Insistence of Vision

by David Brin

Overview

What may we become? How will we endure? The future is a daunting realm, filled with real and imagined perils. So enter it prepared! Here are vivid tales about possible tomorrows, from the keen eye and colorful pen of David Brin, a modern master of speculative fiction. Visit a chillingly plausible tomorrow, when prisoners may be sent to asteroidal gulags. Or might prisons vanish and felons roam, seeing only what society allows? Suppose, amid lavish success, we gain the superpower to fly! Will we even appreciate it… or will we find new reasons to complain? In "Mars Opposition," you'll experience an alien invasion like no other, confronting humanity with a stark and terrible choice… followed by several more tales of conquest from beyond, each of them wildly different. On the other hand, might fantastically potent new beings emerge out of ourselves, as revealed in "Chrysalis”? Featuring guest appearances by Gregory Benford, Jules Verne, and Galileo, this adventure takes you beyond the very singularity in “Stones of Significance,” pondering what could happen after humans are like gods. And “Reality Check” asks one of you readers – just one of you – to wake up! Tomorrow awaits. We can face it and prevail. So long as our stance is brave INSISTENCE OF VISION.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781943486823
Publisher:	The Story Plant
Publication date:	03/22/2018
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	374
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

David Brin is a scientist, New York Times bestselling author, and tech-futurist. His novels include EARTH, THE POSTMAN (filmed in 1997) and Hugo Award winners STARTIDE RISING and THE UPLIFT WAR. A leading commentator and speaker on modern trends, his nonfiction book THE TRANSPARENT SOCIETY won the Freedom of Speech Award of the American Library Association. INSISTENCE OF VISION is his third story collection.

Table of Contents

Introduction by Vernor Vinge – 11
The Heresy of Science Fiction – 16
WHAT WE MAY BECOME
Insistence of Vision – 29
Transition Generation – 36
Chrysalis – 48
Stones of Significance – 68
News From 2035: A Glitch in Medicine Cabinet 3.5 – 99
HOW WE’LL ENDURE
The Logs – 105
The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss – 119
Eloquent Elepents Pine Away for the Moon’s Crystal Forests – 156
WHEN WE OVERCOME
Mars Opposition – 171
A Professor at Harvard – 200
I Could’ve Done Better – 213
Paris Conquers All – 228
A Retrospective by Jules Verne – 247
WHO WE’LL MEET
Fortitude – 253
An Ever-Reddening Glow – 264
The Diplomacy Guild – 270
The Other Side of the Hill – 288

WHERE WE WILL GO

Temptation – 299
Avalon Probes – 352
Six-Word Tales – 355
Reality Check – 357
WHY WE’LL PERSEVERE
Waging War with Reality – 365
Afterword & Book Notes – 371
Acknowledgments – 372
Publication History – 373

Editorial Reviews

Brin is not only prolific, but thoughtful and highly original.

Los Angeles Daily News

David Brin excels at the essential craft of the page turning, which is to devise an elegantly knotted plot that yields a richly variegated succession of high-impact adventures undergone by an array of believably heroic characters.

Entertainment Weekly

David Brin is notable for unquenchable optimism, focusing on the ability of humanity to overcome adversity.

Los Angeles Times Book Review

Brin writes brilliantly conceived, intellectually supercharged novels.

The Sacramento Bee

Extrapolation of the highest and most subtle order.

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine

David Brin is notable for unquenchable optimism, focusing on the ability of humanity to overcome adversity.

Los Angeles Times Book Review