Futures: Four Novellas

Contains

Original publication date

2001-04

Epigraph

"The drama's done. Why then here does any one step forth?"
    —Making History

Dedication

For the Friday Shut-Ins
    —Making History

First words

If I was dreaming that night I forgot it the instant when that blasted telephone woke me with its shrill two-tone whistle.
    —Watching Trees Grow

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An explosion of light: the moment of her birth.
    —Reality Dust

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I believe that I first saw Demi Lacombe at the gala reopening of the theater.
    —Making History

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I shall start my story with my name.
    —Tendeleo's Story

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)One day, when I've matured and mellowed, and the Borgias have left the Vatican, I may access it again.
    —Watching Trees Grow

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And she held him, until the last of his unwelcome memories had leaked away, and forgetting who he was, he lay still.
    —Reality Dust

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"The war's not over."
    —Making History

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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)She had done all her saying, but close at hand, I heard the delighted, apprehensive cry of a woman entering labor.
    —Tendeleo's Story

Disambiguation notice

contains four novellas:
Watching Trees Grow by Peter F. Hamilton
Reality Dust by Stephen Baxter
Making History by Paul J. McAuley
Tendeleo's Story by Ian McDonald
with an introductio... (show all)n by Peter Crowther