Echoes of the Future, edited by Aleksandr Voinov
Title: Echoes of the Future 
Editor: Aleksandr Voinov
Publisher: Noble Romance
Length: Anthology / 116 pages
Buy the Book: Publisher
Blurb:
Burn by Aleksandr Voinov
Flight Lieutenant Chris Waters is the pilot of a cutting-edge unmanned SAD fighter drone that is used for secret government missions. Chris is cutting-edge technology himself: his neural network is upgraded with cyber-technology and software that makes him the interface of his combat drone.
Then, something goes wrong as he connects to his drone. Haunted by strange, disorientating impressions, a so-called ‘ghost’, he hooks up on leave with fellow pilot Cyril for a night. But Cyril is not the man Chris thought he is, and Chris soon finds out what the ‘ghost’ in his body really is, as well as the truth about his missions.
Conduit by Kate Cotoner
Ismail and his ex-husband Toki are divided by class and circumstance. Toki is a cybernetic upgrade human and part of the city elite, while Ismail is a baseline human and a cop. Their brief marriage failed when Toki walked out, but now he’s back, asking for Ismail’s help against Hanuman, a malicious cyber-intelligence who plans to poison the water supply of all baseline humans in the city. Now Ismail and Toki must find the underground reservoir targeted by Hanuman before time runs out for them both.
Rescue Me by Jude Mason
Assigned to guard Leetchi Ambassador Dar and his family, Lieutenant Thomas Patch finds himself inexplicably drawn to Jad, the diplomat’s son. The tall, slender Leetchi turns out to be as gay as Patch and steals his heart. When Jad is kidnapped, Patch goes undercover to find and rescue him. The rescue takes him to the underbelly of the space port city and a whore house where slaves are bought and sold at will. Finding Jad proves easier than he’d hoped, but the rescue takes an insane twist when their escape attempt is thwarted by the one person they knew was on their side.
Will Jad’s enslavement tear the lovers apart? Will Patch be torn from the love of his life? Find out, in Rescue Me.
Reversal by A. B. Gayle
Sebastian is bored. He has another five years of lone duty supervising his family’s robots on their space station. The last thing he wants to do is the housework. For Christmas, his mother sends him a Domestic Darling cyborg. True to form, she purchases a factory second and sends one that doesn’t quite fit the bill. Instead of being a pert blond with big tits and a cute ass like in the advertisement, this one is six foot tall and built like a Greek god, a very virile Greek God. In an attempt to improve its functioning, Sebastian uses some of his brilliant programming skills. The resulting changes ensure Sebastian will never be bored again.
Review:
The quartet of stories in this anthology are truly a mixed bag: one great, one good, two not-so-good. Sure, they all have futuristic settings, but other than that, I’m kind of at a loss as to how they were chosen. I see them listed on Noble’s site as “Cyberpunk”, but I’m not sure that’s exactly what’s going on here either. However, seeing as there’s not one unifying blurb or introduction to the anthology, I’m not sure Noble knows, either.
Let me explain.
The lead-off story in the collection, the editor’s own “Burn” was frankly disappointing.
Ghost in the machine, very nice; organic vs. silicon, one of my personal ticklespots; even neurologically plausible. But the piece as a whole felt trite and cheesy (“I’d like to see if your body feels as good as your biofeedback.”) especially in the interactions between the two leads. They’re neither of them likeable or three-dimensional, and their interactions seem mechanical (tee hee) and forced.
And it’s a shame to have that particular story leading off, as the second one, Kate Cotoner’s “Conduit” is marvelous, one of the cleverest and most nuanced pieces of fiction I’ve read in a long time.
It glitters darkly and adds a fresh voice to cyberpunk, which I like very much. I will be watching Cotoner in case these characters are part of a series, because I will then devour it like a perfectly grilled corn-on-the-cob. The characters are fascinating and I loved their interactions, which felt natural and appropriate, even as the main Will He Die?? plot unfolded. And the worldbuilding. Och, the worldbuilding.
I can’t really express how much I liked this story, and I think Cotoner can do it better herself. So there was this:
Mechanical carp swam in slow circles in the ornamental pool. Ismail paused to watch one of the fish, an orange and white creation with showy fins, bump its head repeatedly against the wall. He knew how that felt, so he crouched and set the carp on its proper path.
