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I Remember the Future: The Award-nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein
The award-nominated stories in this collection will bring memories of the future flooding back. Two new stories and all-new afterwords enliven the past with a touch of the present and that which is yet to come. You don't need a collection of antique spaceships or a carefully calibrated time machine to share the memories of the final Holocaust survivor. You don't have to jump through the gate between universes in search of a lost friend. All you have to do is open your eyes. You'll remember the future. The future remembers you.
Contents:
Absent Friends (1998)
Broken Symmetry (1997)
Cosmic Corkscrew (1998)
Decisions (2004)
Empty Spaces (2008)
I Remember the Future (2008)
Kaddish for the Last Survivor (2000)
Paying It Forward (2003)
Reality Check (1999)
Sanctuary (2005)
Seventy-five Years (2005)
Spaceships (2001)
TeleAbsence (1995)
TelePresence (2005)
Time Ablaze (2004)
Contents:
Absent Friends (1998)
Broken Symmetry (1997)
Cosmic Corkscrew (1998)
Decisions (2004)
Empty Spaces (2008)
I Remember the Future (2008)
Kaddish for the Last Survivor (2000)
Paying It Forward (2003)
Reality Check (1999)
Sanctuary (2005)
Seventy-five Years (2005)
Spaceships (2001)
TeleAbsence (1995)
TelePresence (2005)
Time Ablaze (2004)
436 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2008
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86 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 6, 2024
This is a collection of shorter (from short stories to novellas) SF works of Michael A. Burstein. I became aware of the author quite accidentally, reading in a blog that: There are only 27 authors whose works have appeared on the prose-fiction Hugo Award ballot at least 10 times… Of this exclusive list of 27 authors, 25 of them have taken home the trophy on at least one occasion. The others are Michael A. Burstein, a terrific author of short fiction who largely stopped publishing new work about a decade ago, and Aliette de Bodard, who earned her 10th and 11th Hugo nods this summer in Glasgow. I was curious about what he wrote if he was nominated that often, so I searched for him and found this book. It contains mostly Hugo/Nebula-nominated works. I really enjoyed it. All stories have afterwords by the author.
Contents:
Introduction: Stanley Schmidt Analog’s editor on his collaboration with the author.
Kaddish For The Last Survivor (2000, Short Story, Hugo/ Nebula Nominee), a deeply personal and globally relevant story with only a hint of SF. The last Holocaust survivor is dying, his granddaughter came to see him for the last time. There is a lot of media and among them a Holocaust denier. How non-religious Jews should keep to their roots and keep the memory of the Shoa alive? 5*
TeleAbsence (1995, Short Story, Hugo Nominee), the first of the two linked stories: a Black boy from an inner city stole a VR reality kit and tried a private virtual school for the first time. He is truly impressed, for it is levels above his ‘real’ school with guns and angry teachers. Alas, quite soon the truth is uncovered, and the teacher tries to keep him, but fate intervenes… 4*
TelePresence (2005, Short Story, Hugo Nominee), the first of the two linked stories: decades later the same Black boy now heads the project to make VR schools universal and his team is close to success, but someone uses VR to kill pupils. This endangers the whole project so that the crime should be solved fast. 3.5*
Broken Symmetry (1997, Novelette, Hugo Nominee), the first of the four linked stories: two teachers bike around, a big boom, and one of them disappears. He is dead in a hole, but why? The solution is rather simple – multiple worlds interpretation – in a parallel universe the US finished their Superconducting Supercollider (for which in our reality only the tunnel was made), and now particles migrate between universes, sometimes with explosions of anti-matter. Teams in both worlds try to solve the problem. 4*
Absent Friends (1998, Novelette), the teacher, who lost his friend in the last story, bluffs his way into a chamber where two worlds interact and jumps into the parallel universe, endangering himself and the project. Grief makes it hard for him to be rational, but he finds out that the worlds are different enough… 4*
Reality Check (1999, Novelette, Nebula Nominee) the portal between two worlds from the previous parts is acting up, no one knows why. A professor and a religious Jew, who (as readers can easily guess from the previous parts) is the other world lost friend tries to find a solution. He is also informed about his ‘friend’ from the other university, who is no one to him… 3*
Empty Spaces (2008) the final installment of the two-world supercollider series, where they try to find out why if there is a multiple worlds interpretation, they ended up with only two worlds. 3*
Spaceships (2001, Short Story, Hugo Nominee) a very far future, a post-human who collects spaceships of the past has a visit from another post-human. They temporarily wear their biological bodies to find out what is needed. 4*
Decisions (2004, Short Story, Hugo Nominee) an astronaut is incarcerated after his return from a mission. It seems that he returned weeks before he went on the mission… 4.5*
Time Ablaze (2004, Novella, Hugo Nominee) a strange man rents a room in 1904 NY, a daughter of the renter finds out that he is from the future, here to record the deadliest catastrophe ever in NY, which is almost forgotten now - On June 15, 1904, General Slocum sidewheel passenger steamboat caught fire and sank in the East River of New York City, with over 1000 people dead. Is it ok to let people perish if for you, as for the girl it is the future, so there is no granddad paradox for her. 3.5*
Seventy-Five Years (2005, Short Story, Hugo Nominee) a former wife blackmails her senator ex-hubby so that he stops supporting lengthening the term of disclosure of detailed census data from 72 to 75 years. 3.5*
Sanctuary (2005, Novella, Nebula Nominee) a Catholic priest sent into a semi-exile on a faraway space station. An alien comes to him and asks for the sanctuary – she is pregnant, but her society is stable and twin-based, so only one twin is allowed to have twins to evade the Malthusian trap… 5*
I Remember The Future (2008), an old SF writer is dying, his story is constantly interrupted with pieces for his works, and his daughter thinks that he cared about other worlds more than about their family. 4.5*
Cosmic Corkscrew (1998, Short Story, Hugo Nominee) a time traveler goes to 1938 to get the earliest story by one Isaac Asimov (which was/is lost in our reality), he is Asimov’s fan… 3.5*
Paying It Forward (2003, Short Story, Hugo Nominee) another old SF writer is dying from a terminal cancer. Years ago from the same condition died an SF writer he adored, he wrote to that author post-mortem and got a reply. Who communicates with him? 5*
Contents:
Introduction: Stanley Schmidt Analog’s editor on his collaboration with the author.
Kaddish For The Last Survivor (2000, Short Story, Hugo/ Nebula Nominee), a deeply personal and globally relevant story with only a hint of SF. The last Holocaust survivor is dying, his granddaughter came to see him for the last time. There is a lot of media and among them a Holocaust denier. How non-religious Jews should keep to their roots and keep the memory of the Shoa alive? 5*
TeleAbsence (1995, Short Story, Hugo Nominee), the first of the two linked stories: a Black boy from an inner city stole a VR reality kit and tried a private virtual school for the first time. He is truly impressed, for it is levels above his ‘real’ school with guns and angry teachers. Alas, quite soon the truth is uncovered, and the teacher tries to keep him, but fate intervenes… 4*
TelePresence (2005, Short Story, Hugo Nominee), the first of the two linked stories: decades later the same Black boy now heads the project to make VR schools universal and his team is close to success, but someone uses VR to kill pupils. This endangers the whole project so that the crime should be solved fast. 3.5*
Broken Symmetry (1997, Novelette, Hugo Nominee), the first of the four linked stories: two teachers bike around, a big boom, and one of them disappears. He is dead in a hole, but why? The solution is rather simple – multiple worlds interpretation – in a parallel universe the US finished their Superconducting Supercollider (for which in our reality only the tunnel was made), and now particles migrate between universes, sometimes with explosions of anti-matter. Teams in both worlds try to solve the problem. 4*
Absent Friends (1998, Novelette), the teacher, who lost his friend in the last story, bluffs his way into a chamber where two worlds interact and jumps into the parallel universe, endangering himself and the project. Grief makes it hard for him to be rational, but he finds out that the worlds are different enough… 4*
Reality Check (1999, Novelette, Nebula Nominee) the portal between two worlds from the previous parts is acting up, no one knows why. A professor and a religious Jew, who (as readers can easily guess from the previous parts) is the other world lost friend tries to find a solution. He is also informed about his ‘friend’ from the other university, who is no one to him… 3*
Empty Spaces (2008) the final installment of the two-world supercollider series, where they try to find out why if there is a multiple worlds interpretation, they ended up with only two worlds. 3*
Spaceships (2001, Short Story, Hugo Nominee) a very far future, a post-human who collects spaceships of the past has a visit from another post-human. They temporarily wear their biological bodies to find out what is needed. 4*
Decisions (2004, Short Story, Hugo Nominee) an astronaut is incarcerated after his return from a mission. It seems that he returned weeks before he went on the mission… 4.5*
Time Ablaze (2004, Novella, Hugo Nominee) a strange man rents a room in 1904 NY, a daughter of the renter finds out that he is from the future, here to record the deadliest catastrophe ever in NY, which is almost forgotten now - On June 15, 1904, General Slocum sidewheel passenger steamboat caught fire and sank in the East River of New York City, with over 1000 people dead. Is it ok to let people perish if for you, as for the girl it is the future, so there is no granddad paradox for her. 3.5*
Seventy-Five Years (2005, Short Story, Hugo Nominee) a former wife blackmails her senator ex-hubby so that he stops supporting lengthening the term of disclosure of detailed census data from 72 to 75 years. 3.5*
Sanctuary (2005, Novella, Nebula Nominee) a Catholic priest sent into a semi-exile on a faraway space station. An alien comes to him and asks for the sanctuary – she is pregnant, but her society is stable and twin-based, so only one twin is allowed to have twins to evade the Malthusian trap… 5*
I Remember The Future (2008), an old SF writer is dying, his story is constantly interrupted with pieces for his works, and his daughter thinks that he cared about other worlds more than about their family. 4.5*
Cosmic Corkscrew (1998, Short Story, Hugo Nominee) a time traveler goes to 1938 to get the earliest story by one Isaac Asimov (which was/is lost in our reality), he is Asimov’s fan… 3.5*
Paying It Forward (2003, Short Story, Hugo Nominee) another old SF writer is dying from a terminal cancer. Years ago from the same condition died an SF writer he adored, he wrote to that author post-mortem and got a reply. Who communicates with him? 5*
September 21, 2016
Finally got around to wrapping up the few stories in this collection I hadn't already read. (On the way back from a work trip in Italy; great place for an anthology.)
As with any collection of short stories, there are some ups and downs here, but overall it's an absolutely tremendous collection of terrific stories.
Some of my favorites:
"Kaddish for the Last Survivor" - A very personal story, obviously, given the author's Jewish faith and heritage. It's hard to conceptualize that the world could ever forget the Holocaust, but this story convicted me to make sure I don't contribute to its being forgotten.
"TeleAbsence"/"TelePresence" - An interesting pair of stories dealing with virtual reality and its potential for future education. Unfortunately, it could end up being not available to those who could benefit the most from it.
"Broken Symmetry"/"Absent Friends"/"Reality Check"/"Empty Spaces" - Easily my favorite section of the collection, even though I'm desperate for another story in the series. Get on it, Michael! (Pretty please.) The story series brings in the potential effects of multiple universes on such things as high-energy particle physics. Or more properly, the effect of high-energy physics on multiple universes. Great hard science fiction here.
"Time Ablaze" - This one felt like a great episode of "The Outer Limits" or another anthology show. Traveling in time to observe and record a tragic (and forgotten) event is fine, right up until you start to get to know the people involved.
"Sanctuary" - A great space opera-ish story of xenophobia and prejudice, told from the perspective of a Catholic Priest. I love the respect Burstein gives Catholicism even though he doesn't share the faith. The story seems to have been inspired by the M*A*S*H episode "A Holy Mess," going beat-for-beat with the developments of that episode, but I don't mention this as a criticism. The SF setting and differing circumstances easily make it into a great adaptation of the former story.
"I Remember the Future" - This story is a great sandbox that Burstein plays in, using a fictional author's work as an excuse to write in the styles of several different eras of science fiction. We talked with Michael on Take Me To Your Reader about this story (and its short-film adaptation) and his career and life. Make sure to check that out.
As with any collection of short stories, there are some ups and downs here, but overall it's an absolutely tremendous collection of terrific stories.
Some of my favorites:
"Kaddish for the Last Survivor" - A very personal story, obviously, given the author's Jewish faith and heritage. It's hard to conceptualize that the world could ever forget the Holocaust, but this story convicted me to make sure I don't contribute to its being forgotten.
"TeleAbsence"/"TelePresence" - An interesting pair of stories dealing with virtual reality and its potential for future education. Unfortunately, it could end up being not available to those who could benefit the most from it.
"Broken Symmetry"/"Absent Friends"/"Reality Check"/"Empty Spaces" - Easily my favorite section of the collection, even though I'm desperate for another story in the series. Get on it, Michael! (Pretty please.) The story series brings in the potential effects of multiple universes on such things as high-energy particle physics. Or more properly, the effect of high-energy physics on multiple universes. Great hard science fiction here.
"Time Ablaze" - This one felt like a great episode of "The Outer Limits" or another anthology show. Traveling in time to observe and record a tragic (and forgotten) event is fine, right up until you start to get to know the people involved.
"Sanctuary" - A great space opera-ish story of xenophobia and prejudice, told from the perspective of a Catholic Priest. I love the respect Burstein gives Catholicism even though he doesn't share the faith. The story seems to have been inspired by the M*A*S*H episode "A Holy Mess," going beat-for-beat with the developments of that episode, but I don't mention this as a criticism. The SF setting and differing circumstances easily make it into a great adaptation of the former story.
"I Remember the Future" - This story is a great sandbox that Burstein plays in, using a fictional author's work as an excuse to write in the styles of several different eras of science fiction. We talked with Michael on Take Me To Your Reader about this story (and its short-film adaptation) and his career and life. Make sure to check that out.
November 9, 2008
This collection of entertaining, thought-provoking, and accessible science fiction stories should captivate any fan of the genre. “I Remember the Future” gathers some of Michael Burstein’s best stories (most of which were nominated for the Nebula and/or Hugo awards) along with a few new ones. My personal favorites are Kaddish for the Last Survivor, TeleAbsence, and Sanctuary, but I expect any one of these stories will be someone’s favorite.
The complete list of stories:
Kaddish for the Last Survivor: As the last Holocaust survivor lies dying, reporters and Holocaust deniers crowd around his home, while his granddaughter comes to visit with her non-Jewish boyfriend. This is probably Michael Burstein’s most famous story, and justifiably so. In the afterword, the author includes the original ending for the story, which was fascinating to read – especially as it contained a personal result for the protagonist that, from reading the story as printed, I had assumed to be the opposite.
TeleAbsence: A black kid from the inner city sneaks into an expensive virtual reality school.
TelePresence: A murder mystery set in a virtual reality school, years after the events in “TeleAbsence.”
Broken Symmetry, Absent Friends, Reality Check, Empty Spaces: These four stories form the “Broken Symmetry” series, about a leak formed between two parallel universes and its repercussions for all the people involved. “Empty Spaces” is a new story in the series, written for this collection.
Spaceships: In the far future, when humans no longer have bodies and exist as immortal presences in space, Kel has isolated himself from the rest of Humanity. He also has an odd hobby: he likes to collect spaceships….
Decisions: An intriguing answer to the question of why, if there are aliens out there, we haven’t heard from them yet.
Time Ablaze: A heartbreaking time-travel story that focuses on the General Slocum tragedy in turn-of-the-century New York City.
Seventy-Five Years: The only science-fiction story I’ve ever read that’s about the US Census.
Sanctuary: An alien fleeing religious persecution seeks sanctuary in a Catholic chapel.
I Remember the Future: A dying science-fiction writer is in for quite a surprise.
Cosmic Corkscrew: A time-traveler journeys to 1938 to make a copy of Isaac Asimov’s first story.
Paying it Forward: A fan writes an email to a dead writer – and receives a reply.
The complete list of stories:
Kaddish for the Last Survivor: As the last Holocaust survivor lies dying, reporters and Holocaust deniers crowd around his home, while his granddaughter comes to visit with her non-Jewish boyfriend. This is probably Michael Burstein’s most famous story, and justifiably so. In the afterword, the author includes the original ending for the story, which was fascinating to read – especially as it contained a personal result for the protagonist that, from reading the story as printed, I had assumed to be the opposite.
TeleAbsence: A black kid from the inner city sneaks into an expensive virtual reality school.
TelePresence: A murder mystery set in a virtual reality school, years after the events in “TeleAbsence.”
Broken Symmetry, Absent Friends, Reality Check, Empty Spaces: These four stories form the “Broken Symmetry” series, about a leak formed between two parallel universes and its repercussions for all the people involved. “Empty Spaces” is a new story in the series, written for this collection.
Spaceships: In the far future, when humans no longer have bodies and exist as immortal presences in space, Kel has isolated himself from the rest of Humanity. He also has an odd hobby: he likes to collect spaceships….
Decisions: An intriguing answer to the question of why, if there are aliens out there, we haven’t heard from them yet.
Time Ablaze: A heartbreaking time-travel story that focuses on the General Slocum tragedy in turn-of-the-century New York City.
Seventy-Five Years: The only science-fiction story I’ve ever read that’s about the US Census.
Sanctuary: An alien fleeing religious persecution seeks sanctuary in a Catholic chapel.
I Remember the Future: A dying science-fiction writer is in for quite a surprise.
Cosmic Corkscrew: A time-traveler journeys to 1938 to make a copy of Isaac Asimov’s first story.
Paying it Forward: A fan writes an email to a dead writer – and receives a reply.
December 6, 2008
Michael Burstein is sometimes pigeonholed as an "old-fashioned" SF writer. Those who wish to do so will certainly find the proof they want in this, his first collection of short stories. Yet it also misses the point. Burstein has the same transparent style we associate with Isaac Asimov, but that doesn't mean the writing is artless nor that the content isn't right up-to-date.
In fact his stories might well have shocked an editor like John Campbell. Characters who are Orthodox Jews or poor black kids or Catholic priests? Stories that reflect on the history of the genre itself? This is NOT your father's science fiction.
I've known Michael Burstein for more than ten years and from his famous debut, "TeleAbsence," to his most recent stories, it's always been a pleasure to see where he's going next. This is a long overdue collection and a marvelous introduction to Burstein's work.
In fact his stories might well have shocked an editor like John Campbell. Characters who are Orthodox Jews or poor black kids or Catholic priests? Stories that reflect on the history of the genre itself? This is NOT your father's science fiction.
I've known Michael Burstein for more than ten years and from his famous debut, "TeleAbsence," to his most recent stories, it's always been a pleasure to see where he's going next. This is a long overdue collection and a marvelous introduction to Burstein's work.
November 25, 2014
I gave up. TeleAbsence was a decent story--though I cant' imagine it winning all those awards--but Telepresence was awful. Data dumps, "As you know, Bob" dialogue, stupid smart people.
Another short story collection confirms my opinion that they are designed to sell the unsellable.
Another short story collection confirms my opinion that they are designed to sell the unsellable.
May 4, 2016
I Remember the Future by Michael A. Burstein features fifteen short stories. My opinion of this book as a whole on this collection is mixed. There were definitely stories that stood out and some that really just left me disappointed. I found the science fiction element to many of these stories lacking or so minor that I honestly couldn’t really consider that it was science fiction at all.
Kaddish for the Last Story- The book opens with a story about a young woman visiting her grandfather, the world’s last Holocaust survivor. This story, while interesting, was just okay in my opinion. The science fiction element to the story felt almost forced.
Teleabsence/Telepresence- The following two stories in this collection were connected. Teleabsence tells the story of a young student wanting nothing more than to be a part of a virtual school classroom. Telepresence is set several years later when that same young student is an adult working to implement the virtual school system in public schools, rather than just private. These were decent stories. I found the concept of the virtual school systems to be interesting.
Broken Symmetry/Absent Friends/Reality Check/Empty Spaces- All four of these stories were also connected. I wish these stories had not been near the beginning of the collection because I honestly almost did not finish this book because of these four stories. These stories are about two parallel universes of Earth that are trying to keep a scientific research facility open. It involves several different characters, and their reasons for wanting this scientific research facility to remain open. My first issue with these stories is that the relationships between characters seemed unrealistic and very forced. The sense of loss Jack Levinson had for his friend Daniel that carried through all four stories was just so unrealistic to me, and it was honestly painful for me to read. I’m not at all implying that a truly great friendship cannot cause so much grief; I just have to agree with the other characters in that Jack let it define his life when at some point he really should have moved on. Additionally, it was drawn out too much over all four stories. If this had come up in just the first or second story, I probably wouldn’t have been bothered by it, but these stories were long and essentially boring to me. I think if a writer is going to work on a parallel universe set of stories, that it has to be a bit more spectacular. (i.e. China Mieville’s The City and The City being my personal favorite). I do recommend that as a reader, you either skip these stories or push through and keep reading because after these the collection starts to shine. That’s why I almost wish they had been left out or moved to the end.
Spaceships- A short but interesting story about the future of humanity.
Decisions-This story had a very hopeful message about the relationship between humans and aliens/extra-terrestrial life. The story begins with an astronaut being locked up/contained for returning from his space mission before he even left. This story is very positive, and it was good.
Time Ablaze- This was probably one of the best stories in the collection. Honestly, I wish it had been placed first. This story takes place in the early 1900’s and revolves around a young boarder in a German neighborhood in New York. I don’t want to spoil too much on this story, but it was a great piece about time travel and interfering with a fixed point in time.
Seventy-Five Years- I disliked this story. It was uninteresting and almost pointless to me. The one small nod to the science fiction genre was so slight it might as well have been non-existent to begin with. I understand from the author’s own comments that he wrote this story specifically for the 75th Anniversary edition of Analog, but I think readers will be sorely disappointed in this story. Also, once again the way in which the relationships were described between characters were unrealistic, awkward and poorly executed.
Sanctuary-This story wasn’t terrible, but it did drag on a bit in my opinion. The story is about an alien claiming Sanctuary before a priest on a space station to be protected from the laws which govern its own home planet regarding childbirth/abortion. I think the ending left a lot to be desired. It was a realistic ending, but it just made me feel like the story was almost pointless.
I Remember the Future-Also a wonderful story. I really enjoyed the little snippets included in the story from the main character’s (who is an author) own novels. This story was quite literally perfect, and definitely ties Time Ablaze for best story in the collection.
Cosmic Corkscrew-Average time travel story. Nothing really spectacular going on here.
Paying it Forward-Interesting, yet disappointing. My main issue with this story and so many others in the collection is that it was very dry. The stories told me a great deal, but I didn’t feel like they showed me anything. This story didn’t really seem to have a plot. It was just a fiction autobiography about an author’s rise to fame and how he accomplishes that through the relationship with a seemingly deceased and great science fiction writer.
This collection is good, but it isn’t great. I actually really love Analog magazine so I was excited to read this collection since most of these were previously published there, but I think that on the whole, this is one of the more disappointing collections of short stories I have yet to read.
Kaddish for the Last Story- The book opens with a story about a young woman visiting her grandfather, the world’s last Holocaust survivor. This story, while interesting, was just okay in my opinion. The science fiction element to the story felt almost forced.
Teleabsence/Telepresence- The following two stories in this collection were connected. Teleabsence tells the story of a young student wanting nothing more than to be a part of a virtual school classroom. Telepresence is set several years later when that same young student is an adult working to implement the virtual school system in public schools, rather than just private. These were decent stories. I found the concept of the virtual school systems to be interesting.
Broken Symmetry/Absent Friends/Reality Check/Empty Spaces- All four of these stories were also connected. I wish these stories had not been near the beginning of the collection because I honestly almost did not finish this book because of these four stories. These stories are about two parallel universes of Earth that are trying to keep a scientific research facility open. It involves several different characters, and their reasons for wanting this scientific research facility to remain open. My first issue with these stories is that the relationships between characters seemed unrealistic and very forced. The sense of loss Jack Levinson had for his friend Daniel that carried through all four stories was just so unrealistic to me, and it was honestly painful for me to read. I’m not at all implying that a truly great friendship cannot cause so much grief; I just have to agree with the other characters in that Jack let it define his life when at some point he really should have moved on. Additionally, it was drawn out too much over all four stories. If this had come up in just the first or second story, I probably wouldn’t have been bothered by it, but these stories were long and essentially boring to me. I think if a writer is going to work on a parallel universe set of stories, that it has to be a bit more spectacular. (i.e. China Mieville’s The City and The City being my personal favorite). I do recommend that as a reader, you either skip these stories or push through and keep reading because after these the collection starts to shine. That’s why I almost wish they had been left out or moved to the end.
Spaceships- A short but interesting story about the future of humanity.
Decisions-This story had a very hopeful message about the relationship between humans and aliens/extra-terrestrial life. The story begins with an astronaut being locked up/contained for returning from his space mission before he even left. This story is very positive, and it was good.
Time Ablaze- This was probably one of the best stories in the collection. Honestly, I wish it had been placed first. This story takes place in the early 1900’s and revolves around a young boarder in a German neighborhood in New York. I don’t want to spoil too much on this story, but it was a great piece about time travel and interfering with a fixed point in time.
Seventy-Five Years- I disliked this story. It was uninteresting and almost pointless to me. The one small nod to the science fiction genre was so slight it might as well have been non-existent to begin with. I understand from the author’s own comments that he wrote this story specifically for the 75th Anniversary edition of Analog, but I think readers will be sorely disappointed in this story. Also, once again the way in which the relationships were described between characters were unrealistic, awkward and poorly executed.
Sanctuary-This story wasn’t terrible, but it did drag on a bit in my opinion. The story is about an alien claiming Sanctuary before a priest on a space station to be protected from the laws which govern its own home planet regarding childbirth/abortion. I think the ending left a lot to be desired. It was a realistic ending, but it just made me feel like the story was almost pointless.
I Remember the Future-Also a wonderful story. I really enjoyed the little snippets included in the story from the main character’s (who is an author) own novels. This story was quite literally perfect, and definitely ties Time Ablaze for best story in the collection.
Cosmic Corkscrew-Average time travel story. Nothing really spectacular going on here.
Paying it Forward-Interesting, yet disappointing. My main issue with this story and so many others in the collection is that it was very dry. The stories told me a great deal, but I didn’t feel like they showed me anything. This story didn’t really seem to have a plot. It was just a fiction autobiography about an author’s rise to fame and how he accomplishes that through the relationship with a seemingly deceased and great science fiction writer.
This collection is good, but it isn’t great. I actually really love Analog magazine so I was excited to read this collection since most of these were previously published there, but I think that on the whole, this is one of the more disappointing collections of short stories I have yet to read.
March 20, 2025
Very nice HARD SF
The careful, detailed thinking of his stories makes for great reading, as you should expect since all have either won or been nominated for a Nebula or Hugo, or both.
The part that had me held back from a fifth star is that these stories contain a high percentage of time travel tales. Unfortunately I perceive too much paradox or plot conflicts in ANYONE'S time travel stories to stay with them. No point when you can't sustain the suspension of disbelief.
Highly recommend reading still!
The careful, detailed thinking of his stories makes for great reading, as you should expect since all have either won or been nominated for a Nebula or Hugo, or both.
