Offshoots: Humanity Twigged Anthology - Editor's Note

 

It's hard to believe how quickly twelve years have passed, and another Third Flatiron anthology, our 33rd, has launched. Offshoots: Humanity Twigged showcases 24 authors, nearly half of whom are returning, as well as others making their first appearance in our pages. Wulf Moon challenged his writing group to submit stories to us, and they did—in a big way. We're grateful. Our theme, while open-ended, seeks to envision some speculative future directions for humanity.

 We were saddened to hear of the recent death of Catherine Weaver, who completed her time-travel story shortly before passing away. Her story, "Another Day, Another Me," in which a woman runs into herself at the beach, leads off the anthology, opening up a world of possibilities.

A number of stories in the anthology concern the rise of artificial intelligence and its ramifications. "Software" by Evan A. Davis speculates that artificial intelligence employed by competing nations might ultimately help us avoid war. Yet although we are becoming increasingly dependent on the benefits of artificial intelligence, we humans need to treat the home appliances with a bit of caution, warns Curtis James McConnell in "Smarthouse Revolution." Jesse Back introduces us to an agreeable android caretaker, in "What Would You Do for Me."

We've all heard author Arthur C. Clarke's famous saying, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." M. Richard Eley's AI decides to investigate the veracity of that statement in "The Magic of AI."

Utopias can be in the eye of the beholder, as a future gardener feels he gets no respect in John A. Frochio's "Rogue Garden, Rogue Gardener." But living in virtual reality may hold considerable charms, as in "Monad" by Jackson Willis and "Messiah in the Machine" by Yelena Crane.

Other stories concern the evolution of the human race. Enjoy Robin Pond's poetic parable, "Ginger," for a sweet treat. In contrast, see how it feels to be judged, in Edward Barnfield's "A Kid with Six Arms Wants to Kick My Ass."

As humans evolve, they may find themselves living alongside other, uplifted, species, formerly considered vermin, as in "The Missing Music in Milo Piper's Head" by David Hankins. A lesson in humility.

Tired of Earth's problems? Space exploration's pros and cons are featured in "Our Foul Ancestors" by Neil James Hudson, "In Search of the Twinkle Toad" by E. J. Delaney, and "What Remains of the Rainbow" by David Cleden.

Maybe a helping hand will reach out with a fix, as in Juliana Rew's "Dreams of Rain: Probability of Precipitation," or Robert Stahl's "How Billy Adams Destroyed Humanity but Then Found a Way to Make It Right Again."

Fantasy worlds are often quite different from our own, but some themes are universal, such as the importance of fashion, as Scott M. Sands explains, in "Fashion, Darling, For an Untamed World." We also think a perfectly reasonable future for humanity would include a partnership with pixies. So: Theme achieved! Check out Wulf Moon's fantastic "Pink Pickled Pixies."

We conclude with a cautionary note. Humans haven't always been on their best behavior. Not all of these stories foresee a positive future. If things don't work out, the evolutionary tree might need a bit of tweaking, as in Jennifer R. Povey's admonitory tale, "When to Nurture, When to Prune."

Delight in our expanded flash humor section, Grins & Gurgles, with "In the Nick of Time" by Henry Herz and Jason M. Hough; "Ten Easy Steps to Boosting Your Civilization's Kardashev Rating" by Pauline Barmby; "They Eat Plants!" by Esteban Raposo; and "Purrfect Intuition" by Elizabeth Spencer Spragins.

We hope you find these new stories to ring true as much as we did at Third Flatiron. Slàinte!

You can obtain the anthology in Kindle and paperback at https://www.amazon.com/dp/ B0D8CVYDMY

 

Juliana Rew, July 2024