Meet Me in the Future: Stories

Elephants and Corpses was my very first introduction to Kameron Hurley's writing several years back when Tor had it on their site. It was a first class story that made a lasting impression, yet its only in the last year that I have started buying and reading more of Hurley's work. I sit back now and want to kick myself. So of course when I saw this on NetGalley I hit request as fast as I could and then put everything else on the backburner as soon as I was approved, even though I had a couple of months before it's release day.

Well it was worth bumping it to the top of my tbr because I enjoyed the hell out of every single story in this collection. As someone who finds short stories very hit and miss, I was surprised. Every single story stood on it's own. If I was to rate them individually the lowest was a 4 star. I can't stress enough that this is an amazing feat. Every single story is absolute quality.

Lucky for me I got to revisit Elephant and Corpses in this collection and I loved it just as much the second time. And we get a second story with Nev, which was fantastic. Nev's world and history is so rich and well put together. A person who can jump from corpse to corpse and use the bodies as their own. Nev doesn't easily divulge much information, but from the fascinating tidbits dropped along the way, especially in the second story, I'm really hoping Hurley will decide to give us a longer story in Nev's world. Whether it be about Nev or another body merc, maybe even during the war, I wouldn't mind.

'Bodies are only beautiful when they aren't yours. It's why Nev had fallen in love with bodies in the first place. When you spent time with the dead you could be anyone you wanted to be. They didn't know any better. They didn't want to have long conversations about it.'

Hurley has the ability to catch you within the first paragraph. Her writing is full of humour, sarcasm and heart. She uses her writing to ask what happens next, what will the future look like. Most of her stories have a sense of darkness. They are set in worlds ravaged by war, she shows the consequences of war and how really when one war finishes a new one is started. In Red Secretary we are in a world where the government sends those who fight in their war to death once it's over and they go willingly.

"When they said the war was over, I was glad," Arkadi said. "I thought it would get easier after that. But it's harder now. It's harder to fight your own people. Harder to see what's right."

Each of the stories have what I see as a powerful message. I wanted to pull quotes from every one. We have strong feminist stories, women dominated worlds. Stories that highlight how lack of education can be used by the people in power to control the masses. Another that shows how technology might be used in the future. Inclusive stories, you will find yourself inside this book.

Each story flows, has incredible characters and kind of fills me with a sense of dread. Some of these stories really hit a bit close to home. They reflect very heavily on the way some of the Governments around the world are behaving now and have in the past. Each story may be set in a different future, but they are all incredibly relevant to where we are now.

"Do you know the power of story?" Moravas said. "It takes only a single generation to change the entire story of a people. Ten years. You take the children off to state schools. You tell them a story. You make it illegal to tell any other. People forget. The world moves on..."

The first two stories in this collection caught me up immediately. Elephants and Corpses leads you into a piece about body-jumping mercenaries - definitely the way to get me reading. It also offered a unique way to view gender dysphoria, something which is risky to do in the first place, but that landed in a really, really interesting way in the story, and continues later in the collection.
The set up of alternative families, particularly in When We Fall, drew me in a whole lot too. An AI and a mechanic, a guy and his elephant, a woman and her two wives; there's a lot of non-normative families, which admittedly don't always work out for the characters, but I love how they exist in the tales.
Each story is usually backgrounded by some distant war, or past war, or approaching war. War is never fully central to the story, which I'm glad for, but it does inform a lot of the narratives. Knowing war's proximity to each piece assists in forming an understanding of the current climate of the place, which I honestly just thought was really cool. Plus, all of the characters and spaces are fulfilling. Some don't really reach their full potential and I'd love to see a couple of them in expanded works, but as far as short stories go, they're incredible.

This is my first book of Hurley's short stories, the second book of hers that I've read, and I'm glad to report that she continues to wow and impress. Kameron invites us into her imagination, each story vividly realized with characters who are impossible to not care about. I have a few standout faves that, in my own future, I'll likely return to when I need a sci-fi pick-me-up. One of the things I really liked were the recurrence of themes throughout, tying each story to each other in a cohesive thread. Also, organic spaceships. I will never, ever tire of them!

Thank you for the review copy!

