Near Futures. Far-Fetched.

In 2022, while many have been rushing toward the metaverse, ex Facebook creative strategist Andy Blood has spent his time focusing on the multiverse, where many versions of you experience many versions of your life. Near Futures. Far-Fetched is the outcome — a collection of six short stories with one thing in common: somewhere in the multiverse these stories will be true. Quite possibly, in our universe. And in our children’s time.

 

The themes explored range from The Last Bitcoin (set in the year 2139), to the social network of objects, a terrorist group infiltrating CERN, our too-smart cities becoming dumb, weaponising ‘clean’, and first contact with intelligent non-human life. Carl Sagan and Tim Berners-Lee make guest appearances, in roles they might never have imagined. These are tales for an accelerated culture.* Of futures that are accelerating towards us …

Here’s what reviewers had to say:

“Near Futures. Far Fetched is a remarkable anthology that sits somewhere between thought experiment and cautionary tale. It’s fiction woven with just enough real-world cultural and socio-political nuance that the threads of each story feel tied to some inevitable truth. And yet it’s never weighed down by this; each chapter flits between the serious and the almost-absurd with an undeniable twinkle in its future-focused eye. Refracted through Blood’s exceptional imagination, we see these other worlds as part mirage and part reflection, inviting us to consider not just our fears of what’s to come but also the ludicrous reality that we’ve already built. A dynamic, entertaining and subversive read.” — Kyra Bartley, director

“An unofficial White Paper for all our futures. However many there may be.” — Temple Fields, author

“Funny, challenging…and on reflection, provoking.” — Andy Hamilton, VC, early start-up investor

“Foundation, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Black Mirror … in a long line of science fiction speculation here comes a fresh breath and new footstep on those literary stairs. With a flourish, may I introduce the gifted Andy Blood.” — Vincent Ward, ONZM, director, screenwriter, artist

“Snackable stories of the future that are tasty, thought provoking and immensely shareable. TikTok prose for our time. In an age of exponential change, this collection starts out in the fiction category and rapidly becomes non-fiction. Far-fetched isn’t that far-fetched.” – Calvin Soh, founder, One Kind House. Former CCO. Urban farmer & Father.

Near Futures. Far-Fetched (Kindle edition) is available for pre-order on Amazon now and will be published in tandem with its paperback edition on 18 May 2022.

Near Futures. Far-Fetched: Part 2 will be published in October 2022.

*Douglas Coupland, Generation X.

Mobile platforms
The stories are designed for fast consumption and their audible versions will be launched on TikTok to take advantage of the new extended time lengths for clips, and the global #booktok phenomenon which has seen TikTok drive readership and sales of books.

Blockchain
The collection will also be a blockchain community publishing event. Starting on April 6th, each story — paired with animated artwork — will be released as an NFT on the CENNZnet blockchain and will be available for sale exclusively on the Lithoverse platform (www.lithoverse.xyz).

In a blockchain publishing first, each story will exist in readable form within the NFT itself.
The author has worked closely with Liz Izmailova, Nicole Upchurch, and the team at CENNZnet to create something unique, so that each story embedded within the NFT itself will be easily readable to any interested viewer.

Utility & community
Each individual story NFT will be released in an edition of 10. With each sale granting its owner a 1 per cent share of the revenue of the full and final collection released as an NFT in May.

Charitable donation
Twenty per cent of profits will go toward helping the Ukrainian people in their struggle against Vladimir Putin.

The 6 NFT/story pairings are viewable here:

The last bitcoin: https://lithoverse.xyz/nft/9/33/0

Fridge has 823 friends: https://lithoverse.xyz/nft/9/34/0

The 1993 Group: https://lithoverse.xyz/nft/9/35/0

Smart Cities Dumb: https://lithoverse.xyz/nft/9/36/0

Spore: https://lithoverse.xyz/nft/9/37/0

The Golden Seashell: https://lithoverse.xyz/nft/9/38/0

 

Andy Blood is a former ‘World’s Most Highly Awarded Creative Director’ who spent five years at Facebook. In 2021, his book Full Bleed was a world-first ‘Book-as-NFT’ project minted on the CENNZnet blockchain for the Lithoverse platform.

Full Bleed also reached #69 on Amazon’s Kindle chart (category: business, advertising, biography). He has been described as a “fearless creator” and a “serial innovator”. He has spent the past year working and consulting on Web3/blockchain related projects.

All digital design by Nic Neame @NicNeameVsTheWorld

Spaceship build, design and engineering by Nic Neame @NicNeameVsTheWorld

About CENNZnet:

CENNZnet is a highly optimised EVM compatible L2 blockchain that is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with decentralised tech. Our platform is highly secure, fast-paced and adapted to enable open and inclusive metaverse projects, P2E gaming, advanced NFT technology and bleeding-edge ideas.

CENNZnet provides:

• Affordable gas prices forever: CENNZnet’s L2 integration provides near-free swap transactions now and forever – swap to your heart’s content for a fraction of a cent.
• Breakneck speeds: At 1000 transactions per second we keep the party running at full speed.
• EVM: Use our Ethereum smart contract system to bring your existing contracts, DApps and mature tools to CENNZnet.
• Native bridge module: Directly communicate with layer 1, Ethereum, without having to constantly validate data on the chain. This removes the need for any third parties, improving efficiency and speed.
• Friendly experiences for everyone: We provide easy onboarding for crypto newbies and low gas fees for a cost-efficient experience. For devs, CENNZnet’s prebuilt runtime modules make it quick and easy to start building using simple Javascript APIs.
• Governed by the community: CENNZnet is a fully decentralised network with a working native DAO.
• Climate positive: CENNZnet is officially a carbon-negative blockchain, built on a Proof of Stake consensus mechanism. Any projects built on our network know that their technology is helping to sequester carbon rather than produce it.