About the Book

Genre: Collection of sci-fi short stories

Publication Date: 6th March 2025

Publisher: Northodox Press

42 Sci-Fi Stories by an Award-Winning Writer

Time travel to multiverses, via aliens, pocket spaceships, teleportation mishaps, homicidal AIs, eco-disasters, and space pirates.

Includes the award-winners Ana, Tribbulations, and Re-Boot, along with stories published in Best of British Science Fiction, Nature Futures, and Analog.

What if..?The universe splits when you look under the bed?You miss a delivery, light years from anywhere?Whenever you lose an election, you sleep until the next one?You lift kisses from love letters, to mend a broken heart?something alien and impossible orbits black holes?you don’t bother reading the manual for your 3D bio-printer?

About the Author

With a first class degree in Physics from Oxford, Liam is an award-winning speculative short story writer, appearing in over 200 anthologies including Best of British Science Fiction and Best of British Fantasy (Newcon Press).

His retro sci-fi collection, “A Short History of the Future”, is published by Northodox Press (2025).

His twisted fantasy collection, “Happy Ending NOT Guaranteed”, is published by Arachne Press (2017).

Media Links:

Site: www.happyendingnotguaranteed.blogspot.co.uk

Twitter/X: https://x.com/LiamJHogan

My review

5* stars

I’ve chosen this collection of sci-fi short stories as I wanted to read something short and “light” without dedicating myself to a long novel, let alone a series. 

All the stories are pretty short – five to seven pages on average – which makes them an ideal read on public transport, during a lunch break, etc. There’re also one-page “drabbles” and excerpts from standalone, longer works. 

Sad and funny, set on Earth and in deep space, in the far future and alternative past, told from the first, third, and even second point of view – these stories vary in their styles, plots, and topics. Although so different, they all share one thing – the genre. The author has demonstrated how diverse and versatile the sci-fi genre can be. 

He draws inspiration from sci-fi classics, film directors, and pop culture in general, discussing such global and controversial topics like climate change, the evolution of AI, space exploration, etc. 

A reader can easily find a nod to Stanislaw Lem, Michael Crichton, and Isaak Asimov’s works in Hogan’s stories. Some of them were inspired by Aliens, Solaris, and other sci-fi blockbusters. 

Amongst all the stories, I want to highlight the following: 

Lighter than Air – written from a teenager’s point of view, it deals with such serious topics as climate change, air pollution, and interaction between species.

The Betsy – a freight cargo spaceship with her crew of robots turns into pirates, thanks to bureaucracy, which still prevails on Earth even in the far future. 

The “What-The” Tree is a story set in deep space, but it’s about the difficulty of making the right, very human choice. The “What-The” Tree is a story set in deep space, but it’s about the difficulty of making the right, very human choice. 

The Backup – a sad and funny story about the delivery services in the far future. 

Bob, Justbob is a bittersweet story about how aliens can be more human than some humans. 

Fixed Point – a time-travel machine went wrong. A nod to Michael Crichton’s Timeline. 

The Icy Breath of Enceladus – when an exploration mission gets stranded on one of Saturn’s ice-covered moons, and an icy volcano erupts, the crew realises that the intelligent form of life they’ve been searching for has found them first. It’s an eerie retelling of Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris. 

I highly recommend the collection to everybody who enjoys sci-fi in a short form, from time travel to dystopia, from techno-thrillers to poetic drabbles – every sci-fi fan will find something for themselves in this superb anthology. 

Purchase Links:

Northodox Press:

https://www.northodox.co.uk/product-page/a-short-history-of-the-future-ebook

https://www.northodox.co.uk/product-page/a-short-history-of-the-future-paperback

Amazon: