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The Future is Blue

Catherynne M. Valente (Goodreads Author)

really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 202 ratings · 56 reviews

Thirteen stories unlike any others.

In the title story, Theodore Sturgeon Award-winning novelette “The Future Is Blue,” an outcast girl named Tetley lives on floating Garbagetown, in a world that dreams of the long lost land. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos is explored and reinvented in style in “Down and Out in R’lyeh.” In the novelette “The Limitless Perspective of Master Peek ...more

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Hardcover, 368 pages

Published July 31st 2018 by Subterranean Press

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Jul 23, 2018 Karl marked it as to-read

Shelves: subterranean-own, 2018-07-books-bought

This hardcover is copy 348 of 1250 numbered copies produced and is signed by Catherynne M. Valente .

Contents:

007 - "The Future Is Blue"
029 - "No One Dies in Nowhere"
059 - "Two and Two is Seven"
081 - "Down and Out in R'lyeh"
103 - "The Limitless Perspective of Master Peek, or, the Luminescence of Debauchery"
127 - "Snow Day"
155 "Planet Lion"
175 "Flame, Pearl, Mother, Autumn, Virgin, Sword, Kiss, Blood, Heart, and Grave"
211 - Major Tom"
231 - "The Lily and the Horn"
245 - "The Flame After the Candle"
2 ...more

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Jul 30, 2019 Gabrielle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, short-stories, own-a-copy, sci-fi, reviewed, read-in-2019, ereader

I'm always going to be a Valente fan: she just conjures such beautiful images and leaves them in my head, like the aftertaste of particularly vivid dreams. I had this collection saved up for my vacation, and I spent a few days lounging by the lake, eating farm fresh cherries and getting drunk on words.

Valente's prose is ornate and always surprisingly poetic, as usual. But I found this collection to be cleaner and less baroque than some of her other books I've read. I am beginning to find pattern I'm always going to be a Valente fan: she just conjures such beautiful images and leaves them in my head, like the aftertaste of particularly vivid dreams. I had this collection saved up for my vacation, and I spent a few days lounging by the lake, eating farm fresh cherries and getting drunk on words.

Valente's prose is ornate and always surprisingly poetic, as usual. But I found this collection to be cleaner and less baroque than some of her other books I've read. I am beginning to find patterns of her obsession through her work: death and the afterlife, the destruction of our environment, colors and, obviously, fairy tales.

The collection is fantastic as a whole, but here are my favorites:

"The Future is Blue": you know about the infamous garbage island in the Pacific Ocean? Well when the icecaps have fully melted and the continents have been submerged in water, a few survivors set up a civilization on the garbage island. There lives a girl named Tetley, through whose eyes we explore this strange new world, and how she finds and loses love. There's something heartbreaking and beautiful about the idea of garbage sustaining life on a planet where solid ground is a dim memory.

"Down and Out in R'lyeh": this might just be the best Lovecraft pastiche I've ever read. I had never thought about how the disaffected youth of the drowned metropolis spends their time and get their kicks. Every big city is going to gentrify eventualy, I suppose; I never thought Cthulhu's backyard would be where hipsters would wind up!

"Planet Lion": this reminded me of LeGuin's "The Word for World is Forest" (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). This is a wonderful story about the unpredictable impact that a small group of humans end up having on a population of green alien lions.

"The Lily and the Horn" is a wonderful reversal of typical fantasy/Medieval warfare stories, where the art of poisoning matters more than skills with a sword. Strange, creepy, delicious.

"After the Flame" revisits Alice Liddell, her looking glass and Peter Llewellyn Davies. I know this is an old trope - how many retelling of "Alice in Wonderland" are there out there? But Valente's take is quite original, and turns the table of the idea of the reality of experience. In post-war New York, Peter tracks down Alice and invites her for dinner, so they can talk about their strange childhood experiences. I loved it!

"The Beasts Who Fought for Fairyland Until the Very End" sees Valente revisit her famous Fairyland and a certain Wyvernary. She uses the familiar setting to deliver a message of hope and defiance to her readers. You tell them, A-Through-L!

If you enjoyed Valente's previous work, do not miss this amazing collection. Simply gorgeous. 4 and a half stars. ...more

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Mar 06, 2018 Acqua rated it liked it

Shelves: arc, shorts-collections, love-cover, adult, taxo-bio-fail

The Future is Blue is a collection of short fiction written by Catherynne M. Valente. She is of my favorite authors (I've read three of her novels and loved all of them), so I wanted to see if I liked her short fiction as much.
Valente's writing is unique and beautiful, but it's also very heavy and, I have to say, it's almost too much sometimes. There are so many layers and hidden meanings that you can't enjoy the story unless you're deliberately looking for them, and this seems to become more bl ...more

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Nov 10, 2018 Wendil rated it it was amazing

Reviewing a short story collection is not easy at all. It would be far too easy to fall into the trap of reviewing each and every story.

One of the standouts for me is the titular story, "The Future is Blue." I'm also going to focus a bit more on this story than some of the others because, joy of joys, a sequel is coming out next year! This was easily one of my favorite stories. Tetley, the heroine, is so lovable and optimistic, despite the trials that she faces in her everyday life. The story it Reviewing a short story collection is not easy at all. It would be far too easy to fall into the trap of reviewing each and every story.

One of the standouts for me is the titular story, "The Future is Blue." I'm also going to focus a bit more on this story than some of the others because, joy of joys, a sequel is coming out next year! This was easily one of my favorite stories. Tetley, the heroine, is so lovable and optimistic, despite the trials that she faces in her everyday life. The story itself is a class in the "show don't tell" rule of fiction. Valente opens up Tetley's world just enough to intrigue the reader. Garbagetown, the setting, isn't ever fully explained or explored; the reader sees and experiences what Tetley decides to reveal in her narrative.

I'm also very fond of "Down and Out in R'lyeh." Lovecraftian stories are becoming some of my favorites. This story, from the point of view of Moloch, an eldritch youth (I can't say "teenager," as Moloch is "only 5,000" years old), who resides in (you guessed it) the city of R'lyeh. Recent reviews of Valente's newest novel, Space Opera focus on the humor. I am here to tell you that Valente's always been humorous, and this story (originally published in Uncanny Magazine in 2017) is a prime example. Imagine descriptions that you may have read of this famed, watery metropolis. Do any of them include phrases like "the tacky interdimensional shopfronts selling rubbish nobody wants," or "the ugly, kitschy non-Euclidean central business district brooding and moping up in your face"? Perhaps they should. Moloch is almost the polar opposite of Tetley, and that's a great thing. They're each shockingly realistic in their own way, and that's what makes this (and all of the other stories in the volume) more than worth your time. Another quote from this story, because I can't resist: "[Moloch's sister] works her cloacas off downtown for some effulgy gloon on the Planning Committee—to which I say, how the fuck do you plan the descent of the known universe into bloody infinite shrieking madness? If you have to have a board meeting about it, what’s the fhatgn point?" (All quotes from the online edition of the story, because I don't have my copy of the book handy to give you accurate page numbers or ebook locations).

I found all of the stories to be winners in their own way. My favorite stories involve complicated characters, those who have their own internal world and agendas. We aren't always privy to them, and many of these narrators are unreliable, but that's what makes reading this collection so fascinating. Each character is their own person, and no two of them are the same. I would advise reading only one of these stories per sitting; otherwise the POV shifts could be a little dizzying on one's brain.

It is difficult to talk about Valente's fiction without talking about the language itself. Valente's writing is not for those looking for something to casual to peruse. This collection, as with all of her other works that I've read, requires your attention. The wordplay is strong with this one, and you don't want to miss a single trick. I am in awe of Valente's verbal acrobatics. I cannot describe them properly; you're just going to have to experience them for yourself.

In Conclusion: If you haven't read much of Valente's fiction before, this is an excellent way to see if her work might be to your liking. This collection is a very good sampler of her writing and gives you an idea of what you might be getting yourself into if you decide to pick up one of her novels (either the Fairyland series, or Space Opera would be great places to start). Happily, you can acquire this collection for your very own. It's available in electronic formats in several places (for an extremely reasonable price). I've also done some digging and you can acquire a physical copy from a few retailers. I'm glad that I read this, and I look forward to reading it again in the future. (review to be published at speculativechic.com) ...more

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May 18, 2018 Kopratic rated it it was amazing

The future is blue. It is now. It is, or rather was, the past. Today it is blue. Perhaps #416ec6. Do you know what else the future is? It is beasts roaming around like dinosaurs who can’t see a comet spiraling toward them. It is a place where robots fight it out with fairies. Where green lions who mate in threes eat the past of their victims. In a word, the future is stories.

Have you ever seen a Picasso? Perhaps Pablo? You might have heard of the many stages he went through in his painting caree The future is blue. It is now. It is, or rather was, the past. Today it is blue. Perhaps #416ec6. Do you know what else the future is? It is beasts roaming around like dinosaurs who can’t see a comet spiraling toward them. It is a place where robots fight it out with fairies. Where green lions who mate in threes eat the past of their victims. In a word, the future is stories.

Have you ever seen a Picasso? Perhaps Pablo? You might have heard of the many stages he went through in his painting career. The blue period. The rose period. And, ah yes, the Cubism period. The “WHAT THE ACTUAL -this word has been omitted because it is not in agreement with Article 54TDelta.32- IS THIIIIIS?” period. The Future is Blue is the Blue Period. It is the man shaped like a backwards S holding a guitar. It is the Rose period. Where things are said the way they are meant. It is a jester standing tall in a red two-piece uniform. And yes, it is Cubism.

