Why I Read Less Science Fiction Than I Used To
I picked up a copy of Stephen Baxter’s Vacuum Diagrams Friday—wasn’t in the mood to read any tech stuff, and Gears of the City hasn’t arrived yet—and reading it reminded me why I don’t enjoy “future history” science fiction as much as I used to. In Baxter’s stories, humanity spends the next hundred thousand years spreading to the stars, adapting to ever-weirder environments along the way. Meanwhile, here and now, climate change is happening faster than the IPCC predicted, and the consequences look grimmer by the day. It’s sort of like the “uncanny valley“: if a story is far enough away from reality to be seen as pure escapism, I can lose myself in it, but if it combines real(ish) engineering with brittle Heinleinian techno-optimism, I can’t help but think of the tragedies my daughter (age two) is likely to see in her lifetime, and that kind of spoils the fun.
Later: several commenters have recommended other SF authors (some of whom I’ve read, some of whom I haven’t). I’m grateful for the pointers, but I’m still intrigued by the uncanny valley effect: I’m comfortable with well-written fantasy, or deliberately retro SF, but anything in which technology saves us from our own shortsightedness makes me genuinely angry. Maybe what I’m really looking for is a near-future SF Grapes of Wrath, which I admit is setting the bar pretty high…
If you haven’t already read Charles Stross and Alastair Reynolds
What about dystopic futures, such as John Barnes’ “Century Next Door” series, or almost anything by John Brunner or George Turner?
Have you gotten hold of Bruce Sterling’s latest yet?
Florian: I’ve read a bit of Stross and Reynolds; same reaction as Baxter.
Michael: big fan of “Stand on Zanzibar” and “The Sheep Look Up”, but anything likely to be true isn’t really fun when you have kids.
Steve: I have “Anathem”; waiting for the cottage to tackle it.
If alternative history is more interesting to you than “future history”, check out Baxter’s Voyage or Titan for a different sort of escapism.
I’ve really enjoyed and highly recommend Cordwainer Smith’s future history but it’s got more of a psycho-socialogist bend to it than technical, and a far and different enough future to escape. It’s mostly short stories so not a great investment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordwainer_Smith
You assert that “climate change is happening faster than the IPCC predicted,” but you don’t link to your source. What data are you basing this on? Or, in Wikipedia terms, Citation needed.
Hmm. have you read any of the ‘Jupiter’ novels? They are by various authors, and several try a tack of ‘we’re *so* screwed, but there is still hope’. Same for David Gerrold’s ‘Starsiders trilogy’.
Both sereis are definitely inspired by Heinlein juveniles, but neither is particularly utopian.
As for something like ‘Grapes of Wrath’.. Hmm. The only books that come to mind with a similar milieu are ‘Spin State’ and it’s loose sequel ‘Spin Control’, by Chris Moriarity.
Incidentally, Bruce Sterling’s latest is ‘The Caryatids’. Anathem is by Neal Stephenson.
By the way, what did you think of Wall-E?
Robin: Here’s more citations than you really wanted:
http://www.easterbrook.ca/steve/?p=65
Michael: Yes, it was ‘The Caryatids’ I meant. Anyone read it yet?
When you mentioned both Science Fiction and Grapes of Wrath, I thought I had to respond. John Steinbeck is one of my favorite all time authors, but he is a bit depressing as well. I have personally been on an Isaac Asimov phase for a while.
I happened to read much more classic Fiction when I was younger, so I missed out on Asimov and a lot of science fiction. If you haven’t read the Foundation Series, I would recommend it as it isn’t at all about how technology saves the world, more about the complexities, and failings of the human mind.
I also like Robot Stories.
If you liked Grapes of Wrath, and you haven’t read Crime and Punishment, you probably would like it.
I’m a little confused, because you seem to be saying that a near-future Grapes of Wrath would make you angry, but that this is what you want to read.
Anyway, the closest fit to that description I’ve read is Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. Highly recommended.