Ancient Tales from the Distant Future (Volume 1)

Science Fiction Short Stories about things that were, things that are, and some things that have not yet come to pass... These SF stories are influenced by a number of movies and books. To mention a few, I think Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Carl Sagan deserve the most credit. Other's, such as Stanislaw Lem, Kim Stanley Robinson and Larry Niven have also inspired me enormously. The older Master's Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, George Orwell and Ray Bradbury also deserve my most sincere gratitude. I have read some SF books by some of the more contemporary writers, such as Greg Bear and Michael Crichton. From the world of Fantasy, I give great respect and bow down to John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, the creator of the fantastic worlds of Middle Earth in his epic masterpiece The Lord of the Rings. I also read and admired the book that more or less directly lead to the creation of that opus, The Hobbit. Both works have been adapted for the screen by Peter Jackson, the now famous Director from New Zealand. Among the vast array of movies, Director's and Actors I must mention are Steven Spielberg and his numerous works, George Lucas and his Star Wars Universe and James Cameron for producing such outstanding work and inspiring me and other writers continuously. The world of Science Fiction and the rest of the world would not be what it is today without such movies as Star Wars, Aliens, E.T., Close Encounter of the Third Kind, Jurassic Park, A.I. (Artificial Intelligence), Minority Report, Avatar, Solaris, The Terminator and many many more! Some of my tales reflect the Human Condition and the necessity for us, as a species, to change in order to save our planet. Other stories are funny, building and continuing on some movie themes. I have tried to write these stories in a variety of different style and fashion, using a bag of tricks that is often shared among writers. I sincerely hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I have had fun writing it! I wish to dedicate this book to my Father Nils Mustelin, who has joined the Universal Mind and is now (I hope and pray) looking down on me and smiling. I wish to thank my brother Tomas Mustelin and his lovely wife Julie who contributed to making this - MY FIRST PUBLISHED BOOK! - possible. Thank you guys for helping me in so many ways! I could not have done it without you!!! Most of all I wish to thank my wonderful wife Christine for her undying love, understanding, patience and putting up with me in general for all these years. Thank you, my love. You are my sunshine, my life, the reason for me to keep going even when life is very difficult, my everything. I love you now and will love you until the day I die! And please keep that delicious 'tempe' coming!