I've been a fan of Kameron Hurley ever since I read her short stories in Tor and was immensely surprised with this whole collection! Meet Me in the Future is a mishmash of voices that were all well fleshed out and somehow had this element of mystery and vagueness at the same time. What I love about this the most was how despite the trappings present in a short story she was able to bend it to her will. This was a delightful read!

Meet Me in the Future is a collection of brilliance filled with powerful central characters and staggering inventiveness. Hurley is undeniably one of the best science fiction authors of any time as evidenced by the punch each of these stories packs. There’s no time for dalliances in these works. They strike at the heart immediately, throwing us into any number of worlds that immediately make sense. It’s a treat to see this comprehensive glimpse into Hurley’s imagination.

A few of my favorites:

Elephants and Corpses is an enthralling look at death and what comes after. We get a dual perspective: one from a body mercenary who can transfer into dead bodies, the other from a body manager who can speak to the dead. The delicate balance of life and death is blatantly ripped apart, leaving behind a conversation on the importance of living your life.

Our Faces, Radiant Sisters, Our Faces Full of Light! is a great bit of flash fiction, detailing the making of a hero. A woman ventures out into a monster-filled wilderness to protect her city. We see her bravery on display as she refuses to give up even though the odds are impossible. It’s a quick story but it tells so much about the timeline of a legend. We see that initial sacrifice, the rise to greatness, and the eventual faded reminder that still inspires even though the person is long forgotten.

The Light Brigade is a mind blowing tale examining alternate perspectives of the same war. We see the 24-hour news cycle convincing mankind that aliens are their doom when, in reality, we are our own worst enemy. The concept of traveling by light is fascinating, leaving stunning visuals amidst this fast-paced narrative. I was floored at how much character development was packed into this short of a space. It’s a true testament to Hurley’s abilities as a storyteller.

Review to be published on 8/22: http://reviewsandrobots.com/2019/08/22/meet-me-in-the-future-book-review

I got this e ARC from Netgalley after requesting it.

I enjoy short stories or anthologies, "Meet Me in the Future" asks how futures could play out - both ours and for worlds in fiction. What's the future if not something of a reflection of history's many nows, like a glimpse in a mirror or still water, a the kaleidoscope of possibilities, changeable still because every person carries their history and the history of imagined and dreamed stories. A lot of these short stories understandably dance between biology and technology.

Elephants and Corpses - Nev, a old "body mercenary", someone who if they die in one body can - if they've touched a dead body nearby - swap their "soul" or "spirit" into the dead body and animate it. He holds onto humanity though a animal contact, a elephant and later a turtle given to him by Tera his "body manager". Occult religious business and body mercenary workshop mix and Nev sorts out what he can from the mess left.

When We Fall - I'd love to have a much longer story on Aisha, a jack of all trades and her fleet of warship's avatars Mirabelle and others of the Komani Enterprises freed by a tomato.

The Red Secretary - Arkadi negotiates and must make a connection with a soldier who knows their end, because they've killed the enemy and gotten their hands dirty, who hold a weapon hostage, with nothing to lose because the end of the war means all who have bloodied their hands get incinerated.

The Sinners and the Sea - Arret must choose the truth, the story, he can live with, the one that tells of a sea burying sinners hundreds of years ago and being a Guardian means containing ancinet relics - or that the relics are from people murdered by Guardians only a generation ago, and his people living in the sky survivors chosen by no god at all.

The Women of Our Occupation- I had a little laugh with this story, when the world Feminazi comes up, likely I'll be showing this story to someone.

The Fishermen and the Pig- Another Nev story, after living as a old fisherman for years with only a pig and a turtle for company, he gets caught up in a nercomancer plot to bring back the dead with black toxin from a long ago war, although I didn't like Branka's cliffhanger ending.

Garda-A who done it mystery with a serial killer involving alien "boys" after a future war; focus is on Abijah's divorce to two wives and how she works with Pats, who she's known in that war.

The Plague Givers - I would love a whole novel on Elzabet Addisalam, swamp dwelling stuffed hydra making former Plague Hunter with her history of a former lover a Plague Giver Hanere, their son Makdas, her partner Kelab -and later Lealez.

