From: "Strong, Lee" <strongl at sddc.army.mil>
To: "WSFAList (E-mail)" <WSFAList at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Future Washington Anthology
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 08:53:55 -0500
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

    I find Ernest Lilley's proposal to write a future Washington based
anthology to be very interesting.  There was a _Newer York_ anthology
published a number of years ago, and, as Ernest points out, there would be a
great deal of local interest.  Certainly, we have the expertise to publish a
book.
    I suggest that setting some ground rules would be a good idea but
that they should be interpreted generously.  Limiting stories to a specific
time period might prove too restrictive.  Perhaps the most important rule
would be the issue of politics versus the city itself?  Are we writing
primarily about the physical city or about its principal industries of
government and media or a combination of the two?  For example, the movie
_Minority Report_ was set in a future Washington but that city "felt" more
like "Generic Near Future Gee Whiz City" than "Washington, D.C. 20XX."
    Other ground rules:  Are alternate histories allowed or should they
be reserved for an alternate anthology?  What about the various "New
Washingtons" that appeared in 1950s SF?  Would "successor cities" be
legitimate?