Science Fiction is one of the most unfairly reddit-skewed genres of literature I’ve ever had the pleasure of sheepishly partaking in. The most common misconception people have is that sci-fi’s goal is predicting the future. Instead, sci-fi novels are basically just fantasy novels based on modern technology / politics / philosophy instead of, like, dragons. Of course, that’s a bit reductive…
The best sci-fi crosses paths with fantasy, drama, history, opera, mystery, and more. It’s a beautifully flexible pattern with which to weave grand narratives and I’M TIRED OF THE (rare, infrequent) SLANDER! That being said, I understand why it gets a bad rap.
If today’s bookslop is the heaps of Colleen Hoover quirky white hetero romance, a generation ago bookslop meant fantasy / sci-fi “books with dragons on the cover” (In the words of Joseph Anderson). My stepdad was a pretty sloppy guy, and I ended up reading many of these little things throughout my life: 500 pages maximum, 3 reviews on goodreads, and branded with as hypnotically caucasian authors as “Bob Christopher.”
But what’s wrong with a little bit of slop? The format only got popular because it was effective! And once you read your first few, you can quickly suss out the meaning of jargon when going into new ones: A comlog is a transponder is an ansible and so on (p.s. sci fi authors have such a way with synonyms. Their book series are never called “series,” they’re always like “cycles” or “sequences”). I have a real soft spot for cataloguing all of a world’s bits and bobs. For me, reading sci fi worldbuilding is a similar eustress to culture shock-- “Wow, things here are familiar, yet so different!”
There are LOTS of trashy sci-fi books. And the great thing about wading through mud is this: Sometimes you catch the clam.
Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos is one of my all-time favorite series which I wouldn’t have found without my long commitment to reading books I won’t remember in a month. The first entry is an unorthodox, memorable thing. Ursula K LeGuin’s Hainish Cycle is also excellent, aided by the fact that she did the whole thing early. She also brought her feminist voice into her novels, making them anything but “trashy.”
I would love to share more about my love of sci-fi but unfortunately my chronometer is notifying me that my convection heating implement has prepared my poultry-particles (My nugs are ready). Au revoir and so on.