More on literary fiction

This post from mediabistro just went online and it ties nicely into a recent blog entry of mine:
An essay on speculative fiction

My post reflects on Jason Sanford's article where he looks to literary fiction writers to lift up speculative fiction via forays into the genre with great works. Cormac McCarthy is cited. Ron Hogan, in the mediabistro post, also refers to McCarthy via his reference to a recent Wired magazine article.

The Wired piece talks about science fiction whereas Sanford focuses on speculative fiction. However, the sentiment is the same...mincing of genres aside. There are many camps in fiction. You could call me "in the speculative fiction camp" and it would be true. However, I don't get lost in semantics. We're talking about fiction set in a different space and time. It may not be that scientific but it's not your everyday fiction either.

Whatever you call it, one thing is certain: great writers are broadening context to comment on society through fiction. In the process, they're writing great stories. Regardless of genre trends or literary acceptance, great books are the result. I'm sure we'd all agree that's what we're after.

Ice Floes: a prolific setting?

It may seem a bit counter intuitive, but life under the ice is a very likely setting for a new wave of speculative fiction. Mars has been a favorite setting for years and we had trends of meteor and subterranean settings over the past couple of decades. But there's so much fresh scientific writing about life in icy places that it's sure to catch on soon in fiction.

To wit:

Wired magazine has recently explored it

Discover has recently covered news on life origins in Antarctica

And Discover just added: "Did Life Begin in Ice" -- see its February Discover magazine article (not online yet) exploring how RNA and the chemical building blocks of life appear to actually flourish in Arctic conditions

Indeed, cold places are the next target for fiction. My first screenplay Terraform featured intelligent life being found on Europa, a Jupiter moon, and it's since been targeted as another icy place where life could form.

It's now a hot trend...the next wave to ride. If you're searching for that next exotic setting for your own speculative fiction, you might want to start someplace icy.

Transportation speculation

One recent 2008 trend tied to speculative fiction is the future of the automobile. There have been plenty of books and movies featuring designs and technologies for future personalized transportation. However, the automotive science world has been hot lately in publications.

Wired magazine is full of stories this month for example. They talk about the Smart car and changing face of the SUV. The best article from a future perspective is The Race to Build the 100-MPG Car which is centered around the X-Prize. There is a car company named Aptera which has a pretty wild looking model...definitely looks futuristic.

The Wall Street Journal also recently published this article about future car technologies. Their focus, however, is not on fuel efficiency but automated driving technologies. Tearing a page from Lexus' parallel parking car, GM is seeking to build a self-driving automobile.

This is fascinating stuff. In my speculative fiction book Darwin's Orphans, I featured a car that automatically stopped when a dog jumped across the driver's path. Personally, I'd like to take drives out in the country at twilight without fearing a deer will leap out in front of me. A little radar to detect such things and initiate instant reactions would be a really cool feature. I'm not, however, looking forward to a car driving entirely. Sometimes it's actually fun to be behind the wheel.

On humanoid robots

Wired magazine recently posted on the robotics world from the viewpoint of the android pursuit. Being typically anthropomorphic, we humans seek like beings in our servile creations. After all, when we see Sir Anthony Hopkins in "Remains of the Day" being such a deft butler, we gravitate toward such paragons in our artificial creations.

It's interesting that Korean robotics professors are in the mix. In TV's M*A*S*H you never really thought about Radar O'Reilly hanging out with mechnical scientists. However, in recent months, a number of my posts on robotics revolved around Korean legislation. For example:

• a May post
  
• it's March predecessor
  
• a January post
  

The last one wasn't actually about the Korean laws but it does tie in nicely to the android pursuit subject. Asimo and robots like it are considered -- alongside a bunch of other future-oriented musings.

The main thing that really struck home in the Wired article was the social aspect. I agree with this quote: "Androids also offer something uniquely appealing: companionship, labor and familiarity, but without the human condition's many burdens."

I guess lots of folks just want someone to help them out, be a buddy and never have to deal with their issues...it's that one way street so many people seek in relationships. The android solution is probably seen as a loneliness cure all but, given deeper consideration, it's really just a placebo .