Stories have beginnings, middles, and ends. Sometimes they aren’t always in that order. Sometimes the beginnings are ever-so quick that we end up falling down a rabbit hole (or a sewer as they call them in New York) trying to catch one. Or perhaps the end has long left Kensington Gardens, and you really should wipe that sparkling dust out of your hair. Cthulhu is in the future, too. Passing gas like the old fart he is. Someone ought to usurp him by now. Regardless of where the pieces are and how big or small they may be, the stories of the future have become the stories of today.

And like a Cubism painting, sometimes the eyes are sort of in the right spot. The mouth is there, but it shouldn’t be there. The future is all of the colors of love and all of their meanings. It is imprisoning. It is “I can’t stand the sight of you.” It can be both. The future is as blue as the saddest song–one girls who are buildings with no eyes learned from songbirds long gone. It is as blue as a peaceful sip of your favorite tea in a chipped YOU’RE MY MAINE SQUEEZE mug. It is as captivating as deep blue waters in September.

The future is everything. Yet not everything in the future will be for everyone. It is hurt and sorrows that we swear we eliminated. It is joy. It is the ten most powerful words one could ever know. Perhaps they are in a logical order like a “proper” story, leading the reader down a nice path. Or perhaps they choose to behave more like poetry in disguise. A commentary on human emotion. On the weather. On, my that is a lovely #2959a5 dress you have on today. In a word, the future is blue.

(I was given a digital ARC of this future book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.) ...more

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Dec 18, 2020 Eva rated it it was amazing

Shelves: five-stars

*Clarification: my review applies to the novelette "The Future is Blue" contained in this collection of the same name.*

Brilliant novelette - mesmerizing, beautiful, heart-breaking story that I don't want to spoil for you. It's the kind of story that stays with you for a long time.

I'm definitely going to read more by this author! ...more

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May 23, 2018 Kenya Starflight rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-love

Catherynne Valente is one of my favorite writers for a variety of reasons. She has a gorgeous gift with words and a spectacular, dreamy writing style; her imagination is vivid and colorful, incorporating well-known myths and fantasy/sci-fi tropes while giving them her own unique twists; and she's able to make subtle but powerful statements about the world, humanity, and common problems and tropes in fiction without being heavy-handed about any of them. I've already devoured her novel that came o Catherynne Valente is one of my favorite writers for a variety of reasons. She has a gorgeous gift with words and a spectacular, dreamy writing style; her imagination is vivid and colorful, incorporating well-known myths and fantasy/sci-fi tropes while giving them her own unique twists; and she's able to make subtle but powerful statements about the world, humanity, and common problems and tropes in fiction without being heavy-handed about any of them. I've already devoured her novel that came out this year, Space Opera, and loved it... so when I learned that she would also be releasing a short story collection this very same year, I knew I had to read that as well. And I'm so glad I did -- while any story anthology is going to have its hits and its misses, this one had far more hits than misses, and even the worst of the stories are still vividly memorable.

Valente covers a wide range of topics, worlds, and concepts in this collection, veering between magical realism, fantasy, science fiction, dystopian, and even cosmic horror with ease. A girl with a tower for a torso holds the fate of a kingdom in her hands in "Flame, Pearl, Mother, Autumn, Virgin, Sword, Kiss, Blood, Heart, and Grave," while another young woman living in a "Waterworld"-style dystopian future must destroy her colony's hope for a better life to ensure their future in the title story, "The Future Is Blue." A trio of rebellious teenage Lovecraftian horrors set out to bother Old Man Cthulhu in "Down and Out in R'lyeh" (this story is MUCH funnier and makes more of an impact if you've read or are at least familiar with some of H. P. Lovecraft's writing), a professional wrestling match between robots and fairies has dire consequences for humankind in "A Fall Counts Anywhere," the real-life inspirations for Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland have a fateful meeting in "The Flame After the Candle," and a newly deceased woman seeks an escape from a dreary and mysterious afterlife in "No One Dies In Nowhere." "Planet Lion" gives us a world of carnivorous cats who take on the memories of those they eat, "Major Tom" chronicles the loneliness of an intelligent satellite seeking solace and companionship, and "The Beasts Who Fought For Fairyland Until the Very End and Further Still" is a return to the world of "Fairyland," and has the Green Wind and A-Through-L struggling to hold onto hope even as the Marquess secures her stranglehold on this once-wondrous land.

All these stories show Valente's gifts for vivid wordplay, fantastic imagery, and fascinating deconstructions of fiction and real life alike. She gives us worlds of green memory-absorbing lions, squirrels that give birth to time itself, bird-headed guardians of the afterlife, noblewomen with towers for torsos, rebellious cosmic horror teen punks, abandoned robots who see their human guardian as a mother figure, sheltered politician's daughters, wars fought via poisoned dinners, and far more. There are a few of these stories I wouldn't mind seeing expanded into future novels, while others stand very well on their own -- sometimes a glimpse of a fantastic world is all we need, but sometimes we want that glimpse expanded...

