2033: The Future of Misbehavior: Interplanetary Dating, Madame President, Socialized Plastic Surgery, and Other Good News from the Future

It's hardly surprising that Nerve.com, an award-winning erotic web site for the literary set, would compile a group of short stories and essays about sex, love and marriage 25 years down the road; the surprise is how well it works. Studded with contemporary lit luminaries like Rick Moody, with a proposal to return Times Square to its former salacious glory, and Jay McInerney, who predicts the rise of the matriarchy in executive culture, these speculative pieces often appear light and funny on the surface, but carry sharp satirical bite and an undercurrent of foreboding. Lisa Gabriele's vision of a 100-percent divorce rate, for instance, sounds both absurd and plausible. Taking the glorification of youth, celebrity, self-improvement and personal technology to their extremes, Rachel Shukert imagines a ""Paris Hilton International Fellowship"" that goes to candidates showing special promise ""in the field of clubbing,"" Margot Berwin envisions government-subsidized plastic surgery and Tom Lombardi sees a future of tooth-sized personal computers and an ""iPod Hemorrhoid"" you keep in your tush. That the book proves more cautionary than erotic may disappoint some readers, but its look at modern excesses and insecurities proves entertaining, thought-provoking and darkly funny.