What do you think?
Rate this book
2033: The Future of Misbehavior
What is the future of sex? Some of the brightest minds writing today offer their predictions in this tantalizing anthology. Rick Moody considers the repornification of Times Square, Lisa Gabriele predicts 100 percent divorce rate, Ana Marie Cox sees the return of family values via tabloids, Jay McInerney examines female executive dominance, Walter Kirn discusses Madame President and the First Lady, and much more. With short stories, imaginative e-mail exchanges, mock memoranda, and other clever missives from 2033, the future of misbehavior has never looked so good.
- GenresScience Fiction
200 pages, Hardcover
First published April 12, 2007
1 person is currently reading
40 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 10, 2020
Ima be honest had this book for a while. Only got through it because they are super short stories 5 pages maybe max. Some of the stories are interesting and make you think hmm that may be what the future is like, but mostly this book is getting donated somewhere. Can’t say it was really great.
September 9, 2018
I picked this up at the library on a whim and was sadly disappointed. None of the short stories were any good.. did I laugh at how absolutely terrible they were? You bet. So maybe I’ll give it 1.5 stars.
March 6, 2024
This was fun! I don't understand all the negative reviews. Editors from Nerve dot com came together and wrote short stories about what 2033 would be like. Most of the stories are off the wall and kind of funny (Not laugh out loud, but "cute".)
Another thing that was great was seeing what the authors got wrong about the near future. The story about people hiring their own paparazzi was a great example. Why would they do that when they could Livestream or go live on TikTok? Or that the authors viewed celebrity culture as a continuation of glittery sleaze that was an extension of what reality TV was like in the 90s-early 00s. You could almost see the crappy faux retro furniture and green and pink dayglo settings in some of the stories.
I am going to wait another 9 years to read this again when I'm 48 to see what else they missed in their predictions.
Another thing that was great was seeing what the authors got wrong about the near future. The story about people hiring their own paparazzi was a great example. Why would they do that when they could Livestream or go live on TikTok? Or that the authors viewed celebrity culture as a continuation of glittery sleaze that was an extension of what reality TV was like in the 90s-early 00s. You could almost see the crappy faux retro furniture and green and pink dayglo settings in some of the stories.
I am going to wait another 9 years to read this again when I'm 48 to see what else they missed in their predictions.
December 9, 2011
The writing was wildly uneven but I suppose you'll have that with this kind of collection. I was a bit disappointed because the writing wasn't extraordinary--I'd expected a book rooted in the future to use language differently. Instead it read mostly like a series of USA Today stories.
Some stories were sensless such as in which one earth man sneaks off to another planet to have sex with an alien woman "approximately sixteen feet tall, with eyes the size of grapefruits..." Jen Kirkman's, The Single Girl's Guide to Compromising Homeland Security was one standout. Clever, well-written, planted firmly in the future, the here-and-now and the past, it was a wonderful read, breathless, sentimental, hopeful, full of promise and warmth in a cold, cold world.
Douglas Rushkoff's 70 is the New 30 was another standout what with it being cnot uncommon to chnage your sex after teh first hundred years of life. An added plus,the hilarious and unforgettable letter tah begins: "By order of the Food and Drug Administration, your penis has been recalled."
Some stories were sensless such as in which one earth man sneaks off to another planet to have sex with an alien woman "approximately sixteen feet tall, with eyes the size of grapefruits..." Jen Kirkman's, The Single Girl's Guide to Compromising Homeland Security was one standout. Clever, well-written, planted firmly in the future, the here-and-now and the past, it was a wonderful read, breathless, sentimental, hopeful, full of promise and warmth in a cold, cold world.
Douglas Rushkoff's 70 is the New 30 was another standout what with it being cnot uncommon to chnage your sex after teh first hundred years of life. An added plus,the hilarious and unforgettable letter tah begins: "By order of the Food and Drug Administration, your penis has been recalled."
August 17, 2007
Typically, I'm not one for sci-fi or short story anthologies. That was before I read "2003: Future of Misbehavior."
Leave it to Nerve.com, a website known for high-brow erotica, to gather up an undeniably sexy, yet simultaneously scary, collection of predictions and depictions. From Walter Kirn's lesbian presidential couple to Jay McInerney's script-flipping future female executives, each story is thought-provoking, risque and ripe with social commentary.
My personal favorite, Rachel Shukert's "Paris Hilton International Fellowship," is a darkly clever look at the ridiculousness of celebrity culture and the damaging effects of it's escalation in our daily lives.
Sure, there are plenty of robots, dating and tantalizing love scenes, but despite it's sexy exterior, "2003" is a cautionary tale at it's core.
Bottom line: The future is indeed worth reading about, maybe even more than once.
Leave it to Nerve.com, a website known for high-brow erotica, to gather up an undeniably sexy, yet simultaneously scary, collection of predictions and depictions. From Walter Kirn's lesbian presidential couple to Jay McInerney's script-flipping future female executives, each story is thought-provoking, risque and ripe with social commentary.
My personal favorite, Rachel Shukert's "Paris Hilton International Fellowship," is a darkly clever look at the ridiculousness of celebrity culture and the damaging effects of it's escalation in our daily lives.
Sure, there are plenty of robots, dating and tantalizing love scenes, but despite it's sexy exterior, "2003" is a cautionary tale at it's core.
Bottom line: The future is indeed worth reading about, maybe even more than once.
January 14, 2015
If I asked my Facebook friends to come up with a series of 500-2000 word stories about what they think the year 2033 would be like, a book very similar to this would be the result. Actually, I suspect that a representative sample of my Facebook would produce stories that are slightly better written and slightly less knowledgeable of contemporary pop culture and technology. Which is unfortunate, because some of these authors have some decent ideas, while other appear to be decentish writers.
As other reviewers have pointed out, most of the stories are too tied to the pop culture trends of the time when the book was published--which at this point was a decade ago.
So this book is fine if you pick it up from the dollar bin (which thank God I did), but otherwise I recommend moving along because there's nothing to read here.
As other reviewers have pointed out, most of the stories are too tied to the pop culture trends of the time when the book was published--which at this point was a decade ago.
So this book is fine if you pick it up from the dollar bin (which thank God I did), but otherwise I recommend moving along because there's nothing to read here.
October 18, 2009
Yes, the future is worth reading about, but ... most of these futures are pretty boring. Come on, people ... taking a swipe at Spears, Hilton, Ritchie et al is just going for the low-hanging fruit. Pathetic. (Not all did this, but more than one took this approach.)
However, if Jardine Libaire's "Pirate Daddy's Lonely Hearts Club Call-In Show" doesn't make you get all sniffly ... you may want to have that checked out. Pity she doesn't seem to have written anything else like it.
I suspect that the more familiarity you have with science fiction as a genre, the less likely you are to think this is great ... but I may be wrong.
However, if Jardine Libaire's "Pirate Daddy's Lonely Hearts Club Call-In Show" doesn't make you get all sniffly ... you may want to have that checked out. Pity she doesn't seem to have written anything else like it.
I suspect that the more familiarity you have with science fiction as a genre, the less likely you are to think this is great ... but I may be wrong.
March 17, 2015
Some interesting stories unfold in this imaginary of a utopic-dystopic former United States. I find that a perspective that is lacking in this collection, that of a post hoc 2033 reality, could have challenged some of the writers more and in different ways. An archaeological and even more future retrospective on 2033, say from 2088 or 3015, would have a different feel and set of concerns. This kind of doubled-futurism should probably happen more, and in any direction, as for instance from a medievalist looking back on early antiquity but writing as though from a re-imagined Industrial Revolution of steampunk that is yet to be.
November 15, 2014
picked it up at powells bookstore, im like on page 76, the first six authors were somewhat entertaining...i think rachel shukert is that blonde on television that critiques i love the 80's like joel stein also, which they are BOTH in this book, by NERVE .com....
they arent the best stories and since theyre from 2007, to see how they have been porttrayed in the FILM SCHOoL sans interpretation after catching kinda vivid visuals of film in regard to what is being read...its strange and interesting in that way...so will self is like the best probably, of all of them.
they arent the best stories and since theyre from 2007, to see how they have been porttrayed in the FILM SCHOoL sans interpretation after catching kinda vivid visuals of film in regard to what is being read...its strange and interesting in that way...so will self is like the best probably, of all of them.
November 19, 2008
Discussed at SF Gospel:
"This is where the most interesting aspect of the anthology arises. For all that its title suggest a celebration of "misbehavior," the stories display a surprisingly moralistic attitude. They express concern over the ways in which our self-centered technology and our self-devouring pop culture have driven us apart from each other."
Full review here:
http://sfgospel.typepad.com/sf_gospel...
"This is where the most interesting aspect of the anthology arises. For all that its title suggest a celebration of "misbehavior," the stories display a surprisingly moralistic attitude. They express concern over the ways in which our self-centered technology and our self-devouring pop culture have driven us apart from each other."
Full review here:
http://sfgospel.typepad.com/sf_gospel...
December 6, 2009
I liked it. Some of the stories I could have done without reading, some of them could have been much longer. I feel like that about most short story collections, regardless of interwoven themes.
May 21, 2008
I love nerve.com, but this was a mediocre effort.
June 28, 2008
zzzzzzzz. printed proof that bloggers and "online contributors" should stick to their chosen medium.
back-burner
June 27, 2009Saw this in the bargain bin at just the right time! Need it for research purposes.
March 21, 2015
I give it a 3.5. Some of the stories are good and others aren't as good, but it was interesting, to say the least. It kept me reading until I finished the book in a couple sittings.
February 17, 2016
Not bad, mostly fluff
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews