Jewish Futures: Science Fiction from the World’s Oldest Diaspora
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Title: Jewish Futures: Science Fiction from the World's Oldest Diaspora
Series: Short Stories
Published by: Fantastic Books
Release Date: August 7, 2023
Contributors: Esther Friesner, Harry Turtledove, Leah Cypess, Susan Shwartz, Valerie Estelle Frankel, Robert Greenberger, Randee Dawn, Barbara Krasnoff, Steven H Silver, S.I. Rosenbaum & Abraham Josephine Reisman, Shane Tourtellotte, SM Rosenberg, Riv Begun, E.M. Ben Shaul, Jordan King-Lacroix, Samantha Katz
Pages: 256
ISBN13: 978-1515458050
The first Jewish diaspora began nearly three thousand years ago. Those three millennia have informed a rich story-telling tradition that will only continue to expand in the coming centuries. This volume-the literary heir to the Wandering Stars anthologies of the 1970s and '80s (and leading off with a very personal essay by Jack Dann, who edited those books)-extrapolates Jews and Judaism into a wide future. Sometimes moody, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, Publishers Weekly says these "16 appealing stories extrapolating Jewish themes into near- and far-future settings.... open diverse and challenging vistas for sci-fi fans-Jewish and gentile alike."
Between these covers, you'll find tales of the last Jew, Jewish space lasers, and the remarkable connection between brisket and zombies. You'll experience the breath-taking experiences of climbing Mt. Everest while religious, and of competing in futuristic sporting combinations in the Olympics. You'll explore the questions of just what will we do when the artificial intelligences controlling our homes become more religious than we? Or when aliens seek to convert to Judaism, and then try to return to an abandoned Jerusalem on a deserted Earth?
Featuring stories by: Esther Friesner, Harry Turtledove, Leah Cypess, Susan Shwartz, Valerie Estelle Frankel, Robert Greenberger, Randee Dawn, Barbara Krasnoff, Steven H Silver, S.I. Rosenbaum & Abraham Josephine Reisman, Shane Tourtellotte, SM Rosenberg, Riv Begun, E.M. Ben Shaul, Jordan King-Lacroix, and the debut story by New York City high school student Samantha Katz.
Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact Review (12/2023) (PDF)
From "Matzah Ball Soup for the Vershluggin Soul"
Mom, Buddie and I were shaping matzah balls at the sink when the habdom bell chimed.
"Got it!" I blasted away from the sink like I was on fire, wiping my hands on my pants as "Hava Nagila" rang through grandma's – who we called Buddie – small flat. I snickered: Mom hated that song, but I knew how to hack Buddie's chime list.
I halted at the door, steps before my little brother Sam. He's three, and he'll open it to just anybody. I became a full grown-up a few months ago when I had my bat mitzvah, so I know how to handle myself. Standing on tiptoe to peer through the second lock's eyehole, my jaw dropped.
There was my aunt in the decomp chamber, removing her designer surface travel wear. She hung her sparkling gold helmet on a hook and ran a manicured hand through her thick dark hair – same as Mom's, only more stylish. She picked up a box of Moshe's Macaroons, all the way from the western side of the colony.
But she wasn't alone.