Astonishing Stories

Weird is part of the job

The upside of an extremely uncertain environment is that we have been free to indulge in pure speculation about the known knowns and unknown unknowns of the future. The result is Astonishing Stories, an anthology of short vignettes from the future developed from the networked thoughts of over 30 indie consultants.

Our working process is open and visible to all on our Roam graph where we developed provoking descriptions of objects from the near and far future using The Thing From The Future. The objects served as jumping off points for our authors as they tried to imagine a world in which the pandemic is the background event for other shifts.

The stories here are not meant to predict the future but to be imagination extenders for entrepreneurs and consultants navigating a post-COVID landscape.

Wholeness in a Timeless Activity

Nathan Chen

There are some activities the wealthy occasionally lust after. But there is one they will never stop avoiding.

Your Payment is Ready

Benjamin Smith

In an age of pandemics and rolling lockdowns, his dad saw the youth orchestra as an opportunity for kids like his son to get out of the house.

Department of Restoration

Scott Garlinger

At a certain time, in a certain space, a person may speak or act and find himself under a recent form of judgment: cancellation.

Mechanical Turks All the Way Down

Chris Butler

Can't be too eager on your first day of the job.

Out of the Loop

Sachin Benny

He decided then that it was time for him to untangle this mess because no way he was getting laid without a neat graph of thoughts — manufactured or otherwise.

Agglomerizing the Aesthetic

Benjamin Smith

When you needed something, no matter how minor, someone, somewhere in the world could help you with it.