Of all these stories, I believe there's only one that I did not enjoy -- "Badgirl, the Deadman, and the Wheel of Fortune." It's one of her bleakest stories yet, and while I'm not against bleakness in fiction, this story felt like a relentless slog and an exercise in misery with no respite or even much meaning. It ends without resolution, and left me going "where was she going with this?" Still, one dud in an otherwise beautiful collection isn't bad...

I dearly hope Valente keeps writing, and "The Future Is Blue" is a dazzling collection that's only whetted my appetite for more. It's a gorgeous collection, and it's a shame it had such a limited print run... though at least the Kindle version is readily available... ...more

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Jul 09, 2018 Sarah rated it liked it

Shelves: short-stories, science-fiction, fantasy, 2018-release

I tend to find Valente’s work hit or miss. I cannot emphasize enough how much I adore In the Night Garden, but then I wasn’t able to finish The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland. The Future Is Blue thus represents a microcosm of my feelings about Valente’s work: some stories I enjoyed, others left me cold.

As it turns out, I’d also already read a number of the stories in this collection. I only reread two of these here (“Snow Day” and “Badgirl, the Deadman, and the Wheel of Fortune”), both becau ...more

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Jul 26, 2018 Marzie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc-net-galley

For me, reading Cat Valente's work has always been a wonderous submersion into language, one in which she allows you to revel in lush, excited prose and then socks you a punch with some point she wished to make that is poignant or powerful and, while not unexpected, she always catches you slightly off-guard. This is a collection of short stories largely dedicated to that experience. A gathering of some of her recent shorter work packaged in a stunning hardcover with a beautiful cover illustratio For me, reading Cat Valente's work has always been a wonderous submersion into language, one in which she allows you to revel in lush, excited prose and then socks you a punch with some point she wished to make that is poignant or powerful and, while not unexpected, she always catches you slightly off-guard. This is a collection of short stories largely dedicated to that experience. A gathering of some of her recent shorter work packaged in a stunning hardcover with a beautiful cover illustration by Galen Dara and paper of a quality that you are drawn to touch. This is the first collection of Cat Valente's short work in about five years if I have my dates right. I previously bought another volume of her collected stories from SubPress, The Bread We Eat in Dreams and love that book still.

I have not read all of the stories in this collection as of yet. A few have been published previously on Cat's blog. The short story that gives this book its title, The Future is Blue is a searing story of a post-apocalyptic future in which oceans have overtaken land and the central character Tetley struggles to survive in Garbagetown. Down and Out in R'lyeh is set in a Lovecraftian world unlike any you've seen (trust me on this one) and, as an aside, slyly takes a slap at racism with the author's characteristic humor, ("A goatsnake, a Yith, and a Ghast walk into a bar. Stop me if you've heard this one.") while a dead and dreaming Cthulhu is 0ff-center stage during all the action. The rumor is that humans (gasp) are afoot. The Limitless Perspective of Master Peek, or, The Luminescence of Debauchery gives us a central character who makes wonderous glass eyes but in secret makes a paired eye that allows him to see the lives of his clients. The Beasts Who fought for Fairyland Until the Very End and Further Still is a short story that Cat wrote right after the 2016 election. It was, and remains, a cathartic metaphor for resistance. The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild is a longer story that is a synesthetic death adventure.

Three stories in this collection have never been printed before. Major Tom, Two and Two is Seven, and the novelette Flame, Pearl, Mother, Autumn, Virgin, Sword, Kiss, Blood, Heart, and Grave can only be found in this volume.

I'm looking forward to wending my way through this collection, savoring it. This is another beautiful volume from Subterranean Press and Cat Valente.

I received a Digital Review Copy of this book from SubPress via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. I also received my hardcover copy a full week early. Yay! ...more

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Jul 31, 2018 Trish rated it liked it

I had completely forgotten what this was about to be honest. So I went into this thinking it was 1 story. Turns out this is a book with multiple little stories in it. This is the first thing I have read by Catherynne M. Valente and I can say that I liked some of the stories in the book but did DNF other stories. Some stories I felt were really awesome while others I couldn't read past the first couple pages because it was just... I don't even know what word to use to describe it. So I am gonna g ...more

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Jul 06, 2020 Alison rated it it was ok

So hard to rate a book of short stories without feeling like you’re doing a disservice to the great ones among the collection. The ones I loved I truly did, but as there were only two of those (the rest being 5 Likes, 4 Meh and 4 Unreadables) it has to be a two star overall.

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May 31, 2019 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: adult, fantasy, favourites, dinosaurs, sci-fi, fairy-tale, post-apocalypse, whodunit, satire, feminist

As with any compilation of stories, an overall review is difficult. The tales bear no relation to one another, and other than sharing the same spine they cannot be readily compared. They all betray their origins through a distinct and recognisable Catherynne M. Valente-esque prose, but are otherwise wildly varying in tone, genre, perspective, and style.

I think that in reality each story herein is pretty masterful, and undeniably thought-provoking, but this didn’t mean I personally liked every on ...more

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May 22, 2019 Pghbekka rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I know all about defiance...

