Fantasies of Future Things, Doug Jones
Fantasies of Future Things, Doug Jones
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Fantasies of Future Things

Author: Doug Jones

Narrator: Ron Butler, Aaron Goodson

Unabridged: 7 hr 15 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/22/2025


Synopsis

In this “gorgeously compassionate” (Tayari Jones, New York Times bestselling author of An American Marriage) debut reminiscent of Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight, two men in Atlanta reconcile their human dignity against the price of their professional ambitions working for a real estate development company displacing Black residents in preparation for the 1996 Olympics.

Daily interactions between Jacob and Daniel are a powder keg of sexual tension and uncertainty. A recent Morehouse graduate and Brooklyn transplant, Jacob fears that accepting the truth of his sexuality will disappoint the hopes his parents have for him to lead a respectable life. Grieving the death of his mother while searching for answers about a father he has never known, Daniel, an Atlanta native, has resigned himself to the reality that men who love men don’t have happy endings.

When Jacob meets Sherman, a social worker fighting for one of the families being displaced by the project, he must decide if rejecting security is worth the risk of embracing the unknown. In the midst of navigating his grief, and volatile relationship with Jacob, Daniel learns of his father’s identity. Though meeting his father could provide Daniel with the closure he has always sought, the distance between what Daniel wants and what he’s willing to do for it remains a question only he can answer.

About Doug Jones

Douglas E. Jones graduated from Morehouse College and received an MFA from Columbia University. In 2007, he was an inaugural Lambda Literary Fellow at American Jewish University, where he studied with Dorothy Allison. His nonfiction has been included in the anthology Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature & Art and his poetry has been published in Sojourner: Black Gay Voices in the Age of AIDS. Doug is a full-time, licensed real estate agent in Brooklyn, New York, and Atlanta, Georgia. He lives in Atlanta. The Fantasies of Future Things is his debut novel.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Thomas on May 05, 2025

One of the strongest works of literary fiction I’ve read this year. I really enjoyed how Doug Jones portrayed the intimate emotional lives of two gay Black men – their complicated family dynamics, friendships with fellow Black men, and romantic and sexual relationships. In this debut Jones shows the......more

Goodreads review by Christopher on July 21, 2025

Doug Jones debut novel, The Fantasies of Future Things, out now by Simon and Schuster was fantastic! I will admit that it took me a little bit to get into the story, but once I did, it flowed so well! I really enjoyed getting to know the characters, the landscape and finding out about a not too dist......more

Goodreads review by Ariana on January 13, 2025

Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review. This beautiful debut novel explores the lives of two black gay men and societies expectations of them. Daniel and Jacob are both struggling with the morality of their jobs and their internalized homophobia all while simultaneously try......more

Goodreads review by Ian on May 20, 2025

The only way I'm gonna stop being pissed at Doug Jones is if he's already writing a sequel to this masterpiece because I needed so much more than what this ending gave me!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭......more

Goodreads review by Naomi on March 12, 2025

Many thanks to NetGalley, Summit Books, and Simon & Schuster for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review What a beautiful, moving story. This book weaves the story of two men at the intersection of major cultural changes amidst the preparations for the 1996 Olympics. Gentrification,......more