Future Primitive: The New Ecotopias Explained

Cover Artist:	Carol Russo
Published:	1994 (Tor Books)
Isbn:	978-0-312-85474-4
Media Type:	Hardcover
Editor:	Kim Stanley Robinson
Language:	English
Country:	United States
Pages:	352

Future Primitive: The New Ecotopias is a 1994 collection of short stories edited by Kim Stanley Robinson. It republishes notable short works of utopian and dystopian fiction that incorporate elements of primitivism and of eco-anarchism.

Contents

• An introduction by Robinson, outlining the visionary role of such fiction
• Tomorrow's Song, Gary Snyder (a poem)
• Part one: "Statements of desire"
  • Bears Discover Fire, Terry Bisson
  • In the Abode of the Snows, Pat Murphy
  • Boomer Flats, R. A. Lafferty
• Part two: "Denial of the body"
  • Hogfoot Right and Bird-Hands, Garry Kilworth
• Part three: "But what were they really like?"
  • House of Bones, Robert Silverberg
• Part four: "And might we ever be like that again?"
  • 'A Story' by John V. Marsch, Gene Wolfe
  • The Bead Woman, Rachel Pollack
  • Chocco, Ernest Callenbach
  • (excerpt from) The New World, Frederick Turner
  • Rangriver Fell, Paul Park
  • Mary Margaret Road-Grade, Howard Waldrop
• Part five: "Parables"
  • Looking Down, Carol Emshwiller
  • Newton's Sleep, Ursula K. Le Guin
  • Return (story), Robinson Jeffers
• Endnotes characterizing the purpose of each story in the anthology

Reception

Publishers Weekly called it "a potent mixture of prose and poetry" that will "please not only science fiction aficionados but also those with interest in philosophy, archeology and environmental ethics".^[1]

See also

• Apocalyptic science fiction
• Science fiction

Notes and References

1. Web site: Future Primitive: The New Ecotopias. . Publishers Weekly. 1994-07-04. 2014-08-11.