Tumbledown- Sarnai, who got plague as a child and lost her legs and her fathers and mother to it on a alien world where dogs and bears don't seem to look as the ought to, uses a sled to get tumbledown plague serum to a distant village.

Warped Passages - Malati and pilot and Kariz a engineer are siblings who lost their mother to the anomaly that holds their generation ships of the Legion still, caught in space, trapped, their choices are to change themselves or be changed.

Our Faces, Radiant Sisters, Our Faces Full Of Light!- Moria follows generations of her mothers, grandmothers, and likely sisters, aunts and other women who fight monsters, for one less monster they'll trade their lives a sacrifice for the promise of generations of women to come.

Enyo-Enyo -A fascinating dark take on how a ship takes to life among the stars and how time passes and acted out in "snapshots" of different futures.

The Corpse Archives - Anish and Chiva make and unmake a history of aliens, their people, and their stories written on bodies, textbooks of "history".

The War of Heroes - Yousra, a midwife, makes a choice to take the war to the alien "heroes" who have made her people monstrous.

The Light Brigade- The war, a corporate one against aliens, people from Mars who turned barren Earth to free paradise, turned soldier who fight them into light, who can see glimpses of the future and can travel, like light, anywhere - and possibly, any when.

The Improbable War - Khiv uses the wall, a engine of memory to the souls of soldiers, to fight a old enemy and end war, forever.
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This collection of 16 stories, three of which are new, explore themes of what it means to be human whilst trying to survive disease, disaster, war and genocide, and oppressive governments. The stories are dark and gritty, set in worlds with strange diseases, weird biotech and bioengineering, and societies that subvert expectations.

Hurley doesn't write conventionally pretty, dainty women. Her women are battle-scarred and haunted, strong and rough. They're grizzled swamp-dwelling sorceresses. They're disabled plague survivors making an Iditarod-like serum run on an alien planet. They're hostage negotiators talking down desperate rogue soldiers. They're a terrifying conquering army.

If you've been looking for a place to start with Hurley's work, this is a great entry point. This collection showcases her edgy, incisive, visceral approach to sci-fi.

This was such a refreshing collection of sci-fi short stories. I love the ideas that were explored no matter how vague or precise and spelled-out. There is something out there for everyone but I can tell you already that it pulls on your heartstrings, engages your mind and is a great conversation starter. I want to delve deeper into all these stories, dissect their meaning and find out what they convey for us personally.

Single-author collections tend to be, in my experience, less cohesive and less consistent in some way than multiple-author collections curated by an editor or editorial team; this is because editors have the advantage of nearly unlimited material to start with, and can winnow down to just those bits and bobs that are synchronous in style or subject or otherwise meet the editors' collective impulse. Single-author collections tend to have a smaller pool of potential bits and bobs to choose from, and they tend to be collected for no other reason than that the author still likes them, or at least likes them enough not to mind that they will forever stand as testament to their short-form skills.

Kameron Hurley's collection is one of the most consistent I've ever read. The style holds steady, yes, and the voice too, but it's the way the characters are thrown into their worlds that is perhaps most consistent of all. Hurley drops hints here and there, whether it's a direct quote from a certain Senate Majority Leader or it's a story which talks to certain failures of the United States healthcare system, that her futures are rooted in an almost unbelievably horrific present––and she's not playing coy about the biographical elements of certain stories. (The book's introduction is a must-read for context.)

On the one hand, a cursory read of "Meet Me in the Future" might seem to convey a singular message: Treat your fellow-travelers with kindness, because you never know what shit they've been through. On the other hand, despite powerful loves and an equally powerful range of friendships and other relationships, Hurley's characters always end up facing their demons alone and mostly unaided. 'When We Fall' is an exception to this, of course, and its early placement in the book might just be to offset the existential dread of the stories which sandwich it, 'Elephants and Corpses' and 'The Red Secretary.' Whatever the case may be, it's a bit of a joyful tease in the midst of the general order of Hurley's shorts. So: treat your fellow-travelers as well as you're able, but take no shit from the universe, unless you have to, and if you have to, you might as well make an art or a science out of it. And have a drink afterward.

There are a LOT of whiskey metaphors, similes, and ... well, actual shots of whiskey.

