Futures gets off to a flying start in 2015, with the story Passersby by George Zebrowski in Nature Physics. George is no stranger to Futures — indeed he’s no stranger to the world of science fiction, having written a huge number of novels and stories. You can find all of his work at Gollanz’s SF Gateway and at Open Road Media. George very kindly offered to explain what inspired him to write Passersby and in doing so he helps to underscore the Futures philosophy that flash fiction is an important part of the SF galaxy.

Writing Passersby

There is something of a tradition in science fiction for the ‘short short’. Fredric Brown, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and others have written these, and a few are quite well known in magazines and in anthologies. Nature is the only regular outlet for this form, which is suited to the science oriented or humorous forms of wit.  It is much harder to do than most imagine to write a short story that requires a careful reading. Read too fast and you slip through, missing it; reread and you might see it, and maybe much more.

I’m grateful that Nature has opened this way to ideas that might not exist as naturally in other forms. I find myself thinking in this way, and don’t know how to stop it.