I love getting lost in Catherynne Valente's words and worlds.

There is whimsy and wonder and darkness just as a story veers towards twee.

Complexity of thought and complexity of language and none of it gets in the way of a rollicking good story.

Standouts for me were Down and Out in R'lyeh, The Future is Blue, The Beasts Who Fought for Fairyland Until the Very End and Further Still, Two and Two is Seven, Snow Day, The Lily and the Horn, The Flame After the Candle and The ...more

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Jan 12, 2021 William Leight rated it liked it

A rather mixed collection of stories, most of which are more about Valente’s language and the atmosphere than the plot or characters.

“The Future is Blue”: A post-apocalyptic tale of the last humans, who are living on a floating garbage patch. Despite the obviously sci-fi setting, Valente takes a more fairy-tale like approach: the result is an interesting take on the genre, and not just because I’m not aware of anybody else who thought to take advantage of the possibilities of garbage the way tha ...more

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Jan 21, 2020 Jim rated it liked it

I definitely need a break from Catherynne M. Valente’s short fiction books.

Mini-rant: I have never been a fan of single-author collections that are compiled long enough after many of the tales have been available elsewhere (Neil Gaiman, anyone??), not just in isolated formats like on tor.com or an online magazine of fiction (Clarkesworld), but in multi-author anthologies, chapbooks, and limited edition hardcover short-prints. In an age where books and stories are quickly offered to readers I th I definitely need a break from Catherynne M. Valente’s short fiction books.

Mini-rant: I have never been a fan of single-author collections that are compiled long enough after many of the tales have been available elsewhere (Neil Gaiman, anyone??), not just in isolated formats like on tor.com or an online magazine of fiction (Clarkesworld), but in multi-author anthologies, chapbooks, and limited edition hardcover short-prints. In an age where books and stories are quickly offered to readers I think authors could manage the publishing of their short story books much differently, so not so much of the included content is just re-reads for fans. If I follow an author, I usually acquire their output as soon as its available (book, e-book, audiobook, lending library), so for me the collections are almost entirely superfluous, as most have few unpublished stories. Maybe it’s because I almost never buy books anymore (long, uninteresting reason, ask if you want to know), so “having all the stories in one place/book” matters not at all to me.

OK, back to this 2019 Locus Award Nominee for Collection.
(Hmm, besides the name of the award (?Collection?)maybe they should change the rules for the awards so that a certain (very high!) percentage of the content must be unique to the collection, or at least published within a year of the award?)
So, the stories, where they were first published, and a short comment or three.

“The Future Is Blue” (available from Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 150, March 2019) - A dystopian soon-to-be-reality about living on a garbage pile. Lots of beautiful imagery, a smidge of tragedy, a small iota of hope. Maybe.
“No One Dies in Nowhere” (available in “The Weight of Words”, 2018) - Bird people, religion, and gloom. An imaginative world built around the stages of death.
“Two and Two is Seven” (unique) - A bit I-created-a-monster (fun), a bit heavy on the alliteration (not fun).
“Down and Out in R’lyeh” (available in Uncanny Magazine #18, 2017) - I think Cthulhu works better as gloom, doom and awful, creeping terror.
“The Limitless Perspective of Master Peek, or, The Luminescence of Debauchery” (available in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue #200, May 2016) - Tried a bit too hard to be Italian-esque. But the magical glasswork and old-fashioned naming idea were fun concepts.
“Snow Day” (available in Uncanny Magazine #11, 2016) - Art is subjective. So is erotic. Leave it.
“Planet Lion” (available in Uncanny Magazine #4 2015) - Humans fucking up other beasties. A bit close to Earth, now, but intriguing.
“Flame, Pearl, Mother, Autumn, Virgin, Sword, Kiss, Blood, Heart and Grave” (unique) - Elegantly styled interwoven tangents. The most Valente-esque piece. Lovely. Stand-out gem of the book, easily.
“Major Tom” (unique) - I don’t like how Valente does science fiction. Nope.
“The Lily and the Horn” (available in Fantasy Magazine, Issue #60, 2016) - A “feminine” approach to strength using the device of feast-battle. Yum! Ouch!
“The Flame After the Candle” (available in “Mad Hatters and March Hares”, ed. Ellen Datlow, 2017) - I read a play that developed this more effectively. Still, not awful, but why try riffing something already rather classic AND bizarre?
“Badgirl, the Deadman, and the Wheel of Fortune” (available in “The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales”, 2016) - Bleak and meandering, not Valente’s wheelhouse.Vague retelling of “The Armless Maiden”.
“A Fall Counts Anywhere” (available in “Robots vs. Fairies”, 2018) - The story’s title, as a fight. Erg.
“The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild” (available in Clarkesworld Magazine Issue #102, 2015) - Quite nonsensical and a bit romantic-ish. And pregnant squirrels!
“The Beasts Who Fought for Fairyland Until the Very End and Further Still” (available on Valente’s website, ca. 2017) - “Fairyland” is one of the best fairy tale serials ever written, and this is a beautiful addition to that world.

