Comments on 2312

I can’t stay quiet any longer… not with 2312 now also nominated for the Arthur C Clarke award, as well as being already on the shortlists for the BSFA and Nebula awards.

I bought the book and I wasn’t more than a few pages in when I started to feel uncomfortable. The more I read, the more queasy I became. I can understand what Kim Stanley Robinson was trying to do in the literary sense – for those that haven’t spotted it, it’s making the characters align with characterisation of the god their home planet is named after and seeing what pans out in their interplanetary interactions. This is an interesting idea.

But to then build the settlements on those planets and moons to also reflect the gods is in my mind a disaster. What he has done on Mercury had me screaming, ‘No, No, NOOOOOO…’ No engineer in their right mind would do things like that.

Worse, Kim Stanley Robinson is accepted as a writer who’s doing his best to predict the possibilities of the future. So there is section of his readership who would take his science and engineering at face value. Some of them will be youngsters and I squirm at the thought of them taking his ideas and believing they can be built and put into practice. This to me is just downright irresponsible.

Let’s get one thing straight… I’m not talking about genuine misreads of future technology, but about the deliberate mangling to suit the literary idea here.

Full-color image of from first MESSENGER flyby (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Take the art gallery in Tintoretto Crater…. and I quote: “… the hope was to gather all the original paintings here and locate only copies on Earth, to take on the intense assault of the most volatile environment – oxidation, corrosion, rust, fire, theft, vandalism, smog, acid, daylight… Here, in contrast, everything was controlled, benign – safer.” By implication Swan and Wahram would be wearing spacesuits to avoid the oxidation damage. The paintings would have to be held in some form of atmosphere to stop the paint oils boiling off, but the author puts a window round the crater. So during the Mercurian day, light and far more intense light than we experience on Earth, would be washing over the paintings… one of the things Robinson wanted to avoid.

Then there is the Terminator city itself, travelling on 20 tracks round Mercury ahead of the dawn. Robinson goes on to say, “The sleeves on the underside of the city are fitted over the track at a tolerance so fine that the thermal expansion of the tracks’ austenite stainless steel is always pushing the city west, onto narrower tracks still in the shade.” My reaction was even if you have sweepers ahead of the city to keep the tracks clean of dust and small meteoroids, even if you could design the shape of the individual tracks to make sure the speed of the city is maintained up hills and down slopes, how would it go round bends, all 20 of them at the same time? How would you stop solar flares from licking Mercury’s surface and suddenly heating up parts of the track, making the city go much faster? The meteoroid defences would have to working all the time to stop the tracks being dented, given the need for fine tolerance – it’s a no failure allowed situation – something engineers are very wary of.

There is more, lots more, and yes I could go on… but I think I’ve made my point.

But I keep coming back to what really upsets me about this novel… the apparent

deliberate mangling of the engineering for the purposes of literary style and artistry.

Science and Science Fiction

faster than light.. (Photo credit: vishwaant)

Every so often there is a discussion about the relationship between science and science fiction. One is going on right now thanks to the Tomorrow Project and ARC magazine. So let me throw in a few random thoughts on the matter…

The relationship between science and science fiction is complex.

At the simplest level science fiction can supply a wish list for scientists to focus their efforts of invention. Even if scientists think the ultimate wish is impossible, that will not stop them going some way towards it. Take Star Trek’s tractor beam, the kind that pulls objects towards the USS Enterprise as an instance. It was thought impossible until someone showed that they could go a little way towards it by using the ricochet mechanism of laser beams. Of course if we can control artificial gravity, then the tractor beam becomes even more of a possibility. We may not know how to generate gravity at the moment, but don’t forget tachyons are the gravity generating sub-atomic particles. So you never know in the future…

Science of course supplies the tech and science for world-building. Sometimes the writers extrapolate from where we are now. Other times they just do anything that is not deemed impossible. And there are some who do go onto the write about the impossible, exploring the what if hypothesis. What if we can travel faster than light? Look at all the places we might be able to explore within a lifetime. Exploring what can be done with faster than light travel in science fiction has put it high on the human wish list.

But the relationship is far more complicated than this.

For instance identifying how ideas are generated for science fiction means that those generation mechanisms can be used in science. This is a real tangible benefit of science fiction for science. Similarly mechanisms of how hypotheses are generated in science can be used to generate ideas in science fiction. So this is a two-way street so to speak.

Science fiction is also good at pointing out the possible impact of inventions on society. It acts as a warning board for possible dangers of future technology as well as (to a lesser extent) indicating the benefits of certain technologies for the future. It helps us to make decisions of where we want to be in the future.

