More Thoughts on the Depression of Science Fiction
Filed Under: SF Business, Speculative Fiction
Charlie Finlay said in the comments on the last post that, for the past several years, every SF novel he’s read has seemed this way, which is why he’s trended towards fantasy. So I put some thought into what SF novels I had read recently.
The Execution Channel was the most recent one. Holy smokes, was this depressing. So it fits the bill. Postsingular seemed a lot more upbeat. In fact, it was the first near-future SF anything that I’ve read in a while that didn’t mention terrorism. So I haven’t really noticed a trend of depressive elements in my most recent reading of novels, but then, I don’t read a lot of SF novels.
I do know that Gordon has been talking about getting a lot more stories about death for a while now. Maybe I’m just now starting to see those stories being published here and there.
It’s odd, because I’ve spent the past couple of years kind of obsessed with death and the afterlife, and now that I’m coming out of that obsession and starting to feel better, I find death all over the place in my reading. Was it that common of a theme before? Not sure. I don’t remember it being so, but it’s probably a matter of my changed perspective as much as anything else.
Some questions.
1. Does anyone know how relatively optimistic the SF published in China is?
2. I don’t read Baen’s–are they more upbeat?
3. Do you think British writers have been more prone to depressive stuff since their own terrorist attacks recently?
4. Is there a need for upbeat SF? Not necessarily more positive, but maybe less, well, grim?