The part that had me held back from a fifth star is that these stories contain a high percentage of time travel tales. Unfortunately I perceive too much paradox or plot conflicts in ANYONE'S time travel stories to stay with them. No point when you can't sustain the suspension of disbelief.
Highly recommend reading still!
August 21, 2023
An excellent collection of hard science fiction! Almost every story in it was originally published in Analog, which says it all. Some of my favorites are "Broken Symmetry" and its companion story "Empty Spaces," "Decisions," "Time Ablaze," and " Seventy Five Years." Brilliant and thought-provoking. Highly recommended for all science fiction fans!
February 22, 2021
Reminds me of Isaac Asimov. Excellent collection.
September 29, 2020
I originally got I Remember the Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein (and had Michael sign my copy {twice, as it were!}) when it originally came out, and read it not too terribly long thereafter; however, that reading predates my time on Goodreads, so as I have a great deal more time on my hands with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to read I Remember the Future again. While not all of the stories in Michael's collection held up as well on second reading as they did on my first—and as I suggest below, this is at least as much because my own tastes have changed than for any other inherent reason—most of them are compelling, if not altogether charming, and Michael demonstrates his skill throughout as a storyteller worth following.
Where I Remember the Future didn't work for me, as I said, is insofar as my own tastes in sci-fi have changed. Daniel M. Kimmel (a mutual friend of ours), in his own review of the book, notes that Michael is an author very much in line with an Isaac Asimov in his "classical" sensibilities; while Michael deals in themes and subjects that, say, John W. Campbell Jr. would've found appalling, on a multiplicity of levels, Michael's tone and style, and sense of awe and wonder and so forth fall very much within the realm of an Asimov or one of his contemporaries. (Indeed, Michael's final three stories pay tribute to three of these authors considered among the greatest—but more on that below, once again.) Where Michael excels is in transcending the "big ideas" that Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke conveyed, with subjects close to his own heart; "Kaddish for the Last Survivor", for example, is a standout insofar as it touches on issues of memory and legacy, "TelePresence" and "TeleAbsence" stand out as touching on Michael's very real passion as an educator, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention how Michael uses the tropes of time travel to touch on those issues close to his heart as well. (Along these lines, "Time Ablaze" stands out as well.)
Perhaps the best story in the book, however, is, perhaps surprisingly, not one of the lead stories in I Remember the Future; for me, "Paying It Forward"—a tribute both to Robert A. Heinlein and to Charles Sheffield, the latter of whom had just passed away when Michael wrote that story—was nothing short of magical and is going to stick with me for some time, once over again. Not for nothing did the WorldCon voters nominate "Paying It Forward" for a Hugo for best short story—and only by the fact that Neil Gaiman was up for the award the same year did Michael not win that Hugo. (I personally think Michael wuz robbed.) This is not to say that Michael's other stories aren't compelling; "I Remember the Future" and "Sanctuary" are almost as much so as any of the others. As a friend, Michael would understand were I to note criticisms with I Remember the Future; thankfully, the situation is such that I really don't have to delve into that territory.
Where I Remember the Future didn't work for me, as I said, is insofar as my own tastes in sci-fi have changed. Daniel M. Kimmel (a mutual friend of ours), in his own review of the book, notes that Michael is an author very much in line with an Isaac Asimov in his "classical" sensibilities; while Michael deals in themes and subjects that, say, John W. Campbell Jr. would've found appalling, on a multiplicity of levels, Michael's tone and style, and sense of awe and wonder and so forth fall very much within the realm of an Asimov or one of his contemporaries. (Indeed, Michael's final three stories pay tribute to three of these authors considered among the greatest—but more on that below, once again.) Where Michael excels is in transcending the "big ideas" that Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke conveyed, with subjects close to his own heart; "Kaddish for the Last Survivor", for example, is a standout insofar as it touches on issues of memory and legacy, "TelePresence" and "TeleAbsence" stand out as touching on Michael's very real passion as an educator, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention how Michael uses the tropes of time travel to touch on those issues close to his heart as well. (Along these lines, "Time Ablaze" stands out as well.)
Perhaps the best story in the book, however, is, perhaps surprisingly, not one of the lead stories in I Remember the Future; for me, "Paying It Forward"—a tribute both to Robert A. Heinlein and to Charles Sheffield, the latter of whom had just passed away when Michael wrote that story—was nothing short of magical and is going to stick with me for some time, once over again. Not for nothing did the WorldCon voters nominate "Paying It Forward" for a Hugo for best short story—and only by the fact that Neil Gaiman was up for the award the same year did Michael not win that Hugo. (I personally think Michael wuz robbed.) This is not to say that Michael's other stories aren't compelling; "I Remember the Future" and "Sanctuary" are almost as much so as any of the others. As a friend, Michael would understand were I to note criticisms with I Remember the Future; thankfully, the situation is such that I really don't have to delve into that territory.
April 14, 2016
Michael A. Burstein tells us in the introduction to I REMEMBER THE FUTURE that Isaac Asimov influenced him more than any other writer. That influence is clear in this collection of his award-nominated stories -- his prose is straightforward and clear, and he's a natural storyteller.
What Burstein does consistently that Asimov did only intermittently is have a deep emotional content to his stories.
Perhaps the best-known story here is "Kaddish for the Last Survivor," a story from the November 2000 ANALOG that was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards. The granddaughter of the last survivor of the Holocaust is distraught that her grandfather is on his deathbed. The grandfather, in turn, fears the "big lie" that the Holocaust was a hoax will become more credible when the last living witness is gone.
The stakes for these characters are intensely personal, but could also have great consequences for society as a whole. Burstein not only brings the story to a satisfying conclusion, he also provides notes telling us how the story developed and how its ending might have been quite different.
I love reading collections or anthologies as ebooks because I can bookmark individual stories as possible re-reads without marking up a physical book. I marked ten of the fifteen stories in I REMEMBER THE FUTURE for possible re-reads, a high percentage for me.
Burstein deals in classic SF tropes (starships, aliens, time travel, but uses them with a sure hand and shows us there's still plenty of narrative power and sense of wonder left in them. One of the best collections I've read in years.
What Burstein does consistently that Asimov did only intermittently is have a deep emotional content to his stories.
Perhaps the best-known story here is "Kaddish for the Last Survivor," a story from the November 2000 ANALOG that was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards. The granddaughter of the last survivor of the Holocaust is distraught that her grandfather is on his deathbed. The grandfather, in turn, fears the "big lie" that the Holocaust was a hoax will become more credible when the last living witness is gone.
The stakes for these characters are intensely personal, but could also have great consequences for society as a whole. Burstein not only brings the story to a satisfying conclusion, he also provides notes telling us how the story developed and how its ending might have been quite different.
I love reading collections or anthologies as ebooks because I can bookmark individual stories as possible re-reads without marking up a physical book. I marked ten of the fifteen stories in I REMEMBER THE FUTURE for possible re-reads, a high percentage for me.
Burstein deals in classic SF tropes (starships, aliens, time travel, but uses them with a sure hand and shows us there's still plenty of narrative power and sense of wonder left in them. One of the best collections I've read in years.
February 5, 2014
I went to college with the author and did not know him well, but well enough to be on the lookout for his short stories in Analog/Asimov (I forget which, or maybe it was both) -- so I was reading them as they came, and was thrilled to see them available in an anthology which I promptly got for my Kindle. Another comment mentioned that he writes what he knows: NYC, Boston, Judaism, and of course, physics. But those are just the dressing to his creative ideas for the stories, which to me just read like good old fashioned (and I mean that in a good way) sci-fi. I intend to read everything he publishes, and to see the movie for "I Remember The Future" if I can as well.
February 11, 2009
Gift from Jamie. Signed advanced copy with a dedication to Sadie!! "December 2008 For Jason - A pre-orderded hardcover! Here's hoping we can make little Sadie a new member of the SF community someday! Best wishes, Michael A. Burstein." My favorite stories from this collection was the Broken Symetry series, Paying it forward and Time Ablaze.Michael makes it seem easy, like anybody could write this stuff.
March 24, 2012
This guy is brilliant at the adage of write what you know. A New York City public school teacher, a Ph.D. physicist, an Orthodox Jew. Stories generally deal either with education, physics hard sci fi, or religion. My favorite was his first published story--Teleabsence. Part exploration, part indictment of educational technology, part a very touching story of a teacher's attempt to help an underprivileged kid and the affect it had on his life.
Get this.
Get this.
April 19, 2016
I bought this book because there was a Kindle deal on it, and because I know the author. I'm glad I did. I enjoyed most if not all of these stories, and I especially liked how Burstein returns to the same worlds again and again. I also appreciated the presence of Jewish characters at various religious levels, since I tend to not forget just how rare that is until I actually encounter them.
May 2, 2016
We were incredibly honored to be joined by Michael A. Burstein to discuss his short story and the recent adaptation of it.
November 7, 2009
Short stories, mostly award nominated. Lots of physics but good characters.
gave-up
January 30, 2015Failed the hundred pages test. I just couldn't force myself on when there are so many other books unread.
March 5, 2016
Meh. Some interesting ideas, but not really enough to sustain a book. And 'Abapater' as the name of an alien religious leader is just cheesy.
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