Unlimited futures by Rafeif Ismail and Ellen van Neerven (eds.)

This editing collaboration by Sudanese author Rafeif Ismail and Mununjali Yugambeh/ Dutch author Ellen Van Neerven has produced a remarkable collection of futuristic short stories set in another time or space, often dystopian, but which draws strongly on a shared respect for Country, the land, water, and air of their ancestral spirits. The writers are of varying backgrounds, with some established names like Ambelin Kwaymullina and Claire Coleman, while others are emerging new writers published for the first time. Yet all identify in some way as First Nations people, Afro-Black or Aboriginal. And while the stories are all quite different, that underlying spiritual connection, tapping into family, country and culture, pervades them all in some way.

I was especially drawn to Jasper Wyld’s story 'Thylacine' particularly in light of recent renewed interest in resurrecting the extinct Tasmanian tiger. Wyld asserts that whitefella cloning can not alleviate the guilt of mass extinction. The artificially created thylacine has no soul. Its life is just as miserable as the last living thylacine in its concrete cage. Wyld writes that the 'Thylacine are gone, extinct, and they have more than earnt their rest'.

Other story titles will draw readers in: 'Fifteen Days on Mars', 'DIS/SIMILATION', 'The Prime Minister', etc. They are all intriguing, enlightening, well-written. The last pages have short biographical notes about each author, so you will know which writers to look out for in the future.

Themes: Care for Country, Culture, Future, Connection, First Nations, Aboriginal.

Helen Eddy