2041

Twelve sf authors offer vignettes of life 50 years hence: bombed-out, deserted cities ("Free Day," by Peg Kerr); instant execution for unguarded speech (Bruce Coville's "Old Glory"); Shakespeare sans offensive language ("Much Ado About [Censored]," by Connie Willis); Fenway Park flooded by the rising sea; and other chilling visions. In a happier vein are McCaffrey's story about a girl who earns a job tending the last few horses on Earth; Kara Dalkey's tale about a hilariously balky matter transmitter; and McKillip's "Moby James," in which a boy learns something from a Great Book. A "soft" collection—scientific and technological changes are smoothly integrated but take a back seat to personal problem-solving and social speculations (often satirical)—but the authors get their points across without being oppressively cautionary. (Short stories. 11-15)