A mixed bag, as expected, since very few authors can do a short story collection with nearly all winners (Barker, Simmons, King, Langan). Valente is losing her gleam for me right now. Her last few novels have been awful for me (Radiance, Space Opera) and she tends to overdo the Valente-ese at the expense of plot. Here’s hoping she gets publishers for her next “Deathless” book, “Green Like Dying” (a sequel novella for the titular tale in this book), and the third “Dirge for Prester John” entry. I need a new non-science fiction novel from Catherynne! ...more

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Mar 29, 2019 Violet rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, fantasy, collection, favorite-authors, dystopia-utopia

The color blue can evoke strong and sorrowful feelings, but it is also the color of the sky where our loftiest ideas live and fly. Which makes The Future is Blue a very appropriate title for this short story collection. Every tale contains various amounts of emotion and whimsy as Catherynne M. Valente deals with the deep and profound often through silly and absurd worlds.

For example: In the title story, all land is now underwater and humanity drifts on piles of trash, divided by the different ki The color blue can evoke strong and sorrowful feelings, but it is also the color of the sky where our loftiest ideas live and fly. Which makes The Future is Blue a very appropriate title for this short story collection. Every tale contains various amounts of emotion and whimsy as Catherynne M. Valente deals with the deep and profound often through silly and absurd worlds.

For example: In the title story, all land is now underwater and humanity drifts on piles of trash, divided by the different kinds of debris they now cling to. In amongst the beautiful impossibility of living in a town made of circuit boards or candle wax floating on a world-wide ocean, is the pain of ostracization and loss as the main character is vilified for stopping Electric City’s delusional yet hopeful plan to save them all.

Valente starts with these worlds, carving these elaborate and distinct universes with precision and a knack for language that never ceases to wow me. I’m thinking here, specifically of “Down and Out in R’lyeh,” a story of teenage angst in the Cthulhu underworld, which is built almost solely on the unique slang and urban rhythm of her words. All it takes is one sentence to get my meaning:

“Harken to the eletrostatic-enigmatic low-budget belch-bowl of the low-rent disaffected disasters roaming these dumb slime-streets where there’s nothing to do but seethe.”

See what I mean?

Valente is often incredibly efficient in building her mad-cap worlds (and conveying the emotions within). In “The Lily and The Horn” in 13 short pages, she presents a history where wars are fought over dinner with wives and poison. But also weaved within is the story of a youthful relationship, complete with the euphoric taste of love and the pain of separation. While impressive in its precision and brevity, I still wanted to dive deeper, know more and see what would’ve happened next, which is either a good or bad thing depending on your opinions of what a short story should accomplish (a completeness or a craving).

However, I sometimes think she goes a little too far in creating her worlds to the point where the meaning and emotion is lost in overabundance of details. “Flame, Pearl, Mother, Autumn, Virgin, Sword, Kiss, Blood, Heart, and Grave” is the biggest example. The character arch of a girl with a tower for a body (for in this country nobles are never born normal) is lost in the zealous rush to explain the history and culture of that country. I was so overwhelmed with details that I never really understood who she was or what she wanted.

Valente’s best in this collection are the ones where she successfully balances out the world building and the emotions. One clear example is “The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild.” The universe in this story is a strange one. Divided by the color spectrum, the lands each contain different personifications of abstract concepts. In the Blue Country, stories are dinosaur-like creatures, and in the Red Country, death is a red dress with a neckline down the naval. But those traits of the world aren’t just there to be interesting, they are used to explain and visualize one girl’s grief after the loss of her love.

Valente is a very odd writer, expressive and deep and utterly different. I always love picking up something written by her because I simply don’t know what to expect. There are of course more strange and wonderful stories in this collection than I took the time to tell you about. And while all might not be created equally, they’re definitely worth checking out.
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Jan 21, 2019 Jill Furedy rated it really liked it

I had mixed feelings on this one. Some of her worlds are so bizarre it can be hard to follow. And so I'd be reading a story and thinking I wasn't sure about this one, but then with a few of them, by the time I was into the groove of that particular world and storytelling, it would be over and left me wanting to know more. Hence the 4 star review, that even some of the confusing stories intrigued me. The titular story was a good one. It takes place in a post apocalyptic world where the main chara I had mixed feelings on this one. Some of her worlds are so bizarre it can be hard to follow. And so I'd be reading a story and thinking I wasn't sure about this one, but then with a few of them, by the time I was into the groove of that particular world and storytelling, it would be over and left me wanting to know more. Hence the 4 star review, that even some of the confusing stories intrigued me. The titular story was a good one. It takes place in a post apocalyptic world where the main character lives in Garbagetown. She goes exploring to Electric City and meets a boy, but the story isn't really about him. The other stories that stood out to me were Two and Two is Seven, mainly because of the alliteration and the list of Maribels's 99 misfortunes as she cares for the robots in the land as she awaited the return of the king. I remember little of one story except that the glassblower creates glass eyes, but his story was moderately interesting. There was a Lovecraft story, which I am not familiar with the source material and so didn't appreciate that one. And a story that was a little confusing but not too bad overall, of a planet populated by animals who speak telepathically, the lions in particular, and what happens when humans end up there. A story called Major Tom where I guess instead of space, he is exploring the extent of putting humanity into computers. The Lily and the Horn was interesting, a story where battles are no longer hand to hand or weapon to weapon, but fought by women at the dinner table, seeing who can survive which poisions. There was a story I wanted to like more of Peter (the inspiration for Peter Pan) meeting the Alice who inspired Wonderland, and of Peter's daughter. But it never quite caught me. A story of the Fairies vs Machines had promise as well, but it was narrated by a sports announcer robot, and that format put me off the story. The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild was one I would have liked to have more background for, with it's pregnant time squirrels rounded up by Nowboys, and the Ordinary Emperor who appears in the form of household objects, and the different nations of different colors of the rainbow, who speak the same language but the words have different meanings in each (so Violet must learn what love or death or sorrow means in each). For instance, in the purple country, Sorrow is an animal she rides on. It was strange, and hard to wrap my head around on occasion, but I was still interested in the different countries. Of course the final story was a good one...as soon as I saw the chapter title included Fairyland, I was excited. And then about 2 pages in I realized it was a not-subtle story about our current political climate and I actually liked it even more. It balanced the Fairyland story and the political morals very well. That part alone may have made it worth picking up! ...more

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Jul 07, 2020 Allan Dyen-Shapiro rated it it was amazing

In this book of short stories, Valente demonstrates a mastery over prose. Each story seems to begin with a conceit that she pushes as far as it could possibly go. The stories are all innovative, all an experience of discovery for the intellect. At her best, she pushes this technique to a brilliance that leaves one in awe.

My favorite two in this collection were Down and Out in R'lyeh and the title story. In the former, she writes in the style of a beat novelist, like Jack Kerouac, except the guys In this book of short stories, Valente demonstrates a mastery over prose. Each story seems to begin with a conceit that she pushes as far as it could possibly go. The stories are all innovative, all an experience of discovery for the intellect. At her best, she pushes this technique to a brilliance that leaves one in awe.

My favorite two in this collection were Down and Out in R'lyeh and the title story. In the former, she writes in the style of a beat novelist, like Jack Kerouac, except the guys out adventuring are all Lovecraftian monsters. I was laughing through the entire read. She sets The Future is Blue on a floating garbage island, and as such, gets more biting and political than in most of her stories. Tetley, the narrator, is delightful in her perspective on the world, and the dialect Valente invents for her--dystopic to the point that one might consider this a horror story, perfused with slang, and often profane--had me marveling over the work Valente must have put in to perfect it.

Many of the other stories were also quite creative. Some standouts: In Snow Day, a cloistered heroine interprets her world with reference to the early 20th century collection of pornography left by a former resident of her house. In Major Tom, jarring fragments of memory tell the story of a space satellite whose brain used to be a surgeon's. Badgirl, the Deadman, and the Wheel of Fortune takes the perspective of a small child as an unreliable narrator, telling a tale as she slowly develops an understanding of what it means. The dramatic irony, reader superior position, yields a creepy and shocking horror, all the more so in that this is barely speculative fiction and could have flown as a purely realist story. In The Beasts Who Fought For Fairyland Until the Very End, a meta-fictional breaking of the fourth wall story, the mythical characters sit around discussing why they aren't getting a happily ever after and the world is shit.

Although she'll play with standard fantasy tropes (and riff on many other things), there's not a lazy, conventional story in this book. Her voice is unique.

Strongly recommended.

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Jul 30, 2018 Jessica rated it it was amazing

Valente is one of those authors who doesn’t tell you a story, she doesn’t even show you so much as she takes you on a journey. Chronology, perspective and language bend to her will, endowing her tales with a sense of playful wonder and knowing dread. The tones of the stories within differ widely, and genre is fluid both within and between tales, and something nearly laughed at in some cases. The underlying theme of the book (the future and our regard, or disregard for the consequences of our act ...more

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Jun 28, 2018 Laura Hill rated it liked it

Thank you to Subterranean Press and NetGalley for an early review copy of The Future is Blue by Catherynne Valente, which will publish July 31, 2018. All thoughts are my own.
Writing: 4 World Building: 5 Characters: 3 Story plots: 4

Wildly imaginative short stories from the author of Space Opera. Valente has a love for language, adopting a highly mutated vocabulary (with strong English roots!). Each story takes place in a differently bizarre setting with perfect internal coherence. The story evol ...more

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Jan 30, 2019 Angela rated it it was amazing

Every story here has its place and it’s pros and cons. There were two longer novellas that I think could have had better impact with a bit smaller word count.

