Dark Matter Presents Monstrous Futures by Alex Woodroe

Dark Matter Presents Monstrous Futures Reviews

• 
  Amir Sepahram

  داستان کوتاه «بدن یادش می‌ماند» از «پی. اِی. کورنل» از این مجموعه توسط «امیر سپهرام» ترجمه و روی «فضای استعاره» منتشر شده.
  این داستان به خوبی پیامدهای پایدار جنگ رو، حتی بعد از ترمیم کامل جراحت‌های مرگبار، (که در فضایی علمی‌تخیلی میسر می‌شه) نشون می‌ده.
  
  "لحظه‌ای طول می‌کشد تا بفهمم صدای فریاد از دهان خودم است. کارکرد ذهن هم بامزه است؛ متوجه می‌شوم دارم با خودم بحث می‌کنم که به فریاد ادامه بدهم یا صدایم را ببرم. از پایم – دست کم جایی که زمانی پایم بوده – چیزی جز تکه‌هایی له شده که مرا یاد گوشت خوک ریش‌ریش می‌اندازد نمانده است. ساکت شدن را انتخاب می‌کنم. در برابر درد، فقط دندان‌هایم را به هم می‌فشارم و لحظاتی پایم را نگاه می‌کنم که از آن گوشت ریش‌ریش شدهٔ خونالود در حال بازسازی است و بعد چشمم را از آن منظرهٔ غیرطبیعی برمی‌گردانم. با این حال، از بوی فلزی خون گریزی نیست. تنها چیزی که می‌تواند با آن مقابله کند بوی تند و تیز عرق تنم است. خیلی‌ها نمی‌دانند بوی عرق، وقتی علتش ترس باشد فرق می‌کند. قوی‌تر. اسیدی‌تر. باور کن. آن قدر در این کار بوده‌ام که این را بدانم."
  
  
  لینک داستان در فضای استعاره
• 
  Pagefingers

  I loved LOVED this anthology. Sci-fi horror is my favorite genre combo, and this diverse collection of stories really impressed the hell out of me. There was not a single story I didn’t enjoy. The sci-fi was not too “hard” and the horror not too “soft.” This is one of those rare anthologies I end up binge-reading and then hate myself for it later, because then the book ends and I need MORE. If you like Black Mirror and Love Death + Robots, then don’t miss Monstrous Futures. So. Freaking. Good.
• 
  Lynne

  3.75/5
• 
  Amanda

  “My tongue is a mess of paper cuts, chiseled into bloodied flesh by beautiful pages and lovelier words.”
  📚
  Monstrous Futures presents 29 never-before-published sci-fi horror stories that explore terrifying realities where optimism is extinct, technology lies at the root of societal discord, and the future is no longer underscored by progress and prospect, but hindered by it, rendering those left standing unsure how they’ll survive. And the most frightening aspect? The plausibility of these scenarios based on the world’s current trajectory. Standouts include:
  
  •“Consider This an Opportunity” by J. A. W. McCarthy: A disturbing tale of abuse and neglect, truth and recollection, and revenge and possibility.
  
  •“Shiny™️ People” by Rae Knowles: An eerily prescient account of hate, ignorance, insanity, corruption, and the nurturing, restorative power of the written word.
  
  •“A Smooth Handover” by Ashleigh Shears: A disquieting story of memory, individuality, corporate callousness, and technology’s destructive, soul-sucking reality (and that ending!😫).
  
  •“All Parts of a Mermaid That I Can Recall” by S. J. Townend: A chilling narrative of technological advancement gone awry where man is (once again) both victim and aggressor.
  
  •“Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” by Andrea Goyan: A heartrending chronicle of misfits and monsters, humanity and hope, angst and longing, freedom and isolation, and love and self-sacrifice.
  
  A huge thank you to Dark Matter INK for sending me a copy of this incredible anthology. Next up: Monster Lairs.
• 
  Daniel Mowery

  Dark Matter Presents continues to kill it with this second installment of their Monster anthologies. The best writers are brought together with their best horror/sci-fi works to an amalgamation of speculative terror that is so visionary, but never farther than the tips of our fingers.
  
  Good sci-fi horror faces us with future possibilities that places a glaring mirror to our past, the deepest, darkest, immutable flaws of humanity, and our capability and capacity for innovation and advancement without care for cost or consequence. Mostly in the name of capitalism, and occasionally in the grandmother’s clothes of progress, comfort, and convenience. Great sci-fi horror does all this, but in such believable scopes that the dreadful premises of both the technological and societal advancements seem to be not only attainable, but are just around the corner. Things you’ve heard about in the news or on your twitter feed, that we are inching closer and closer towards. Stories that feel more like predictions than speculations. Even the outlandish and surreal anchored and rooted from a world we know as our own to a future that makes us believe that the course is already set and doomed.
  
  This collection is great sci-fi horror.
  
  Editor Alex Woodroe compiles a wide variety of stories and voices that explore every possible timeline of our horrific futures. The breadth of imagination, identity, diversity, and creativity are truly what lay the foundations of this mind-blowing anthology. There are explorations of household machines gone mad in ways that will chill you and break your heart—should your vacuum really be intelligent?—, body augmentations and implantations with unsettling repercussions (How much do you want to assimilate into acceptable cultural behavior? How closely do you want to watch your kids?), horrific and inhumane (and inhuman) forms of punishment and rehabilitation, deadly effects of entertainment gone wrong or way too right, and the entirely disturbing ways that humans are beginning to approach medicine, healthcare, and death.
  
  Even when the speculative elements and stories are the more far-fetched ideas—the time travel autopsies, astral projection nightmares, and cheeky surrealist capitalist apocalypses—every single one of the 29 stories herein strike home in such a meaningful, familiar way. You’ll find reflections of yourself and the world you know, and it will scare you, break your heart, and blow your mind. You won’t leave this collection unscathed.
  
  I face the same issue I had with the preceding Human Monsters anthology: that the entire anthology is so good from start to finish that it’s quite impossible to choose favorites. Some of the stories that continue to live rent-free in my head include but are not limited to: “Fully Comprehensive Code Switch” by M.H. Ayinde, “About a Broken Machine” by Catherine Kuo, “Who Sees All” by Avra Margariti, “Nanny Clouds” by Kay Hanifen, “A Front Row Seat for Miss Evelyn” by D.A. Jobe, and “You Don’t Have to Watch This Part” by Rodrigo Culagovski. Again, as I said in my HM review, you see how many I just listed? You see how impossible it is to select standout stories from such an across the board slam dunk anthology?
  
  If you’re a fan of sci-fi, if you’re a fan of horror, if you’re a fan of looking to the future with any mixture of hope, curiosity, dread, outrage, and dismay, you’ll love this collection. If you’re a fan of great story telling, emotional impact, and rich, diverse voices, you’ll love this collection. I cannot commend Woodroe’s hard work enough, and I cannot recommend this anthology enough. Read it now, before the futures within come to pass.
• 
  Tom Sterling

  Monstrous Futures is a fun and sometimes scary collection of stories that take place in the near-future, or possibly somewhere on a parallel Earth. Each tale explores some unique and unexpected direction that new technologies and our society might take us. Some of those visions are pretty frightening. I loved it!