According to Time, science fiction is “stuck in a rut of hopelessness” with “cynicism and surrender at its core.” And Time isn’t looking at dystopian sf, but doomsday sf, like Oblivion and After Earth. Then there’s World War Z, which seem even bleaker than the others, and even Elysium. These are all good points, and will the pendulum swing the other direction? After all, the real world is mired in a sense of hopelessness as well, with persistent economic problems and constant acts of war and terror nearly worldwide. Surely that impacts science fiction books and movies as well?
Category: fiction (Page 3 of 11)
Does being branded “science fiction” limit sales and exposure? Apparently so, from the perspective of someone who takes umbrage to a favorite new novel being called science fiction in a New York Times review. Only certain novels fall into sf:
If you’re a strict constructionist, a sci-fi story requires an extrapolation from real science. If you take a more generous point of view, sci-fi must at least provide a science-ish accounting for non-realistic elements of the story. At the bare minimum, there must be some pseudo-scientific babble and hand-waving (hello, warp drive).
One rung up from science fiction? Well, you can “call it fantasy” and that removes the sf taint. Worthy writers apparently don’t write science fiction.
The Libertarian Futurist Society has announced the finalists for the 2013 Prometheus Award, first awarded in 1979 and annually since 1982.
The finalists in the Best Novel category of this year’s Prometheus Award, for the best pro-freedom novel of 2013 are (in alphabetical order by author):
- Arctic Rising, by Tobias Buckell (TOR Books)
- The Unincorporated Future, by Dani and Eytan Kollin (TOR Books)
- Pirate Cinema, by Cory Doctorow (TOR Books)
- Darkship Renegades, by Sarah Hoyt (Baen Books)
- Kill Decision, by Daniel Suarez (Dutton – Penguin)
The finalists for the Prometheus Hall of Fame award for Best Classic Fiction are:
- “Sam Hall”, by Poul Anderson (a short story, published 1953 in Astounding)
- Falling Free, by Lois McMaster Bujold (a novel, published 1988)
- “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman”, by Harlan Ellison (a short story, published 1965 in Galaxy)
- Courtship Rite, by Donald M. Kingsbury (a novel, published 1982)
- “As Easy as A.B.C.”, by Rudyard Kipling (a short story, published in London Magazine in 1912)
- Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson (a novel, published 1999)
From reason.tv, a video interview with Peter Bagge about his new graphic novel, Reset.
This morning I read on Ken MacLeod’s Twitter that writer Iain Banks has terminal cancer and may only have a few months left to live. Unlike early Banks fans, I stumbled upon his books after first reading MacLeod’s fiction, not the other way around. In the late 1990s I picked up Feersum Endjinn and was simply blown away. His style is impeccable, his imagination visionary. Look to Windward, The Use of Weapons, Matter, Inversions, many more brilliant books. I’ve read only one of his non-sf books under Iain Banks, as they are next to impossible to find in the US. I expected he would continue to write for years to come, and the news he may be working on his last novel is distressing and depressing. Once again there is no fairness in the world.
A recent essay that Ilya Somin wrote for Prometheus about libertarianism and science fiction has been translated into French.
Amazing letter from 1981 written by Philip K. Dick predicting the impact of the movie version of his novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Calling the movie “super-realism”, he raved about the movie to someone involved with it. Interesting, he also bemoaned the current staleness of the 1981 science fiction world, and that Blade Runner would breathe new life into science fiction. Which, probably is quite true, as it inspired the cyberpunks and so much other sf that followed.
Over at reason, Tom Jackson has a review of Cory Doctorow’s novel, Homeland. This novel is a sequel to Little Brother, and rife with current affairs in terms of computer, privacy, copyright, internet and other tech related matters. Jackson notes the protagonist]s occupation, which continues some of the main issues I found with the ending of Little Brother. Marcus Yallow, after being subjected to horrible persecution by government agents, still looked at reforming the system from within as an option. Yallow now “works for a politician, and he doesn’t give up on the democratic process, even after some difficult encounters with political reality.”
The sequel to Kristen Simmons’ Article 5 novel is now available, and looks just as interesting as the first one.
Which one better predicted our future? A graphic face-off between George Orwell’s 1984 future and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World future. Being familiar with both, and I find the latter unlikely as a whole, but parts of it each seem very true. Neither one should be dismissed, as those who want control will seek it through any means.
