Things I Wish SF(F) Had More Of

So, after thinking about my last post on education, I’ve come to some conclusions. I’ve been reading less and less science fiction lately, and I haven’t been able to figure out why. But now I think I know. It’s because I’ve been seeing a lot of the same things recently. Here’s a list of recent sub-genres I’ve become disillusioned with lately, and some ideas I think could infuse them with new life:

1. Space Opera–Don’t get me wrong, I love this sub-genre, but we’ve been harping on post-humanism and alien combat quite a lot lately. How about we try something new? Like some new thoughts on STL travel, or Near-Earth Space exploration.

2. Near-future SF–Love this genre as well. (Futurismic, here’s to you!)  But we’ve been seeing a lot of the same thing, lately.  Nano-tech, cyberpunk, bio-punk.  I’d love to see some more stories on information technology pre-singularity.  VR’s been a common theme, but very few books out there seem to be addressing Augmented Reality(AR), which–for those who don’t know–is the mapping of virtual information, such as audio and video, onto the real world.  The more well-known application here is the good old “heads-up display”, or HUD, in use in targeting systems and mapping.  Stories about AR that come to mind:  Dennou Coil, Rainbows End, Eden of the East.  There’s a lot of potential in this technology, and a lot of conflict that it could create.  Virtual ads in fields, or modern digital graffiti are two.  And think of the networking and social media applications.

3.  Science fantasy:  There’s been a rise in this genre lately, which I have greatly enjoyed.  Some examples are anime’s Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou, which postulates a modern form of magic created with digital information instead of personal energy and ancient symbolism.  A great deal of steam-punk also falls into this category, although it’s generally not as modern as the normal idea of the genre.  Of course, I’m somewhat misrepresenting this term to describe a combination of scientific and fantastical elements.  I’m not really refering to just planetary romance or dying earth scenarios, as much as contemporary or near-future fantasy outside of the UF genre.  We might also include some space opera works in the category.  Anime provides the example of Heroic Age, while C.S. Friedman has given us the Coldfire Trilogy.

4.  Let’s also throw in alternate universe science fiction here.  Earth-like worlds with different cultural and geographical settings that nevertheless approximate our present level of technology.  I’m hard-pressed to come up with an example of this grouping that doesn’t involve alternate dimensions or the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.  I’m not talking multiverses or dimension-hoppers here.  I’m thinking of entirely independent worlds.  Which makes me want to read this sort  of story even more.  Perhaps Jeff Vandermeer’s Finch could be an example book, although that veers closer to Science Fantasy/New Weird than I’m trying to go.

5.  Oh, and let’s not forget the Chimney-punk.  This isn’t a recognized genre yet, but I’m hard at work behind the scenes, spreading awareness(lol) and writing material.  New Weird isn’t the only interstitial genre out there–at least, not for long.

Anyway, those are a few genres I’d really love to see some new material in.  Does anyone have particular areas of their own that they find interesting but under-populated?

 

First Time Doing NaNoWriMo

Well, National Novel Writing Month is coming up fast, and in the spirit of getting more writing done, I’ve signed up for my first NaNoWriMo.  Will I win?  I don’t know.  Probably not, but then again, maybe…  I’ve never done it before, so I can’t make an accurate prediction about how far I will get.

One thing a lot of authors experience, more unpublished than published, is having more story ideas than they have the time to write.  I know I have a lot of stories kicking around that I have not had the time to write.  So, I’m taking NaNo as my oppurtunity to work on one of these stories.  I’m going to try shutting off my inner editor, and just writing all the way to 50,000 words and beyond. 

One of my greatest hang-ups in terms of acually beginning to write a story is that my inner editor neven lets me forget that what ends up on the paper will fall far short of what I had imagined in my head.  But the goal of NaNo as I see it is not even so much to write a coherent part of a novel.  Despite the name, it’s more about throwing down those fifty-thousand words.  50,000 words is not a novel, so there’s  not too much point in insisting on other novel conventions.  Psychologically, this can allow a writer to be more relaxed in terms of product, which means they can be more relaxed while writing, and it is this which allows them to churn out 50,000 words of utter crap (or not).  Which is in and of itself an achievement that many apsiring writers never get to claim.

I encourage anyone who likes writing, or even just reading, to go out and give NaNoWriMo a try.  I don’t plan to obsessively report on my progress here as I’ve seen other bloggers do, but I am interested in doing a follow-up post once the contest is over, to see how others did, and what kind of experience they had with NaNo.

For anyone who is planning to give NaNo a try this year, whether they are first-timers or veterans, I want to wish you the best of luck.  You will need it.

 

Here is a link to the NaNoWriMo site:  http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Here is one to my profile:  http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/520535

The story I am currently planning to write on for NaNo is a fantasy story with a working title of  The Stone Tower.  Not very oiginal maybe, but it fits and it’s easy to remember, which is what working titles should do.

The specific genre description is “Dark Urban Secondary World Mythic Fantasy”.  I have summed this up in my compact little genre of “Chimney-punk”.  Mostly a tongue in cheek title referncing Steam-punk ( as opposed to being derived directly from cyberpunk).  Not that I have anything against steam-punk.  One of my favorite genres.

Alternatively, if I decide not to use this story, I will probably be writing a space opera.  Not at all contradictory.  Not at all.