My personal favorite stories from this lineup are 'The Red Secretary' (because DOGS! which ... is part of the point, I guess?) and 'Tumbledown.' Two stories are seeds or hints at what would become "The Stars Are Legion" ('Warped Passages') and "The Light Brigade" (story of same name). And of course it's always interesting to see a story grow a bit from its seeds. Each story is shot through with a vein of hope, but each story is also grim, grim, grim. Consistently grim. Each story is a window to a future I don't mind witnessing, and in fact find utterly fascinating, but wouldn't much like to visit in person.

But maybe, just maybe, that's because we're all living in a present that I wouldn't visit, either, if I could help it. If that didn't spark yet another deep existential crisis.

Kameron Hurley is a treasure. I first heard about her on Ann Leckie’s blog a few years ago, when Leckie had gushed about Hurley’s The Stars Are Legion several months before it was published. When it finally came out, I got a copy from the library and was blown away. Her worldbuilding was so intricate and her characterization so amazing. I still find myself, years later, thinking about different scenes and being haunted by some of her imagery. (Also, I never stop smiling when I think of the alternate title: http://www.kameronhurley.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Lesbians-in-Space-Poster-v2.jpg)



Earlier this year, I just had to buy Hurley’s The Light Brigade, which I found to be unputdownable. A masterpiece! It’s going on my Hugo nomination ballot next year for sure.



So I was thrilled when I saw that her new short story collection, Meet Me in the Future, was coming out this summer! I received an eARC from NetGalley and tore through it! If the Stars Are Legion was a banquet, this collection of Hurley’s short fiction was like a chef’s table of small, delectable plates that leave you wanting more.



This collection is filled with a wide range of different kinds of stories – fantasies and science fictional tales, adventures and dramas, small character moments and big wows.

Two of the stories are in the same universe, following a body-swapping soldier who can upload his mind into corpses and reanimate them when they feel that they are about to die. Once again, Hurley’s worldbuilding skills are top notch. In a short story, an author has so much less space with which to create a fully realized universe, but time and again Hurley managed this monumental task.



Some stories were quite emotionally moving, such as the one where a child has to accompany her mother to a war memorial.



Even in her serious pieces, Hurley’s trademark humor shines through. I nearly chortled out loud on my morning commute reading her hostage negotiator’s reasoning for requisitioning a dog.



For Fans of The Stars Are Legion, there is a story here that is a possible prequel, explaining a bit about how that universe came to be. The collection also includes the original short story version of The Light Brigade that Hurley later developed into her novel. It is a fascinating read after having enjoyed the novel – it is like an unpopped kernel of corn, just waiting to explode.

I cannot recommend this short story collection enough. If you are not familiar with Kameron Hurley’s work, it is an excellent introduction and jumping off point. After reading this, I am going to check out her Worldbreaker Saga and the Bel Dame Apocrypha series. If you have read her novels before, then you definitely should buy this collection.



I’d like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC I received – all opinions are my own. I’ll leave you with the table of contents to peruse.



Buy this book!


“Elephants and Corpses”
“When We Fall”
“The Red Secretary”
“The Sinners and the Sea”
“The Women of Our Occupation”
“The Fisherman and the Pig”
“Garda”
“The Plague Givers”
“Tumbledown”
“Warped Passages”
“Our Faces, Radiant Sisters, Our Faces Full of Light!”
“Enyo-Enyo”
“The Corpse Archives”
“The War of Heroes”
“The Light Brigade”
“The Improbable War”

It's the first work I read by this author and I found it amazing, entertaining and full of food for thought at the same time.
I liked the style of writing and how the author manage to create fascinating and meaningful stories.
I look forward to reading other works by this writer.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

An enjoyable collection of sci-fi short stories that can be read as standalones. If there's one thing Hurley excels at, it's jamming novel-sized creativity into short stories without making them feel too brief to be enjoyed. I specifically like that despite how dire her worlds are, how twisted the stories can get, there somehow remains a touch of hope. My personal favourites would have to be "Our Faces, Radiant Sisters, Our Faces Full of Light" and "The Light Brigade".

