- Published in:
- Interzone
- Publication date:
- Jan. 2010
One of the things I love most about SF is its ability to cast incendiary, contemporary issues in a sly, tangential way. This often allows the genre to explore polarising political matters or “the other” without the knee-jerk reactions that would meet a more direct approach. On immediate reading, because of the cognitive dissonance that the speculative element engenders, the reader might not be aware that the subject matter is actually engaging with a controversial aspect of modern life. This allows the problematic, underlying idea to be given a more unbiased consideration without the reader’s usual preconceptions colouring their opinion before they’ve even begun. In effect, their guard is down. Fairy tales like The Wizard of Oz are the perfect example of this.
This indirect approach, in addition to permitting the gleeful sensawunda that draws so many reader to SF in the first place, often, ironically, also gives genre works more longevity compared to their contemporary literary siblings precisely because they are allegorical in nature. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, written in the early part of the Nineteeth century, is still an incredibly powerful tale about the dangers of science for this very reason. The more a work engages with the particular social foibles of the day and age, the quicker that piece will date. Of course, this happens with SF as well. Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was a difficult book for me due to the fundamental nature of the AI, Mike, which was at complete odds with what we now know about the the likely development and essence of artificial intelligences. Perhaps SF writers who seek to be the most long-lasting should abstract their work c.f. Lord of the Rings.
In Aquestria I use one of science fiction’s oldest tropes, planetary colonisation (against the backdrop of internecine warfare) to explore an issue which is deeply relevant today. I won’t say what in case you haven’t read the story yet, but thematically this piece is one of the closest to my heart. It is a story about a dying planet, a prisoner of war, and a woman who has lost touch with her feelings.
