About the Editors

Allow us to introduce you to the editorial team of The Future Fire. We are an international team spread across several borders, with a wide range of interests and loosely defined roles within the magazine. This is a labour of love for all of us, who work pro bono on top of already overloaded schedules. This page introduces us and summarises some of our interests and prejudices.

Djibril Alayad	General editor—Fiction
Bruce Stenning	General editor—Nonfiction
David Kaskel	Associate editor
John Thornton	Associate editor
Lois Woods	Associate editor

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Djibril Alayad

General editor—Fiction

Djibril ist ein Historiker und ein Futurist.

Favourites in the genres: Speculative Fiction: Philip K. Dick, classic, but unsurpassed—paranoia, speculation, social relevance, head-fucks... everything that SF should be; Ursula K. Le Guin, some classic socially relevant SF and fantasy, still fighting the good fight; Ray Bradbury, iconic dystopias and unsettling fantasies; William Gibson, stands for the wider Cyberpunk phenomenon; Harlan Ellison, the writing not the obnoxious man—the Dangerous Visions generation gave SF a rude re-awakening. Dark Fantasy: Clive Barker authors some of the darkest, sickest writing I've seen, a wonderful fantasist; Franz Kafka's imagination and unrelenting darkness of vision qualify him as a master of horror even if that genre didn't really include him at the time; HP Lovecraft—"eldritch horror" may not cut it now, but the vision of the hostile, uncaring, amoral universe that would drive you mad if you recognised it was gloriously paranoid; Marion Z Bradley's combination of spiritual, optimistic, social/feminist SF/fantasy, and tireless outreach could be an example to anyone.

Magic Realism/Slipstream/Postmodern: Jorge Luis Borges was possibly the most mischievous writer in history, one of the inspirations for this magazine; Ben Okri writes some of the most moving, politically eye-opening, spiritually entertaining work I've seen recently; Isabel Allende is sensual, caring, courageous, her stories are epic fantasies and astute social observation all at the same time; Umberto Eco is wittily erudite and cleverly postmodern, he manages to write exquisitely researched parodies without alienating the reader who just wants entertained; Gabriel García Márquez is the ultimate magic realist, his novels manage to be traditional folk-tales and radical political allegory rolled into one, without sacrificing their humanity, literary worth, or sheer readability for an instant; Salman Rushdie may be too clever for his own good, but he's still not afraid to shock, and he really does write modern fantasy.

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Bruce Stenning

General editor—Nonfiction

Would ideally live in a cave in some warm clime, popping out to adjust solar panels and microwave antennae in order to operate numerous computers and other bits of electronic apparatus. After a short while much shouting and cursing might be heard from the mouth of this cave. He has been known to: dance Argentine Tango; play Blues guitar; spend inordinate amounts of time writing utterly pointless bits of software; and to rant hysterically at the world and the organisations which inhabit it.

Favourites include:

Fiction by: Jorge Luis Borges; Philip K. Dick; H. P. Lovecraft; Iain M. Banks; William Gibson; Charles Sheffield; David Zindell.

Films: Ghost in the Shell; 2001: A Space Odyssey; Memento; The Limey; Ring; Dark Water.

Nonfiction by: Daniel Dennett; Richard Feynman; Douglas Hofstadter; George Monbiot.

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David Kaskel

Associate Editor

(bio to follow)

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John Thornton

Associate Editor

John sits in a darkened room every day painting moving pictures to make the imperfect world we live in look utopian.

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Lois Woods

Associate Editor

(bio to follow)