ChrisMayLA6,
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

This week I've been mainly reading, no 91.

Taking the form of an extended mission message to earth from an intergalactic exploratory mission, Becky Chambers' novella, To be Taught if Fortunate (2019), is a quick read. While lacking narrative fireworks its a pleasing matter-of-fact description of space exploration & the ethical dilemmas it will encounter. While ultimately rather melancholy, it is an interesting afternoon's read if you like procedural
@bookstodon

MattMastodon,
@MattMastodon@mastodonapp.uk avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon

I like Becky Chambers but why is almost all sci-fi set in ultra-capitalist dystopias?

SteveClough,
@SteveClough@metalhead.club avatar

@MattMastodon @ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon That anchors it to our time, I guess.

ChrisMayLA6,
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

@MattMastodon @bookstodon

possibly its because its a dystopia we're all pretty familiar with?

Klepsis,
@Klepsis@mastodonbooks.net avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 @MattMastodon @bookstodon Try Iain M Banks. Socialism galore, plus instant transgender flips

MattMastodon,
@MattMastodon@mastodonapp.uk avatar

@Klepsis @ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon

I suppose there is also Ken McLeod, Dorris Lessing or Le Guin.

But this is a hanfull of writers. I've always thought modern -fi is coloured this way partly because early US sci-fi became popular during and after the great depression

But the remorseless backdrop of ultra liberal capitalism can be damaging. Just look what it has done to .

Klepsis,
@Klepsis@mastodonbooks.net avatar

@MattMastodon @ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon Interesting theory. Or, maybe we just blame it on Heinlein.

MattMastodon,
@MattMastodon@mastodonapp.uk avatar

@Klepsis @ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon

In retrospect he has a lot to answer for.

MattMastodon,
@MattMastodon@mastodonapp.uk avatar

@Klepsis @ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon

But to be fair, I think Heinlein would have been OK with gender reassignment. He was just a bit overkeen on guns and the 'free' market.

demerara,
@demerara@vivaldi.net avatar

@MattMastodon @Klepsis @ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon

Heinlein did about the ultimate gender reassignment in "I Will Fear no Evil"...when Johann Sebastian Bach Smith's brain is transplanted into Eunice's body, and it turns out the body had a "mind" of its own.

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