But best is that it starts strongly and ends strongly. The Future Is Blue is the first story and where the title is taken from and features a protagonist who travels across the island of trash that her people live on in order to find her name. There is no land in this story and all people travel across a wasted water only planet - it’s won ...more

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May 11, 2018 Jasmine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: advanced-reader-copy-reviews

One sentence review: A compilation of futuristic worlds leaving you haunted, wondering, and grasping for more.

I read The Future is Blue between other books, reading a story a day until I finished the collection. Each story dug into my mind, lingering, and sparking conversations with my spouse as the stories demanded more attention. I love stories, like those in this book, that demand to be discussed. While some are more fantastical than others, each story brought itself up over dinner, before be ...more

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Dec 30, 2019 Bree Pye rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, contemporary-fiction

It took me 620 days to read this collection cover-to-cover. Not because I didn't love it, but because it was hard to read, in the sort of way good beef jerky is hard to eat. To experience all the flavor, you have to rip a bit off and chew and chew and suck and suck and eventually, all the flavors come out and overwhelm your mouth and you'll love beef jerky your whole life but will never have two pieces that taste the same. This was that book. Lots of chewing. Lots of thinking. Lots of re-testing ...more

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Aug 15, 2018 C. A. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I generally burn through most books in a few days or less.

"The Future Is Blue" took me over a week, an unheard length of time for me for anything that wasn't non-fiction or Game-of-Throne sized, because I was wallowing in the wonderful prose. One story, "The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild," probably accounted for half that time. So much fun, so layered, every word and phrase carefully chosen and many with multiple meanings. "It's allowed to be both things."

Valente takes fairy tale tropes and rh ...more

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May 21, 2018 Jen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc, netgalley, fantasy, own-paper-copy, short-stories, anthology-collection, own-kindle-copy

Full disclosure: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I love Valente's work because it's always full of strangeness and wonder. She experiments with weird worlds and takes classic stories in odd directions. Her prose is magical; she is a master of style and colorful descriptions.

There were a couple of stories in this volume that didn't much appeal to me, but I enjoyed the rest and loved many of them. This is an excellent collection and ...more

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Dec 05, 2018 Heather rated it it was ok

I only made it half-way through this collection before deciding Valente's writing is a bit too wordy and pretentious for my taste. I got through "Planet Lion" before giving up, and out of those that I read the one I did actually like was "No One Dies in Nowhere." "Two and Two is Seven" was also decent, and "The Future is Blue" and "Snow Day" were alright, but not all that interesting honestly. The rest however were such a jumbled mess of too many words for descriptions, unending similes so long ...more

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Feb 21, 2019 AbbyandLisa rated it it was amazing

From Lisa - It's easy to forget how amazing a book of great short stories can be. Little looks into another world that let you slip away for just a moment out of your day to someplace so special. Valente is a genius, she creates such magic I can't even fathom most of it - reading over my level, for sure. There are stories in here that feel like just a brush of paint over your consciousness: I don't understand them at all, but I can feel them, like looking through a colored piece of glass at the ...more

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Sep 11, 2018 Brian Rogers rated it really liked it

When Valente is is on she writes like an angel, and she's on about half the time in this volume. On the whole i prefer her longer works to her short stories, as you have more time to fall into the language and catch the unique rhythm that she builds up in each story. Still, many of these are exceptional (personal favorite is the meeting between Alice Pleasance Hargreaves and Peter Llewelyn Davies), and even the worst are very, very good. ...more

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Jun 12, 2019 Ian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: short-stories, fantasy, sci-fi

An excellent collection of short stories. I had read most of them before in other publications, but I found them to be actually more enjoyable the second time around - maybe because I find reading online more distracting, or maybe because I knew the plot already so I could focus on the emotional impact.
Still, CMV's dialogue is as usual dense and elaborate, so (for me) this was a book best read in short sips, one story at a time, rather than trying to devour it all at once.
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Apr 18, 2020 Vicki Kuro rated it it was amazing

I never wanted this book to end. I wanted to forever stay in all the little universes Catherynne was presenting me with.
Her control of language and linguistics is pure magic. The little details she pays attention to in order to create the bigger story are just to die for.
Granted, some were less exciting than others, but the weirdness of them all, the flavor, the color, the emotion... I am truly fascinated by her writing, and can't wait to read more. ...more

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About Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente

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Catherynne M. Valente was born on Cinco de Mayo, 1979 in Seattle, WA, but grew up in in the wheatgrass paradise of Northern California. She graduated from high school at age 15, going on to UC San Diego and Edinburgh University, receiving her B.A. in Classics with an emphasis in Ancient Greek Linguistics. She then drifted away from her M.A. program and into a long residence in the concrete and cam ...more

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“Kid, nobody really gets anywhere in this life. Everybody just picks someplace to hunker down and barricade themselves in. Some of us just got better bricks than others.” — 1 likes

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