An apropos moment for a SF'nal posting, as I report to you all from the World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City, MO. Many fascinating people saying an doing interesting things. Lots of discussion of "da future." And congratulations to thewinners of the 2016 Hugo Award! But that will wait a bit. For now...
Something is missing. Sure SciFi has taken over popular culture -- especially cinematic, TV and web dramas -- a tsunami that has relegated grownup, literary SF (that explores deep ideas) to quaint backwaters, seeming a bit of a revered grampa.
But what's truly missing is connection to our past. No, I am not talking about silly-feudal fantasies, that bear almost no relation to our ancestors' real challenges and grueling lives. Rather, the oral rhythms and voluptuous wordplay of true, epic poetry!
Now that tradition - beloved of our forebears - has a pulsing, with-it revival in science fiction! Frederick Turner's wonderful Mars colonization canto led the way. Now he expresses some of our deepest fears... and can-do spirit of hope... in "Apocalypse" wherein he puts into throbbing iambic beat a blending that Suzette Haden Elgin, Ray Bradbury, Marge Simon, Jonathan Post and many other SF poets aimed for with the Rhysling Awards ... and that some of the best hip hop guys* have stabbed-at.
Only Fred creates an epic so fluidly readable you'll call it a compelling novel... that just happens to sing. Baen Books will start a ten-week electronic serialization of the poem on its very popular subscriber website. Ilium will simultaneously issue the book in inexpensive but handsome hardback and paperback editions.
== SF on the near horizon of reality! ==
What about a future where you could be sued by a door demanding micropayments? A prescient scene from Philip K. Dick's 1969 novel Ubik:
"...he therefore vigorously strode to the apt door, turned the knob and pulled on the release bolt. The door refused to open. It said, "Five cents, please." He searched his pockets. No more coins, nothing. "I'll pay you tomorrow," he told the door. Again he tried the knob. Again, it remained locked tight. "What I pay you," he informed it, 'is in the nature of a gratuity; I don't have to pay you." "I think otherwise," the door said. "Look in the purchase contract you signed when you bought this conapt." In his desk drawer he found the contract; since signing it he had found it necessary to refer to the document many times. Sure enough; payment to his door for opening and shutting constituted a mandatory feee. Not a tip. "You discover I'm right," the door said. It sounded smug. From the drawer beside the sink Joe Chip got a stainless steel knife; with it he began systematically to unscrew the bolt assembly of his apt's money-gulping door. "I'll sue you," the door said, as the first screw fell out...
And yes, my work in micropayments may help make this (shudder) happen.
== Recent Science Fiction ==
Time Salvager, by Wesley Chu is a dystopian far future action tale. Humanity has largely abandoned a toxic Earth and established colonies in the outer solar system. But society has fallen through a Great Decay; brutal wars and a devastating plague have left civilization short of resources. Their only hope lies with time traveling Chronmen -- who undertake dangerous raids into the past to recover precious artifacts and power sources. To avoid timeline anomalies, they arrive just before known disaster strikes. Struggling with demons from his past, hard drinking Chronman James Griffin-Mars sets off on a final mission, and breaks the Time Laws, bringing back a female scientist from Earth’s past. They become fugitives, escaping the reach of the authorities and powerful megacorporations, even while seeking to save Earth. Time Salvager, the first of a trilogy been optioned by Paramount, with Michael Bay to direct.
Infomocracy, by Malka Older This political thriller envisions a near future where nations are dead, borders are open, and war is a thing of the past. A new world order in the form of micro-democracy has taken hold. Global elections focus around “centenals,” groupings of 100,000 people who select governments led by corporate giants (PhilipMorris, Sony-Mitsubishi) or ideological parties (Policy1st, Heritage, Liberty). The coveted prize for the regime winning the most centenals worldwide -- the Supermajority. Information rules -- for every aspect of life (and the elections) is moderated by the all-powerful search engine known as “The Information.” A major election is underway, when sabotage shuts down Information and global communication. Mistrust grows as our main characters gather intel on propaganda, misinformation and fraud in a system that fails to live up to its idealistic promise. See an extensive review by Annalee Newitz:
The Big Sheep, by Robert Kroese, is a noir/science fiction/mystery/humorous offering, drawing upon flavors of Arthur Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep) and Philip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). The novel is set in 2039 in a divided, post-Collapse Los Angeles, with a Disincorporated Zone left to the rule of gangs and warlords. But there are aircars! When a genetically altered, oversized sheep goes missing, PI “Phenomenological Inquisitor” Erasmus Keane and his Watson-like assistant Blake Fowler set out to investigate. Things get complicated when they take on a second case, helping celebrity-actress Priya Mistry unravel just who is threatening to kill her. But the next time they meet her, she has doesn’t recognize them. A fun, witty read.
Central Station, by Lavie Tidhar, is set amid the rundown neighborhoods of Tel Aviv, aswarm with masses of poor refugees, cyborgs, robotniks begging for spare parts… as well as data vampires, robot priests and digital entities known as ‘Others’. Rising above the center of the teeming city is the towering Central Station spaceport, a link to the interplanetary colonies where much of humanity has gone. Brain nodes connect nearly everyone to the incessant chatter of man, machine and AI in the vast memory stream -- the ‘Conversation’. And certain genetically-modified children possess near magical powers to read minds and tap into the torrent of data streams. Tidhar presents a richly constructed future in this beautifully crafted world.
== Brin News ==
Just released: The audio version of my new short story collection, Insistence of Vision -- with stories that overflow with drama, strangeness, danger and hope -- nicely narrated by my friend, Stephen Mendel.
A fan with both a whimsical sense of humor and a scrupulous eye for detail – William Taylor – has begun setting up Wikipedia entries for some of the races in my Uplift Universe. First up: the Hoon, featured in the Brightness Reef Trilogy. Get in touch with him if you want to help.
Trent Shipley's new (moderated) David Brin fan site, is just starting out but has big Ambitions. He is seeking contributors. of fan fiction and art,* encyclopedia style articles (original), thought pieces, reviews and “anything else that can remotely be justified as Brin related.” Send questions to editor@davidbrinfans.org. Of course those wanting an encyclopedic approach should get their hands on Contacting Aliens!
The Walter Day company has issued a series of way-cool “Sci Fi Author trading cards.” Mine has just been released, and I am honored to announce that my number is… is… 42! Sorry, Douglas Adams! There’s also an interview at the site.
Here's another reader's choice poll! Science Fiction authors ranked: Oh, just a gentle reminder... but you sci fi fans could vote and affect these rankings. According to your own taste and standards, of course. Just sayin....
And finally...
Just got crackpot email from a fundie whose Book of Revelation (BoR) yammer came with an interesting twist - that Satan is behind all UFO sightings!
There's a feral-crude SF'nal cleverness about this scenario: When the Rapture takes a select cream of 144,000 pure Christians bodily to heaven - (out of the world's 7 billion ensouled human beings) - corrupt media will foist an alternate explanation - UFO abduction! Otherwise, everyone would see the obvious and quickly confess-convert. (Duh?) The whole BoR scenario collapses in a fit of logical self-interest and the whole 'kill almost everyone else and send them to perpetual torment doesn't work! No need for sky scorpions, moon-eating dragons and the other maniacal BoR stuff Patrick Farley so well conveys in Apocamon. (Seriously. If you read one web comic, read that one. It reveals a book that far too few modern citizens have actually looked at, in appalled disbelief.)
Only dig it. This cleverly explains how UFOs manage to stay blurry, just at the edge of clarity, even as the world fills with folks with HD cameras - because Satan and his angelic collaborators are masters of illusion!
Still, clever as this twist may seem, it's pathetically illogical, since everyone on Earth could see who was 'abducted' and draw obvious conclusions, whatever the media say. Sorry, you hate-spewing, nasty BoR junkies. It still won't work. Your scenario is probably the most sadistic thing ever conceived by any human mind. Diametrically opposite to every “red-letter” passage spoken by Jesus, the BoR is truly, the Christian Bible’s “satanic verses.”
But hey! Twist this yet again! Suppose actual UFO aliens wanted to kidnap a hundred thousand humans and mess with our heads so that we won't go alien-hunting, but instead turn on each other? Simple! Snatch up only fundamentalist Christians! Rapturists will go all 'left behind' on us and we'll be too busy to send the air force hunting the real culprits.
Did I just give UFO-teaser-jerks the idea? Rats! Though I deal with their asses a dozen different ways, in EXISTENCE.
And that oughta hold you, for a while.