The Shape of Things to Come

Tag Area: Timeline Model
Novel

News from Nowhere

  • by William Morris
  • 39-part serial, The Commonweal, 11 January 1890 to 4 October 1890
Via a dream, the “Guest”—most likely Morris himself—travels a century or more into the future where he finds an almost communistic society working smoothly. —based on Frank J. Bleiler
The date shut my mouth as if a key had been turned in a padlock fixed to my lips; for I saw that something inexplicable had happened, and that if I said much I should be mixed up in a game of cross questions and crooked answers.
Front page of The Commonweal from 11 January 1890
  • Undetermined
  • Undetermined Time Travel
Short Story

The Miniature

Jedediah Amberson, a economist at Columbia University, steps into the main branch of his bank and finds himself in year 83 of the Gradzinger calendar, where he tries to guess how money has evolved. —Michael Main
“Why, I walked through your front door.” Jed suddenly frowned. “There was a strange jar as I did so. A dislocation, a feeling of being violently twisted in here.”
Black-and-white drawing of a miniature man in a handheld box.
  • Science Fiction
  • Horror
  • Definite Time Travel
Short Story

One of the Less Horrible of the Many Dystopian Futures Visited by the Time Traveller

A time traveler goes to 2203 to write an account of a dystopian future, a society where A.I. does all the work to keep society functioning but humans are still needed to oversee it. —Gareth Gordon
“What are the kids doing?  Are they controlling the game with their minds?”

“No,” the Guide said. “With their hands.  Are you unfamiliar with electronic gaming?”

“But their hands aren't moving.”

“Well, the computer does most of the work.”
Identical human torsos emerge from an arrangement of glowing purple cogs.
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel