Hieroglyph

Hieroglyph: Stories & Visions for a Better Future
Ed. by Ed Finn and Kathryn Cramer

Hieroglyph is an anthology that looks to rekindle the spirit of SF’s golden age with stories about big ideas, infused with a spirit of can-do optimism. Led by “principal provocateur” Neal Stephenson’s clarion call for less dystopic negativism in SF, the authors here were charged with creating fresh and daring technological icons for a brave new world.

At least that was the plan. In practice, a lot of the stories (including contributions from Canadians Madeline Ashby, Cory Doctorow, and Karl Schroeder) are more ambiguous than this suggests. Still, the emphasis throughout is on imagining how science can provide innovative solutions for a better, or at least more interesting, future.