There is a big misconception that science fiction is about the future. SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY ARE ALWAYS ABOUT NOW Whether authors intend it or not, speculative fiction is always a commentary on the present. Ironically, often more than a lot of contemporary fiction. One of my favorite short stories by Asimov, and I wish I could find it again, had miners working in space with essentially, nanotechnology. But the conflict of the story was about women working in the mines, which was eventually solved with a priest. Women in the mines turned out to be fine, so long as there was somebody there to marry everybody! This is what I'm talking about. Successfully predicted nanotechnology, but thousands of years from now, everyone will act like it's the 1950s... Frank Herbert was particularly topical, whether he intended to be or not. He anchored Dune in politics, government, religion, power and those evolved to match the world from the 50s to the 80s. So I did a little … [Read more...] about The Future is Now… In Fiction
The Worst Prediction in the History of Educating People
It was May 2001 and I was taking World History when I heard the worst prediction in my life. Nothing has come close to matching how wrong this teacher was. It was near the end of the semester, and we were in the 80s and the Fall of the Berlin Wall. The teacher was very proud of the fact that he had a piece of it which he brought like show and tell. As he passed an unremarkable bit of cement from hand to hand, he said the most incorrect statement I have ever heard in my entire life about anything ever. "The fall of the Berlin wall was the most significant historical event to happen within my lifetime. Probably within yours as well." REMEMBER THE OPTIMISM? If you are too young to remember the 90s, or heaven forbid, you weren't even born in the 90s, there was a real sense of optimism. Yes, the Dot Com crash kind of wrecked the economy for a hot second. And yes Y2K and the turn of the new millennium potentially would've wrecked all our computers, but that was a false … [Read more...] about The Worst Prediction in the History of Educating People
Do Judge Authors by Their Time? Dune, Tolkien, and Outrage
“Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.” ― Frank Herbert, Dune I listened on audiobook to all of the Dune books written by Frank Herbert. (There are over 30 now completed by his son Brian after his death, but I had to draw a line in the sand somewhere!) WHAT DID I LEARN? WHAT DID I NOTICE? WAS IT WORTH IT? WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW Herbert started the first book, Dune, in 1959 (published in '65) and published the last book Chapterhouse: Dune, in 1985. Those were pretty important decades in our history, and the change from the unrest and idealism of the 60s to the stability and disillusionment of the 80s drenches the text. WHO WAS FRANK? During my English major, we always debated how much of the author you could really find in a work of fiction. And whether it was useful or appropriate to play a game of Author Gotcha as literary critique. So now I'm going to do … [Read more...] about Do Judge Authors by Their Time? Dune, Tolkien, and Outrage
A Fiction Author on How to Fall in Love with Reality
WE HAVE VERY FEW REAL PROBLEMS I know that sounds crazy. But bear with me... I write fiction: stories people do not believe. Sometimes I think this newsletter is the mirror to that: deconstructing the stories people automatically believe. The idea for this week came from the news story about the water problem in the Western states of the US and the incredible droughts in Europe. Namely, that there isn't any water. (I mean, I love the TV show Drain the Ocean, but it's not supposed to be literal!) LIFE IN CONSTANT DROUGHT I grew up in Colorado, and it's difficult to describe to someone who hasn't grown up rationing water what it is like. Residents for decades filled fountains with lights instead of water and transformed our yards into rocks and took military showers. But more than any one action, this mindset infects you until it's almost instinct. The craving for water as you watch the world turn beige and light on fire every year. As your skin desiccates and your … [Read more...] about A Fiction Author on How to Fall in Love with Reality
The Best Magical Libraries in Fiction
I love getting lost in a library. It is extra fun when I get lost in a library in a book. And the most fun is when I get lost in a magical library in a book. Here are the best ones. 1984, George Orwell Definitely not a favorite, but a HUGE influence. The Ministry for Truth, where "ignorance is strength" rocked my world as a sophomore in high school. It was really the first true dystopian novel I read and I had no idea such a thing was possible! Little did I know how relevant it would be. It was a WARNING, not an instruction manual! The Midnight Library, Matt Haig I read this recently, (the inspiration for this post, actually), and was surprised to see a true parable getting mainstream play. It's a clever book about regret, choices, and quantum physics. And like I said, it's just a straight-up, unapologetic parable. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. Time and Fate fall in love in a library for all stories beneath the earth. Also, there are bees. And the … [Read more...] about The Best Magical Libraries in Fiction
How Bottlenecks and Slushies Help You Get Better Ideas
How do you make the best guess and get better ideas? I talked about last week how we're terrible at the first step in the scientific method: making a hypothesis. We never learn to do it. Here's a few ways to do it better. TELL YOURSELF THE STORY OF WHAT HAPPENED We all have stories about why things happen in the world and in our lives. They can be really awesome stories. Whizbang beginnings, tense conflict, explosive endings. Elaborate backstories. Fifteen sequels. Do they have anything to do with reality? Until we had the scientific method, we had no way to know. But now we do! The fancy word for this is a root cause analysis, digging through the story to try and find the story that most closely matches the reality of what happened. It is shocking how many big decisions people make their lives without the smallest bit of due diligence. They apply for graduate programs without ever talking to someone who's gotten that degree or has the job they think they want. Or … [Read more...] about How Bottlenecks and Slushies Help You Get Better Ideas
How to Learn to Love the Wicked World
DON'T SOLVE PROBLEMS; GET NEW AND BETTER IDEAS I talk a lot in this newsletter about how to dismantle your assumptions and beliefs and question the water that you swim in. But equally important, if not more important, is the ability to get new and better ideas once you've done that. One of humanity's main tools for seeing things differently is the scientific method. Don't click away! I know, boring, Middle School level science, but we have a massive problem. We were never really taught the first step! WHAT WE DID LEARN IN SCHOOL? How many tests and experiments did you run in school? How many times did you have to come up with the question, not just the answer? I remember an upper division writing class in college. I got a C on my first paper. Somewhat gobsmacked, I went to the Professor who informed me that I had come to a different conclusion, not the one he gave me. I said, "Let me get this straight, you gave me the hypothesis, the evidence, and the conclusion … [Read more...] about How to Learn to Love the Wicked World
4 Ways to Make Perfect Days Less Depressing
DOGS AND BONES AND HUMAN MOTIVATION There's an apocryphal story about racing Grayhounds and how when they catch the dog or the bunny, they cease to race. Though there is no confirmation of this story anywhere in actual racing circles. I am a little suspicious of it because, though I'm allergic to anything with fur, when normal dogs catch anything, they seem to be quite happy to repeat the experience all day. But it's a useful metaphor about human behavior, so let's pretend it's true, which is also very common human behavior. Either the dog is completely satisfied by that one bone and never tries to run again, or he's so pissed off that the bone or the bunny is made of cardboard, he also never runs again. This past week, I caught the bunny. Twice. One day this week, I checked off everything on my to do list. Not just the explicit list that has a prayer of occasionally looking realistic, but also the unspoken expectations I hold myself to, that if I ate … [Read more...] about 4 Ways to Make Perfect Days Less Depressing