Installing
Tomorrow
Ten classic stories. The futures they imagined. The questions we are still living with.
Forthcoming · In developmentEdited by Tabitha Oliro, this collection brings speculative fiction into conversation with the world we inhabit—through original historical context and reflections on technology, freedom, and human needs.
Explore the collection
What do we give up
when we get what we want?
They imagined the future.
We live with the questions.
Written between 1909 and 1962, these stories explore worlds shaped by automation, manufactured desire, extended life, and systems designed to make living easier. Open a title to explore its place in the collection.
01The Machine Stops
Connection, mediated experience, and a world in which dependence has become ordinary.
02Watchbird
Safety and the consequences of handing moral judgment to an autonomous system.
03The Cost of Living
Abundance, advertising, debt, and the desires one generation passes to the next.
04The Tunnel Under the World
Consumer influence, surveillance, and the unequal power of those who study us.
05With These Hands
Automation, creative labor, and the human value of making something ourselves.
06The Big Trip Up Yonder
Longer lives, limited space, and the pressures progress places on a family.
072 B R 0 2 B
Order, institutional authority, and the freedom to choose within a managed society.
08No Substitutions
Manufactured experience and the difficulty of knowing which reality to trust.
09The Defenders
War, delegated judgment, and the distance between people and the systems that serve them.
10The Creature from Cleveland Depths
Personal guidance, growing dependence, and the boundary between intelligence and life.
A world to step into.
Historical context introduces the author and the moment in which the story appeared, without giving away what happens next.
A question to carry away.
Original reflections consider the future imagined, its echoes in our lives, and the ethical questions that remain unresolved.
INSTALLING TOMORROW IS COMING
Tabitha Oliro
Books. Ideas. The spoken word.
Tabitha Oliro is the editor of Installing Tomorrow. She developed the anthology’s thematic framework, historical context, and reflections, and conducted the source research and textual verification for this edition.
A graduate of Gettysburg College and the University of Pennsylvania, she brings a perspective shaped by international travel and raising children across cultures to questions about the rapidly changing world.
Her background in theater and performance also informs her work with the spoken word.
From page to voice.
Tabitha plans to narrate the audiobook edition of Installing Tomorrow, bringing the collection’s stories and reflections to listeners.
Audio excerpts and publication updates will be added as the project develops. A release date has not yet been announced.
CONTACT
For professional inquiries, narration opportunities, publishing-related correspondence, or other collaborations, please get in touch.
hello@tabithaoliro.com