Future Quartet. Earth in the Year 2042: A Four-Part Invention

1994 Bova, Ben[jamin William] (1932-2020); Frederik [George] Pohl, [Jr.] (1919-2013); Jerry [Eugene] Pournelle (1933-2017); and Charles [A.] Sheffield (1935-2002). Future Quartet. Earth in the Year 2042: A Four-Part Invention. New York: William Morrow. A shared-future collection of eight paired stories, the first of which describes the future followed by a story set in that future: “2042: A Cautiously Pessimistic View” (5-22) by Bova, originally published in his Challenges (New York: Tor, 1993); and “Thy Kingdom Come” (23-72) by Bova, originally published in Science Fiction Age 1.3 - 4 (March - May 1993): 42-49; 38-45; and rpt. in his Challenges (New York: Tor, 1993); “A Visit to Belinda [Belgium plus India]” (73-82) and “What Dreams Remain” (83-153) by Pohl; “Report on Planet Earth: A fifty-year retrospective for 2042 A.D ” (155-67) and “The Price of Civilization” (169-212); originally published Illus. Terry Lee. Amazing Stories 67.6 (574) (September 1992): 30-44. https://archive.org/details/Amazing_Stories_v67n06_1992-09_dtsg0318-EXciter/page/n5/mode/2up by Sheffield; “Democracy in America in the Year 2042” (213-26) by Pournelle; and “Higher Education” (227-94) by Pournelle and Sheffield; rpt. rev. in How To Save the World. Ed. Charles Sheffield (New York: Tor, 1995), 275-346; serialized illus. George H. Krauter. Analog Science Fiction and Fact (February - May 1996): 12-; 108-, 104-, 102-; and included in their Higher Education. A Jupiter™ Novel. New York: Tor, 1996. PSt

Dystopia but with some hope of improvement. A future world deeply divided between the rich and the poor but with positive change taking place. Bova, Pohl, and Pournelle are U.S. authors. Sheffield was born in England and lived in the U.S. from 1971.