It’s not just pretty, it’s also smart. And let me tell you: smart? Makes my toes curl more than any pile full of naked, glistening and energetic menfolk. Hard to believe, I know, but true.
This:
Ismail shifted on the tatami, unused to kneeling for any length of time. He leaned his weight to one side and glanced around the gallery at the shattered statues, torn scrolls, and rusted samurai armor. “Love what you’ve done with the place.”
I love that.
There’s just so much going on in this story. Ismail and the fish imagery. The notion of silicon improvements vs. natural aging. Did I mention the worldbuilding? I could mention it some more. Plus I do like to see older characters in love and *ahem* active.
So, before I talk about the third story, “Rescue Me” by Jude Mason, I’m going off on a brief tangent. Bear with me. I recently read a book review by the incomparable Elisa Rolle, in which she takes pains to specify that sometimes you read a story and you can understand that it’s not specifically something you might have chosen to like, but at the same time, you can definitely see its worth.
I do not normally gravitate toward strong BDSM themes because they’re just not where my interests lie, fictionally speaking. But here was this story about BDSM in space, and before I knew it, I’d read it and…I can’t say that I liked it, but I will say that I admired it a great deal. It’s strongly written, with clean, descriptive prose and good characterization and narrative chutzpah. I admire it a great deal, even if I’m not theoretically the intended audience. Maybe I am, after all, who knows.
I do know that Elisa Rolle is one smart cookie.
Anyway. “Rescue Me”. I don’t want to spoil this story for anyone else, but even if you think from the synopsis that it’s not for you, I urge you to give it a chance (with all appropriate trigger warnings in place for those who need them). Plain old strong storytelling skills deserve wide exposure.
The last story, “Reversal” by A.B. Gayle, concerns a bored young man and a robot. Um. It’s…it’s not very good. I kept rolling my eyes at both boy and robot and really hoped that at some point one of them would develop some interesting quirk or facet that would draw me in and distract from the stilted mechanics and bog-standard space setting.
Also please, please, please authors, please stop having people post-coitally thinking about their mothers. I am asking very nicely.
Overall, I found this anthology puzzling. Was it meant to be cyberpunk? Was it meant to be straight science fiction? Did anyone but me ask this question at all?
As a quartet, the stories are mismatched and oddly shapen. They don’t fit together well. A little shuffling and editorial oversight, in this case, would have gone a long, long way toward getting each tale a more appropriate setting.
Posted in 2.5 stars, Anthology, Erotica, Fiction, Gay, Reviews, Science Fiction
I’d like to thank you for your very thoughtfully expressed review. Even though, overall, you gave the anthology a low score, you at least took the time to explain your reasoning and gave the readers more than 2 lines and a copied/pasted story blurb.
We appreciate your time and effort. ~ Jill
Hey, thank you. I’d definitely jump at the chance to pick up another Noble anthology, and would encourage other people to do the same. The stories definitely gave me something to think about.
I read this anthology not because of the general theme, Cyberpunk, but because of the authors, all of whom I previously read and enjoyed.
I have to say, I enjoyed each story and admire the authors ability to write such creative pieces. Hats off to Aleksandr, A.B., Jude and Kate. This anthology is nowhere near my favored genre, but I was thrilled to read it and enjoyed every word.
Excellent! I’d never heard of any of them before, and even though I didn’t really get two of the stories, I loved the Cotoner piece and I really admired Jude’s.
It’s interesting to hear from someone who’d previously read work by these guys.
Do you have any recs for any or all of these authors?
Oddmonster,
As you can imagine, it took me a little bit of thought before I responded to your review. I’m always delighted when a reviewer actually says something in a review, something I can get my teeth into, whether the review is bad or good. A pat on the head is always a nice feeling, but does little to improve my skill as an author.
I really want to thank you for your thoughtful words and the time it took you to put this review together. I totally understand that a reviewers opinion is simply one more opinion, but I also know that people put more stock into what a reviewer says than they would another reader.
BDSM and science fiction, I thought was an interesting mix. Getting enough of the story into those few words was a challenge, but I’m always up for that. This one story has had such a wide variety of responses, but I think I like yours very much. You didn’t fall over loving it, but you did admire the skill. That’s wonderful. Thank you.
Jude
Thank you very much for responding. I have a lot of admiration for the twist you pulled off in this story, which I found narratively very, very clever. Even if I don’t normally read BDSM, I do like clever, quite a bit.
I felt like I learned something just reading the story.
I’d definitely like to read more of your stories; please let Three Dollar Bill know when you have more available.
Best of luck with your writing,
Odd
Odd,
I write mostly m/m, but I will definitely let Three Dollar Bill know when I have a new release. Thank you.
Jude
Thanks for the review, Odd. I’m pretty proud of having badgered Kate enough to try the genre.
Regarding the theme – the theme is sci-fi. We have space opera (twice) and cyberpunk (twice) – or technothriller, which works, too.
Sorry it didn’t work for you. It was my first attempt at pulling an anthology together and I keep learning.
I’m pretty *excited* you badgered Kate enough to try the genre. That’s some good badgering.
Thanks for the explanation about the theme; I think maybe my expectation was skewed by having just read the Queerpunk anthology, which has a much tighter theme to it. Sci fi’s a pretty broad spectrum and the title of the antho was really compelling, so perhaps I just got my wires crossed.
I definitely look forward to reading more of your anthos, though.
Hi Odd
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy my story. Still it’s good for my ego to get a different view. Most reviewers have liked “Reversal” so far. Which was a relief to me as it was my first published piece.
Now I feel a little more confident in my ability as a writer, I need reviews like this to remind me that not all readers are the same. What works for one doesn’t work for another and humor is a very personal taste.
So for every: “Lots of funny moments. I read it twice.” there’s your “Um. It’s…it’s not very good.”
Just a question. I was intrigued by your comment: “Also please, please, please authors, please stop having people post-coitally thinking about their mothers. I am asking very nicely.”
Is this a trend you’re noticing in stories or do you just find the concept “icky”?
Thanks again, I echo Jill’s comments about getting reasons.
A.B.Gayle
Congratulations on your first published piece! I’m really sorry I didn’t like it better.
As far as the post-coital parent thing, my answer’s yes to both. I think this is the third story I’ve picked up this year where it happens, and I find it a very strange trend. Then again, if it’s a trend, other people must like it, right?
As you said, different strokes for different folks.
Good luck!
–Odd
Not sure when I’ll do another one – it’s a lot if work. I just felt the world needed more gay or m/m sci-fi, and Jill was up for the idea. I didn’t do an introduction because I didn’t want to put myself in the foreground – the other Noble anthology I contributed to didn’t have an introduction.
Also, the premise of the anthology is very different to that of Queerpunk. All of those stories had to be gay romances and had a limited wordcount. That’s another theme if you like – romance.
There’s a het companion anthology, Echoes of Possibilities.
Seeing your other reviews and what you like, I’m not surprised you didn’t like my story
but that’s ok, different things work for different people, I’m a reviewer too, I know how hard that job can be. 
You know, if you’d be willing, I’d love, as a reader, to read a blog entry or essay about the kind of work it does take to pull an anthology together. And I’m willing to bet a lot of other folks would be interested, too.
Although please, don’t let me add to your worklist.
I’m also fascinated that you’ve found a pattern to what I like; can you come with me the next time I hit the bookstore? Because I never know exactly what’s going to grab me.
But I’d definitely give another one of your stories a try. Any you’d like to recommend?
It completely depends. I have a pretty wide range. I’d recommend checking out the list of my releases here:
http://www.aleksandrvoinov.com/bookshelf.html
Every link has some more information. Stuff ranges from the ultra-gritty to the nicer and fluffier texts. There’s a good range of reviews of my stuff on Goodreads, too.
Hi Oddmonster,
Thank you for taking the time to put together this review. I’m really happy you enjoyed ‘Conduit’
It was my first (and so far only) sci-fi piece and I wouldn’t have ever bothered writing in that genre (way out of my comfort zone) without Alex suggesting that I gave it a go!
Toki and Ismail will return at some point – the Edinburgh dystopia was very strong in my head (I’m glad you liked the worldbuilding so much!) so I’d like to go back to the place and the characters.