The Okal Rel Universe in evolution and in the world.
Archives
The Okal Rel Universe
Lynda Williams Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing Sumptuosity The Alien Next Door
|
Monday, November 07, 2005
Rant (written as post to RFF list)
Speaking of rants, Virginia, here's my latest -- posted to an RFF list in connection with a conversation about why SciFi isn't as popular as fantasy these days. ********** I believe -- and tackle in my own writing -- that the important things for SF to address are no longer techie ones. I purposefully create a universe in which there exists a technology so destructive that those human cultures that survived are the ones in which culture has adapted to restrict human excesses in the area of all-out power struggles. (For better or for worse, in terms of other good things, naturally.) See http://okalrel.org/contest/themes.htm My feeling about "dark" sci fi and its nano-dismal relatives is that we are like junkies looking for another "wow" hit of cool tech or mass destruction. Writers are afraid to be meaningful. To say something as unpopular as "gee, maybe it isn't cool to have an arms race". Or to make human relationships more than a flickering gesture that detracts from the ACTION-ACTION-ACTION. Writers are supposed to be original. But there are rules Sci Fi writers seem to be locked into. Rules like. "break every rule and destroy more of civilization for the kick of it." Maybe we shouldn't just break every rule. We live in a world that is far more permissive than the one in which "rule breakers" became cult heros. We should cultivate more sense of mutual responsibility and common sense survival of the species. And we should let people come away feeling a bit better about being humans beings, despite our limitations and stupidities.
Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post: |