Life In the Future — Part Three
By Alex Shvartsman
Lippert’s final column focused on the future of the job market. He described the gig economy, electronic Help Wanted bulletin boards, and remote work. Peter found himself immensely relieved to learn that his fictional counterpart had aced the job interview.
He wanted to keep reading, to see what other brilliant insights this futurist had to offer. But, more than anything, he wanted to know what lay ahead for Peter Wilson.
Peter had never believed in magic, nor did he believe in incredible coincidences. Something else was in play here; perhaps something modern science could not yet explain. Were he and Lippert connected through some form of quantum entanglement? Was there a variant of a butterfly effect, Lippert’s hypotheses from half a century ago affecting current events?
Peter desperately searched the web. Perhaps Lippert had taken his futurism column to some other fanzine after Colossal Fiction had folded? Perhaps the next column was about online dating and would reveal whether Yuriko might say yes? Or describe a future technology Peter could invest in? Peter’s head spun with possibilities.
As best he could tell, Lippert had had a few publication credits in the ‘60s and ‘70s, then disappeared from public record. Peter could find nothing about him using search engines, and the only person with that name he found on social media sites lived in South Africa and was decades younger. He needed a fresh perspective, so he called Yuriko.
Alex Shvartsman is a writer, translator, and anthologist from Brooklyn, NY. He’s the author of Kakistocracy (2023), The Middling Affliction (2022), and Eridani’s Crown (2019) fantasy novels. Over 120 of his short stories have appeared in Analog, Nature, Strange Horizons, and many other venues. His website is www.alexshvartsman.com.
Copyright © 2025 Alex Shvartsman