" by Jennifer Rohn tackles the consequences of antibiotic overuse, providing a thought-provoking exploration of a critical real-world issue.
The diversity of voices in the anthology, encompassing scientists, tech enthusiasts, and writers, adds depth to the speculative narratives. The collaborative effort allows readers to engage with a variety of perspectives on emerging technologies, societal shifts, and the potential consequences of our present actions. The thematic structure facilitates a seamless transition between different facets of speculative fiction, providing a cohesive yet varied reading experience.

"Vital Signals: Virtual Futures Near-Future Fictions" navigates through thought-provoking speculative futures with finesse. The anthology successfully balances imaginative storytelling with moments of profound reflection. While individual stories may not resonate universally with all readers, the collection effectively fulfills its purpose by providing a mix of decent narratives with standout moments. For those intrigued by the possibilities that lie ahead, this anthology proves to be a worthwhile and engaging exploration, offering a glimpse into the myriad facets of the near-future.

This is a series of short short-stories that deal with the future or near future, in most cases with a dystopian bent. The collection is slightly uneven; some of the stories reading as an idea waiting to be fully developed than a finished work. That may be in part, by the nature of the narratives: from short to concise. But if you are ever curious about taking a look at what other people think when they think about the future, this may be a book for you.

This is a collection of short SF stories by a number of writers, with the stories grouped by themes. I disliked most of the stories in the Virtual Persons theme and found them very similar to each other. In the Post-Brain section "Anomaly in the Rythm" by Viraj Joshi was entertaining with an interesting twist. Under the theme of Disease, "The Needs of the Few" by Jennifer Rohn was my favorite. In the Conflict section, "Safe From Harm" by Tim Maughan was the best in the section and the book as a whole.

Vital Signals: Virtual Futures Near-Future Fictions is the latest volume of stories organized by Virtual Futures, a conference/salon/”group of renegade philosophers (per their website) that has been working out of the University of Warwick since 1994. Their goal is to use science fiction “as a tool for criticizing, interrogating, and navigating possible tomorrows.” This particular collection of stories features pieces that range from slight vignettes to in-depth new worlds written by established sci-fi writers, science journalists, scientists, civil servants, and more. These diverse thinkers were selected to, “provide tentative situations that may be manufactured by the activities of the present…” and “to quantify an ambiguous reality so that we stand a chance of shaping an uncertain future.” (from Ward, O’Hara, and Oram’s introduction).



Things do not look great – most of these writers are projecting some very negative consequences in the very near future aided on by income inequality, social media’s domination of information, and a damaged ecosystem. Divided into four sections, Virtual Persons, Post-Brain, Disease, and Conflict, they cover a lot of ground. It’s not hard to tell which stories were written by professional writers, but even the roughest prose is both brief and brings forward interesting points. I flagged a little in the middle, but was buoyed by both the occasional very clever idea, and the handful of truly strange and gonzo takes (I’m looking at you, Antoine Saint-Honore with your ‘CHOLESTOROL5.9 BigFLY’). I also hope that Brendan C. Byrne wrote more in the very possible but very disorienting world of ‘An Excerpt from the Post-Truth and Irreconcilable Differences Commission’, because it gave me great hope and great pause.



I feel like this book would go best with a discussion group or conference – looking at each story and tracking how our technology is getting us there, and how can we incentivize change to avoid it. As a collection of stories, it falls a little short, but as a series of thought experiments, it is engrossing. I am inspired to go back to the previous volume and find some more.½

I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program.

Vital Signals is a collection of short science fiction stories by various authors, with the stories grouped into four different sections/themes. I actually really like this format - the short stories are thought-provoking and, due to their length, many left me thinking further about the world in which they are set, the characters they are about, or what happens next. I don't read many short stories, but I think this anthology was a really interesting format.

I received this as part of the LibraryThing Early Bird giveaway.

This is an anthology of short speculative fiction exploring concepts of Virtual Persons, Post-Brain, Disease, and Conflict. The first and last sections had the strongest stories. "Memory, Inc." and "The Smile" were my favorites in the Virtual Persons section. In the Conflict section, "Trial by Combat" was a nice take on Augmented Reality, and "The End of War" showed how interactions are vital, even if one end of the interaction is an Artificial Intelligence. "The Changing Man" explored gender fluidity in the most literal sense. In the Post-Brain section, "Secrets of the Sea" by Jennifer Marie Brissett was a touching story about a father and son that is also about a supernatural recollection of an ecological collapse. In the Disease section, "The Needs of the Few" by Jennifer Rohn speculated neatly about what could happen if we continue our significant use of antibiotics.

The standout for the anthology was "Safe From Harm" by Tim Maughan. This story was about mental health, community, and oppression, set in a near-future England following a collapse of all things technology. Of all the stories in the anthology, the characters in this were the most fleshed out and real, potentially due to this being the longest of the stories but also due to the quality of the writing. I have read other work from Maughan though, and I am not surprised his was the best work.