Short stories usually aren’t my genre of choice, but I love Kameron Hurley’s writing. She didn’t disappoint! These stories are imaginative, exciting, quick-paced and full of the visceral descriptions of violence and human (or alien) anatomy that are her marker. As with her novels, there are feminist overtones to her stories and inclusive takes on gender and sexuality. The collection is at times poignant, at others emotional, generally thought-provoking, and always entertaining.

Some of the stories interweave or take place in the settings of her novels, but this shouldn’t prevent newcomers from reading – while I enjoyed seeing more of the world from The Stars are Legion, I haven’t read all her books so they only made me want to seek these out.

The tales share a lot of the same themes – disablement, betrayal, sacrifice, people being controlled/held down by those in power, xenophobia, false history, and war. Not only that, but the majority of the characters are female or female-identifying. The fantastic thing about Hurley’s characters is that these women aren’t all young, beautiful, intelligent (what female protagonists seem to have to be). Her women are ugly, stupid, selfish, old, career-focused, mothers, sisters, lovers. They are, as women are in real life, varied and complex. You can identify with almost all of them on some level. It’s a powerful, poignant collection.

In truth, while I give this collection 4 stars, the best stories are in the first half. It’s possible I was fatigued by the time I reached the end (because Hurley’s writing can sometimes be a mental exercise to understand the worlds she creates), but my favourites were the stories with Nev (“Elephants and Corpses” and “The Fisherman and Pig”). I wish those had been novels! I also very much enjoyed: “When We Fall”, “The Red Secretary”, “War of Heroes”, “Warped Passages”, “Tumbledown”, and “The Light Brigade”. I found “Enyo-Enyo” and “The Corpse Archives” the least interesting (perhaps because I had trouble following them). The rest were solid stories I enjoyed but they either moved too quickly, their theme was a little obvious, or what she was attempting didn’t work for me.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this collection and will be buying it in physical form!

As I am a big fan of Kameron Hurley maybe this review is biased ;) but honestly the collection is both alarming and amazing at the same time. Everything contained in this collection is beautifully written. If I had to relate this to something I would say it's close to Karin Tidbeck's Jagganath collection. Eerie, delicate, and at the same time a bit violent in parts. Almost like a grotesque interpretive dance that you cannot drag your eyes away from.

Some of these stories are tiny little bursts of fiction, some are longer tales. Works well for not sitting down to read them all at once if you like that sort of thing. I read this from beginning to end in the order they were listed in, and found the layout to be satisfying. It was to experience the short version of The Light Brigade.

Meet Me in the Future is a collection of 16 works of short fiction by Kameron Hurley. Released 20th Aug 2019 by Tachyon, it's 288 pages and available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. All of the stories are previously published between 2006 and 2018, but collected here for the first time. The author has also written an erudite and thought provoking introduction (not previously published elsewhere) in which she discusses the writing process, some history, what things really mean (hint: don't be lazy, we should figure it out ourselves), and shares other thoughts about creativity, the writer's life, and the world in a really personal conversational style. I felt as though we were talking about deep stuff over the last half bottle of wine at 3 in the morning.

These stories are top shelf fiction. Every story I read was the best one yet. I had planned to read them slowly and savor them. That certainly didn't happen. I wound up reading late into the night and almost missed my work bus stop the next morning. It's difficult to pick out a standout story from the collection, but if forced, When We Fall was amazing and made me sniffle (in a good way).

It's unclear from the publishing info available online, but the eARC I received has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references. I hope the ebook release version does also. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. Presumably that feature will carry through to the final release version.

Five stars. Beautifully curated collection of extremely well written stories.

I have begun to regard Kameron Hurley as my go to for writing fantasy and science fiction stories with brilliantly developed characters and worlds, whatever their length.

In this collection, Hurley takes the world we know and understand, placing people we can easily relate to into bizarre realities that make perfect sense.

For me, engagement with characters in a story is very important. That the worlds Hurley’s characters walk in, no matter how strange or challenging, feel real means I have no trouble becoming emotionally involved.

There were certainly echoes of other writing of Hurley’s, such as Apocalypse Nyx and, more recently, The Light Brigade where the character keeps time shifting and experiencing the results in the present. But this feels more as if you can, as a writer, sense what it is like to gather up ideas, playing with them in one context with the potential for transferring them to another. Or trying out complex concepts and scenarios in the short form where they can be more easily tracked, then going on to craft them anew for a much more sustained work. This makes Meet Me in the Future forensically intriguing and enlightening for any writer, no matter what the genre.

Despite some of the stories giving the sense of experimentation, it does not mean that they are not fully formed and equally affecting as Hurley’s later work, as well as coming over not only as something fresh both in terms of Hurley’s writing, but also a collection of stories within the science fiction/fantasy genre.

Meet Me in the Future is definitely one for my writing reference collection, to be bought as a hardcopy, making it easier to leaf through and have as a tangible example of Hurley’s writing.

Any time I can get my hands on new Kameron Hurley, I'm all over it. Ever since I read The Stars are Legion, Hurley has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Her view of the world in which we live calculating, messy, and true, and the stories she writes hit me right in the feels and make me want to help lead the revolution.

What I've liked most about Hurley's writing is that her women are allowed to be messy, morally grey, and emotional without feeling like these women are losing their "worth" or "humanity" for being any of those things. The themes of war and resistance she explores in her stories are heavy, unrelenting, and often gruesome, but there always manages to be some threads of hope winding their ways through the stories. War is central to the story in the sense that it informs the trajectory of the characters. War has either happened, is happening, or will happen, but it's the individual themselves who really tend to make a difference in the grand scheme of war's grandiose effects.

The stories that I enjoyed the most were "Elephants and Corpses," "When We Fall," and "The Corpse Archives;" but all of them were so good, and I couldn't wait to read the next one. Her introduction is sublime in exploring what drives her to write the stories she writes as well, so don't skip that. Sometimes I feel as if it's very rare for a single author's collection of stories to be so cohesive and yet so diverse, but Kameron Hurley knocks it out of the park with this one.

Whether or not you've read Hurley before, if you're a sci-fi reader and want to read something that will leave you thinking about the what-ifs, definitely check this out.

So, this is going to be a short review, because I don’t have much to say other than these are fantastic! Go buy this collection.

Her writing is fascinating, and her imagination absolutely captivating. This collection has a good range of stories, some short, some long and all intriguing like you wouldn’t believe. Even weeks after reading them I find myself just thinking about some of her stories.

Overall a great collection, and one that I would recommend to absolutely anyone who loves short stories (and even those who aren’t necessarily big on short fiction.) Definitely a collection that I’ll be purchasing for a reread.

This was an absolutely wonderful read. Full of stories that blew my mind in a great and unexpected way, and I totally recommend this to fans of Tiptree or Le Guin.

The ones I liked best:
When We Fall: An emotional connection between a mechanic and a ship’s avatar? Beautiful, loved it, a really lovely little story about the possibilities of AI.

The Fisherman and The Pig: I love that Pig so much. This one speaks to the love of a pet and how much it means when they remember you.

The Plague Givers: A really cool little fantasy story that I’d love to read a novel about.

Warped Passages: Reminded me at first of a Tiptree story and then Alien, so I definitely liked this one.

Our Faces, Radiant Sisters! Our Faces Filled of Light! I was a little nervous about this one because the Sheldon story the title is taken from was incredible, but this was pretty good. Definitely still captured the feminism theme.

Light Brigade: Ugh so good. It came so beautifully full circle.

Now that I’ve gone through all these, I like this book even more now because they all are stories that remind me of Tiptree, an author I adore. This is a great collection of short stories and I definitely recommend it.

In the incisive and insightful introduction, Hurley vividly describes the kind of future worlds she imagines. “I don’t see logic and reason and clean, cool lines; I don’t see sterile metal spaceships,” she writes. “I see messy, bloody bodies, mutations, minds bathed in chemicals, renegade DNA, bacterial wars, and organic spaceships with regenerating skins and mushy interiors.”

Indeed, you will encounter all these things and more in Meet Me In the Future, and while that might sound like you’re in for an unrelenting tide of tales as unrelentingly grim as they are violent, that is not really the case. Rather, Hurley’s unflinching eye for visceral details, her skill at exploring fractured societies, and her preference for conflicted, flawed characters make her stories singularly compelling.

