Furthest future SF

[DyingUniverse]

I'd love to read some SF in any form that's set as far into the future as possible. Can anyone help me out?

[Ursa major]

Greg Bear's City at the End of Time is set (at least in part) about as far in the future as you can go. It wasn't really my cup of tea, but you might enjoy it.

[Vertigo]

It's a very short short story but if you haven't read Asimov's The Last Question then you really should. It'll only take 15 minutes and there's even a copy of it on the web (don't know how legal but it's been there a while) http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html. Asimov described it as his favourite story:

This is by far my favorite story of all those I have written

[jojajihisc]

Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon goes over the entire life of the Universe and does so pretty quickly.

[J-Sun]

Charles Sheffield's Between the Strokes of Night. Baxter's Ring (and general Xeelee sequence). IIRC, there's a Dozois anthology of four novellas called Far Futures: Sheffield, Bear, Haldeman, somebody, I think.

Maybe Poul Anderson's Night Face and such would qualify.

What probably wouldn't be what you had in mind might be things like Vance's The Dying Earth and Kuttner/Moore's Earth's Last Citadel and so on: where it's so far future it's a fantasy of no-time.

[Stephen Palmer]

Star Maker for sure...

[reiver33]

You could try The Dancers At the End Of Time trilogy by Moorcock, although its more about a jaded society with God-like powers in decay, and much of the narrative takes place in the past.

[J-WO]

Star Maker even goes beyond the end of the Universe. Sort of.

[HareBrain]

I don't read a huge amount of SF, so pay as little attention to this as you like, but the story that had the farthest-future "feel" to me was Arthur C Clarke's The City and the Stars.

[Daisy-Boo]

Originally Posted by Vertigo

It's a very short short story but if you haven't read Asimov's The Last Question then you really should. It'll only take 15 minutes and there's even a copy of it on the web (don't know how legal but it's been there a while) http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html. Asimov described it as his favourite story:

I love that story. It seems simple and harmless right up until the very last sentence and then...wham.

[Fried Egg]

Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" quartet.

[Vertigo]

Originally Posted by Daisy-Boo

I love that story. It seems simple and harmless right up until the very last sentence and then...wham.

yeah me too, ever since I read it as a teenager (mumble mumble years ago) it has always been my favourite SF short story and never fails to send shivers up my spine.

[DyingUniverse]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. Just read The Last Question there and really enjoyed it. The City and the Stars I also read last year and loved. Basically, the really imaginative, mind-blowing stuff is what I'm looking for.

[Daisy-Boo]

Originally Posted by Vertigo

yeah me too, ever since I read it as a teenager (mumble mumble years ago) it has always been my favourite SF short story and never fails to send shivers up my spine.

What a coincidence Vertigo. I too was a teenager mumble mumble years ago! Ah, those were the days.

[Vertigo]

Catches up with all of us eventually DB!