A number of the other stories in the anthology seemed choppy or not fully ready to be published. The goal with reading an anthology in my experience is to find a handful of decent stories with one or two standouts. Vital Signs delivers on that goal.½

(disclaimer: I received this as part of the LibraryThing Early Bird giveaway)

The introduction of this book says that it «is an attempt to use scientifically-informed fiction written by a diverse spectrum of writers to explore a future that has become fragmented due to a disrupted present», and the goal is reached «[b]y combining the predictions of people who are not natural inhabitants of the world of science fiction and providing them guidance from veteran scientists or authors». I am not sure that the result is up to the expectations. One of the troubles is probably the fact that nearly all the stories are very short, and it is very difficult to write them in a good way. Indeed the longest one, Safe From Harm by Tim Maughan, is the best of the lot. Other good stories are Conjugal Frape by Jamie Watt, Biohacked & Begging by Stephen Oram, Anomaly in the Rhythm by Viraj Joshi, Brain Dump by Frances Gow, Trial by Combat by John Houlihan, and EPILOGUE [citation needed] by Ken MacLeod (“Prove it” :-) ). I don't think it is strange that all of them are SF or fantasy writers: yes, it is genre fiction, but for that very reason they know how to cope with it.

“Vital Signals” is a collection of 31 near-future stories, mostly written by scientists and techies who happen to moonlight as writers. Divided into four sections, including “Virtual Persons,” “Post-Brain,” “Disease” and “Conflict,” I found the majority of the stories to be more like sketches than fully realized tales. I have to say that I hated a bunch of these stories, which I attribute to not being the target audience - I found that the dystopian, depressing and outright horrible “futures” being sketched here functioned mostly as a reason for me to be glad to be in my mid-60s because I won’t be around to see any of them come into being. That said, there *were* a few tales that I liked, including Stephan Oram’s “Biohacked and Begging,” a tale about the importance of compassion; the short and pithy “The War That Ended Yesterday,” by David Turnbull; and Tim Maughan’s “Safe From Harm,” in which a poor community foils the plans of someone from the Ministry of Culture who wants to confiscate the belongings of a hoarder. Overall, though, definitely not my cup of (bad) tea. I received a free copy of this book through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program.

An amazing collection of short stories, 'Eating Robots' is both intriguing and spine-chilling. Progress and new technology is always touted as good for us, but looking closer, just how good is it? How much of ourselves are we willing to give up in the name of progress? How much control over our lives are we willing to give to another, to an artificial intelligence? How safe is it really, despite what those creating and selling the technology say? A must read, but perhaps out of sight of you your smart phone...

Advance review copy

As a fan of Science Fiction, I think that's what initially caught my eye. I enjoy stories set in a tech future, especially ones that cause the reader to pause and think for a moment. Eating Robots by Stephen Oram is a collection of Sci-Fi short stories that does just that. The best way for me to describe it is to imagine if the Black Mirror series were written in short story format. I think Stephen Oram's stories really come close to the uneasiness that Black Mirror gives the audience. The stories are imaginative, clever and at times disturbing.

These stories also reminded me of other books and films I'd seen in the past: Repo Men, etc. Crichton was good at showing how the technology we rely on daily could easily turn against us. Demon Seed, a 1977 Sci-Fi horror film about an AI home that goes horribly wrong, could have easily been in this collection. Oram covers a wide range, from A.I.s revolting to the actions of desperate humans. Some of the stories felt way too short and left me asking, "But what happens next?!" Whereas others had an obvious, inevitable conclusion.

All in all, this was an entertaining read and great for someone like me who's been so busy lately. Short bites of good stories to entertain for the moment between doctor's office visits and work. For fans of Sci-Fi, especially along the lines of Twilight Zone, Black Mirror and the like, they'll certainly enjoy this collection from Stephen Oram.

I received a free electronic copy in exchange for an honest review.

An amazing collection of short stories, 'Eating Robots' is both intriguing and spine-chilling. Progress and new technology is always touted as good for us, but looking closer, just how good is it? How much of ourselves are we willing to give up in the name of progress? How much control over our lives are we willing to give to another, to an artificial intelligence? How safe is it really, despite what those creating and selling the technology say? A must read, but perhaps out of sight of you your smart phone...

Advance review copy

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Fluence is not your typical dystopian book, it is so much more! Stephen Oram created a world where the government is non-existent and big businesses control everything. You influence on social media determines how you live your life and is used as currency, Fluence. To improve your life style all you have to do is improve how influential you are and you will work your way up the levels of society, which are called Stara Levels.

Fluence focuses on two main characters, Amber and Martian.

Amber has been working her way up the strata levels for years because she never felt like she fit in the stara level she was born into. Amber had climbed her way up to yellow but took a hit last annual Pay Day for love. Amber is determined and will do anything she has to to work her way back into yellow because that is where she believes that she truly belongs. Amber uses her knowledge of the stara algorithms and the stara system as a whole to pursue the level yellow, but is there any lines she is not willing to cross to get where she wants to be?

Martian, an ex-hacker, is happy with his life with his family in the green level of the stara. All he wants is to provide for his family but for some reason no matter what he does his fluence just keeps dropping. Can Martian figure out what or who is causing his fluence to plummet before Pay Day hits or will he and his family have to adjust to life in level blue?

Fluence was by far one of the best books I have