accessing the future - illustration (2015)

"Accessing the Future" is a disability-themed anthology of speculative fiction edited by The Future Fire. Among the others, it features a gorgeous illustration by Comebab! (grab the book to see it)

“Powerful science fiction anthology,” …

“even readers with no personal experience of disability will appreciate

these thoughtful and entertaining stories and their accompanying illustrations.”

— Publishers Weekly

Bibliography:

Kathryn Allan and Djibril al-Ayad (edd.), Accessing the Future: A Disability-Themed Anthology of Speculative Fiction. Futurefire.net Publishing, 2015. Pp. ix+233. ISBN (print) 978-0-9573975-4-5, (electronic) 978-0-9573975-5-2. $16.00 trade pb/$5.00 e-book.

Read more about the project at:

http://djibrilalayad.blogspot.co.uk/p/accessing-future.html (editor - blog)

http://apps.publishersweekly.com/978-0-9573975-4-5 (publishers weekely - review)

https://www.facebook.com/accessingfuture (official fb page)

http://futurefire.net/index.html (the future fire publisher - website)

http://academiceditingcanada.ca/docs/atf_promo_web.pdf (flyer)

https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/13954333.Comebab (author page in goodreads)

Well, if you speak Italian, have a look at / Se parli italiano, dai un'occhiata anche a:

http://www.softrevolutionzine.org/2015/accessing-the-future/ (review by Roberta Ragona - in italiano)

Would you like to read the book and see its marvelous illustrations? Find it all at:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0957397542/futurefire-20 (USA - paperback and kindle)

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/554468 (USA - Kobo, Tolino, Sony reader, tablets)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Accessing-Future-Djibril-Al-Ayad/dp/0957397542/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435753761&sr=1-1&keywords=accessing+the+future (UK - paperback and kindle)

http://www.amazon.it/Accessing-Future-Disability-Themed-Anthology-Speculative-ebook/dp/B010IU2IQU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435752505&sr=8-1&keywords=accessing+the+future (Italy - kindle only)

and read my micro-interview on the official fb page (11st March post) 10.35 pm https://www.facebook.com/accessingfuture !

Micro-interview: Nicolette (author of “Pirate Songs”) asks Comebab (artist of “19.12.2014_A Future Without Pain”): In your illustration “A Future Without Pain,” you’ve depicted a communication between two women as a long, thorn-covered vine that emanates from one /woman’s mouth and enters her companion’s ear as a garland of roses. What concept in future communication holds more importance to you, the idea that two people be able to communicate without difficulty, or the idea that, as we move forward, we must all grow in awareness of how our words (the names and idioms we use, and the assumptions we make) affect the people around us?

Comebab answers: Certainly the second one, and I would go even more in depth. I feel attitudes, cultural schemes, non-verbal communication to be something incredibly variable among human beings. They change according to culture, personality, past experiences or—and this is the original subject of my illustration—neurodiversity. The future that I imagine is a place where unspoken meanings become intelligible with exactly the same attitude as they were born in the speaker mind. A place where even the worst speech does not hurt—if the speaker did not mean to hurt, of course. A place where audience is able to overcome misunderstandings as easy as falling off a log. In this perspective, not only names, idioms or assumptions, but also what we don't mean—but our non verbal communication unfortunately says—does not hurt any more.