Another benefit of science fiction is that it can warn us about future changes and gives us a breathing space to get round to accepting them. The changes when they do come in are less of a shock.

With all these benefits I find it surprising that there are not more people reading science fiction.

Part of the science fiction writing community has realised all of this, and are moving more towards a literary style which allows the reader to have more empathy with what they are reading. In other words, science fiction is moving away from relying on intellectual arguments to get its message across and engaging more on the emotional or empathy level.

So why is the readership below par for what science fiction can give to the community?

I’m not sure of the answer, but I can make some guesses:

1) Science fiction is being mixed up with fantasy in some people’s minds. Yes, fantasy has its own benefits to society, but are they as big as what science fiction can offer? I don’t think so. Yet in the UK fantasy sells at 7 times the rate of science fiction.

2) There is a perception that science fiction has nothing new to offer. I think that perception has been reinforced in recent years of recession by the publishing industry not willing to take the risks that they used to. They have, after all, got to show a profit, or at least break even. If they don’t they go out of business. Unfortunately this is what is called a detrimental feedback loop. Publishers need to publish what they feel sure will sell, which means stories similar to what has sold in the past, which in turn means the readers don’t read as much new stuff, which in turn means it doesn’t attract more readers, which of course means that the publishers have to be more sure of stories they invest in to sell to the public. And so it goes on round and round…

3) There is too much dystopia in science fiction as we know it today. It puts people off reading the genre. Where are the happy endings? I have a sneaking suspicion that dystopian TV programmes / series don’t need as much investment as utopian ones and therefore the dystopias will get preference from the investment gurus of the trade.

4) The up and coming science and technology is not as widely understood today as it was even 20 years ago. Tech puts people off reading science fiction… I know I’ve had comments from my beta readers saying take the tech detail out… but sometimes in the process it loses the purpose of the story or you end up doing a tech lecture – and very few people want to read one of those for pleasure! But it was the tech science fiction of the 1940s and 1950s that inspired many older techies to become techies. But they are dwindling number. Therefore there are less ‘techie’ science fiction writers of today. Because there are less of those, there are fewer people inspired to go into technology as a career. And so we have another detrimental loop at play.

What to do about all this? How to break the mould of traditional science fiction while making the publishers a profit?

If I knew the answer I would not be sitting here, writing this… I’d be doing something about it.

Science Fiction – Biological Quantum Mechanics?

There’s an intriguing little article about biology and quantum mechanics here …

What gets me is that we humans use quantum mechanics to help with our sense of smell. Hold on a mo… don’t cats and dogs have a better sense of smell? Does that mean they use more quantum mechanics than we do? Should we have a chart of how much biological entities use quantum mechanics as a measure? Would Schroedinger’s be the top dog?

And is this another aspect of science that science fiction has not predicted?

If so, I’m starting to wonder if there is a gap in science predictions from science fiction. It must have occurred after what they call the golden age of the 40s and 50s… and after the first Star Trek series with all its gadgets in the late 60s….

…and yet we have the scientists and entrepreneurs searching science fiction for new ideas on what to develop next…

..questions, Questions, QUESTIONS…

 

5th Planet Suite Short Story Published!

Mosaic image of Mars as seen by Viking 1, 22 February 1980 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am delighted that my science fiction short story, A Fate of Dust, has been published in the e-zine, Issue 2 of Full Frontal Lobe, whose theme is medicine.

It forms part of my Planet Suite… see here for more details. As you will have guessed, the story is set on Mars. Given what the rover, Curiosity, is up to at the moment, I find the timing of this story’s publication spooky… no, you will have to read the story to find out why.

My thanks to the editors to giving this opportunity to A Fate of Dust.

Solar System Science Fiction

I have always wanted to publish an anthology where each science fiction story covered a planet of our Solar System. Whilst I’m some way from doing so, I have made notable progress as you see from the table below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But as I write these stories I’m noticing some very interesting things. Apart from each story using a unique fact from the planet concerned… oh all right, here are the facts to date for the published stories:

• Mercury can have two sunrises in one day on some parts of the planet because of the orbital dynamics
• Earth has the mysterious methane bubbles that sink ships – think Bermuda Triangle or closer to home, some parts of the North Sea!
• Jupiter – Callisto, one of its moons, can be inhabited on the surface without the need to build radiation shielding
• Neptune – you can fly through the very top of its atmosphere whilst experiencing normal Earth gravity.

You’ll have to wait for the oddball facts about Mars, Saturn and Uranus until the stories are published! I’m still working on Venus! As to where I find these crazy facts? I’m just one of those people that keeps on stumbling across such things!

Now back to the main thread of this blog…

Each planet is vastly different and I’m having to do my homework, to check not only what the planets and their moons look like, but also what properties the substances in the environment have. The deeper I look into a planet the more fascinating it becomes. It’s almost as if the history of the planet is written on its surface, in its atmosphere, by its moon systems. But in going from one planet to another like this, I getting a better understanding of how the physics and chemistry changes as we move from the Sun outwards into the cold reaches of the Oort cloud. You already know the BIG facts like you have the rocky planets with thin atmospheric shells closer to the Sun and the gas giants well away from the Sun. There are plenty of others.

With settings so different, the stories are also so different. It’s as if the setting tells me what story to write… the environment makes the characters that lead onto the plot… well it’s one way of writing science fiction. In fact it’s a natural way of writing science fiction (natural in both senses of the word). This in turn is what makes the stories so different from anything written before.

So why isn’t there more interest in these short stories? It’s almost as if people don’t want to explore the Solar System and its byways. As far as a lot of science fiction publications are concerned it has the ‘No Entry’ sign attached to it. Well I can speculate ad tedium on this, and so can you! All I’m going to say is that there have been a spate of novels by famous authors that deal with buzzing around the Solar System lately, which probably means the market is saturated for us lesser known writers. But of those novels I’ve read, I haven’t seen these interesting facts used… I told you I could speculate ad tedium!

But I will make one prediction about the future… if we ever populate the Solar System, you can bet your bottom dollar that each colony will develop so differently that the interactions will be different from the novels being published now.

… and this makes me wonder if this kind or argument has something to do with us not being contacted by ET? I mean they’ll be so different from us that they just won’t have an interest in us.

If this post hasn’t given any science fiction writer an idea to write a story, then I’ll be very surprised to say the least…

 

 

What does C.A.T. stand for? Take 2

A while ago (like nearly three weeks ago) I asked for suggestions as to what C.A.T. stood for? See here.

Thank you to all those who made suggestions both here and elsewhere…

Cyber for the C has cropped up a few times, and so has Animal Technology, which for those that have read the story makes perfect sense. However, the acronym that intrigued me the most was Cyber(tronic) Animal Technology.

Why this one? Well, there is more to C.A.T. than just a thing in a science fiction story. Yes, some serious thought went into C.A.T.’s design, especially the computer side of things.

At this point all the techies amongst you should be sitting up and taking notice… especially as the Cat design diagram elsewhere on this blog can only give an outline system view (halfway to an SV-1 in the systems engineering jargon). Yes, I do think C.A.T. as a technological entity (even its crazy behaviour) is a possibility for the future. Yes, I do think cyber technology if put together in the right processing order can produce what we call a conscience. No, I’m not joking… And yes, I do know of research that is happening today along the lines that would lead to a C.A.T. conscience.

O.K. – you’re either spooked or think I’m crazy… I’ll leave you to choose.

And yet, I don’t know of any cyber entity in science fiction that is as well designed as C.A.T. …

Do such stories exist?

One final thought – I do like Nicola’s suggestion of there being a model made by the same firm called the “Dangerous Optimised Golem” – built for guard work, of course. [I prefer Nikita - but that will have to wait until C.A.T.-3 is published for an explanation.]

 

List of UK Science Fiction Literary Agents

If you look around the internet, it’s very difficult to find a list of UK science fiction agents. So here is one for starters.

[Please note: this does not cover fantasy.}

1. Will Francis at Janklow and Nesbit – Submissions Dept., Janklow & Nesbit (UK) Ltd., 13a, Hillgate Street, London, W8 7SP. Link here.

2. Mic Cheetham at Mic Cheetham Associates, 50 Albermarle Street, London W1s 4BD. Link here.

3. Susan Armstrong at Conville and Walsh. Submissions, Conville & Walsh Ltd., 2, Ganton Street, London, W1F 7QL. Link here.

4. Robert Kirby at United Agents. Link here. Accepts submissions by e-mail.

5. Sallyanne Sweeny at Watson Little Ltd.  Watson, Little Ltd, 48-56 Bayham Place, London, NW1 0EU. Link here.

7. Dorothy Lumley at Dorian Literary Agency, 27, Church Road, St Marychurch, Torquay, Devon, TQ1 4QY. (no known website)

8. Diana Tyler at MBA Literary Agents Ltd., 62, Grafton Way, London, W1T 5DW  Link here.

9. Will (part of the New Writing team?) at Curtis Brown Creative. Submissions via e-mail here.

There is one other agency who deals with science fiction, but is currently not accepting submissions (Zeno), so I won’t give their details here.

Note this does not cover agencies outside the UK.

What does C.A.T. stand for?

No I don’t mean its principles and values in its life or existence, whichever you prefer. It’s what its initials actually stand for? It’s been C.A.T. for so long that, well, it’s just C.A.T., isn’t it? What else could it be?

To be honest what its initials stood for had been one of those ‘back burner’ jobs to be done sometime, when the story line merited it. Well story number 4 in the series might just need an explanation.

How about Computer Authorised Terror? No that won’t do at all. That’s definitely not C.A.T. Well, there’s  Calculated Arrogance Trailblazer. Who (other than Commander Zacman of course, but then he has a lot to put up with) would call a robo-cat that?

So for a bit if summer madness, in between watching the Olympics and going holiday, how about coming up with some suggestions as what C.A.T. actually stands for? Here’s a picture to act as your inspiration point… don’t you just dig those cute little red eyes?

Oh, by the way, C.A.T. says it will only consider names that can be used in what humans call polite society…

A Couple of Rules for Developing Tech in Science Fiction Stories

A lot of science fiction is based on the assumptions made about how technology develops. Yet, it is surprising how little we understand of the start of the process that brings science and technology into our world. For instance the Romans could have had an effective steam engine had they put together the appropriate pieces of technology they had (i.e. developed Hero’s steam engine a little further).

It has been generally accepted that new inventions usually come about by serendipity, when someone notices something by accident. The famous science fiction case of course being (in 1945) Arthur C Clarke’s geosynchronous orbiting satellites being used for communications.

So apart from taking the current science fiction ideas (like phasers) on board in your science fiction story how do you develop such technology for your story?

I could be cheeky and say with great difficulty. That wouldn’t get any of us anywhere. But we have to understand timing of technology development. The history of rocket development comes in useful here. When work started on trying to develop space flight, there were two major streams of interest. The disposable rocket and the re-entry vehicle. Well, we’ve sent men to the moon with the disposable rocket, but are only really starting to use the re-entry vehicle now. Why did this happen?

In the normal course of events, the re-entry vehicle would have been the preferred option and pursued more vigorously. But politics intervened and they had to get into space fast. Because it had to be fast, the easiest technology development had to be used. That meant the rocket. We’ve had the space rocket since the late 1950s and a whole industry has developed around it, so much so that it has hindered the development of the re-entry vehicle because it has taken scientists away from working on it.

So we can see that predicting future technology depends on the needs of the moment and has consequences further down the technology development line. This is why getting the predictions right is almost impossible, especially of estimating which type of technology will sit alongside which at the same time e.g. automatic housemaids, alongside automatic ski-boards that will ensure the safety to skiers wanting to go down the black slopes, alongside precision global climate control.

The science fiction has an infinite number of alternative universes to choose from, based on the choices of technology alone, and that’s only considering the current science fiction technologies alone.

But what if the science fiction writer has one of those ‘blip’ moments and actually (like Arthur Clarke above) invents something? Where do they put it in the science fiction canon? After all their invention has to sit alongside other technologies…

Well, I guess the writer has an idea of which technologies are likely to sit alongside each other. You can’t put the automatic housemaid in mediaeval times, because people will have used the control components for something else, like making the flour grinding or water pumping mills operate automatically. So we are looking at the applicability of technology components here… their uses have to spread through the rest of the population and applied to other sensible (or maybe not so sensible) uses.

Are there any other caveats to the use of your invented technology?

Well it has to be ‘buildable’ in your world. If you need stainless steel for your technology, then you need the wherewithal to make it, including the knowledge, mining and refining capabilities for chromium, the main element that makes steel into stainless steel. Now ‘buildable’ doesn’t mean you have to explain how it is built. It just means it has to be credible that it can be built… who was it that said the USS Enterprise would take so much to build it? But there again, the people had access to resources around many star systems.

So to summarise the two rules….

1) Any component technologies you have in your invention have to spread to other applications in your universe.

2) The technology has to be put in a universe where it can be ‘built’.

Issue 37 of the Jupiter Science Fiction Magazine

I have almost finished my first pass through at proof-reading Issue 37 of the Jupiter Science Fiction magazine… Wow! I don’t how Ian manages it, but there is a good haul of amazing stories in this issue… and so varied…

No, I’m not going to say what those stories are. I don’t want to spoil your enjoyment. So you’ll just have to buy the magazine when it’s published. But this is definitely one of the best issues I’ve seen. So if you want something very enjoyable to read later on in this lazy hazy summer (so I have a warped imagination), buy a copy – paper or kindle.