While Hurley’s future worlds might be fictional, the structures and dynamics at work in the societies she describes seem only too familiar: corrupt corporations, warmongering politicians; prosperous elites who lie and cheat to gain and maintain power—the stuff on life in the 21st century, spun into a weirder future. Technology and society might change, these stories caution us, we might even make it to the stars and other planets, but everywhere we go, we’ll bring our flawed selves along with with us.

When, and if, there is any hope of salvation in these grim and gritty stories, it is not bestowed from on high—certainly not by exalted leaders or benevolent saviors. What hope there is can be glimpsed in the interactions between ordinary people who choose, sometimes reluctantly, to treat each other with at least a modicum of mercy. In these small spaces—hairline cracks in the firmament of disaster and dystopia—Hurley finds glimmers of hope for the future. Meet Me In the Future is an outstanding showcase for her powers as a writer and storyteller, and it is surely one of the best short story collections you will read this year.

A really strong short story collection by the always awesome Kameron Hurley, filled with difficult women, body horror, and a man who can't die.

My favourites were:
Elephants and Corpses
The Red Secretary
The Fisherman and the Pig
The Plague Givers
Tumbledown
The Corpse Archives
The Light Brigade (which became the fantastic novel that was released earlier this year).

I felt both the Plague Givers and Tumbledown could be novel length, as the characters and the setting were so evocative. However, all the stories were good, and the collection is well worth your time.

Kameron Hurley has this incredible ability to occupy the spaces known to the science fiction canon but somehow occupy them subversively. Just like the novels I've read by her, the stories are violent and gritty, and not always hopeful.

Some favorites:

*Elephants and Corpses* could live in the universe of Altered Carbon but with a twist.

*The Plague Givers* deals with a fallout of a relationship that might have the power to destroy the world.

*Tumbledown* features a paraplegic warrior on a frozen planet.

This was a page-turner, interesting anthology. The stories were very original and I could not put it down.

I surely will want to read more books by this author in the near future.

Here are my impressions about each short story:

Elephants and Corpses- One of the stories with a "body-hopping" mercenary. I would like to read a whole novel with Nev.

When We Fall- This is a very touching story about loneliness and the search for connection and how this can be found even in the face of death. The story world with its organic ships and non-human avatars was amazing too.

The Red Secretary- Very interesting story about an religious culture that *spoiler alert* incinerates who commits violence and the role/importance of dogs.

The Sinners and the Sea- Interesting story world that I would like to hear more about, as it was it was uncertain what would happen to the main character.

The Women Of Our Occupation- Scary story about a domination of women, bordering on magical realism.

The Fisherman and the Pig- Another lovely story with the "body-hopping" mercenary.

Garda- It felt a bit rushed-up for me, would gladly hear more about it. In some ways it felt like a continuation of "The Women Of Our Occupation" many centuries later, in a reality where men still were seen as "non-people".

The Plague Givers- Interesting story world, but I got a bit lost when it came to character motivations.

Tumbledown- An awesome story about the fight for survival in an extremely inhospitable planet. One of my favorites in this collection!

Warped Passages- Again a story where you keep later wondering about the future fate of its protagonist and you wished there would be a follow up to the story.

Our Faces, Radiant Sisters,... Quite touching story about women fighting and 'persisting' to fight never dying monsters.

Enyo-Enyo- It was quite confusing for me, I needed more context to grasp the story/world/characters and situation better. *spoiler alert* It also felt for me like a continuation to "Warped Passages" with its prisoner enveloped in (the ship organic tissue?) and embedded in a ship who feed/fueled on its crew?

The Corpse Archives- This was very original, I wished to know more about the Keepers and why they created that whole world.

The War of Heroes- Beautiful story about clash of cultures and choices.

The Light Brigade- Interesting story, I was only confused about the mentioning of "San Paulo". Did the author meant "Sao Paulo" in Brazil, or an imaginary city with a name derived from that or she mean the city would in the future be called by a Spanish derived name due to merging of cultures in South America?

The Improbably War- A poetic ending for the short story collection.

Inventive. Subversive. Visceral. Darkly funny. Meet Me in the Future is a really great collection of science fiction stories from an author whose work just keeps getting better and better.

I love weird stories. These are fantastic- a little brutal, a little wistful, all weirdly wonderful. I'll read anything she writes.