The Sunday Re-Blog – The Definition of Science Fiction

If it wasn’t obvious so far, one of my favorite things is Science Fiction. The worlds we create, that become science fiction, are often so much fun. They are excellent ways to explore the world that we know and live in, as well as to extrapolate the future or what we might do in a wholly new situation.

For instance, here on Comparative Geeks, we look at how science fiction can inform our current world and our near future, how it can make us look differently at current issues or political situations. You can see our posts like this under the heading Science Fiction Today: https://comparativegeeks.wordpress.com/category/science-fiction/science-fiction-today/

I have also started looking at how science fiction and religion interact. Often, religion is strangely absent from science fiction – or is looked at as the mythology of the past. In particular, I have been working from a perspective in a particular science fiction novel, A Case of Conscience by James Blish. His thought was that the existence of aliens would be particularly troublesome to meld with faith. See my posts on this and others like it in Science Fiction and Religion: https://comparativegeeks.wordpress.com/category/science-fiction/science-fiction-and-religion/

However, underlying all of this is a singular question: What is science fiction? What does it mean, and what are we doing when we produce it, or enjoy it? I have a favorite definition, so let’s look at that, and at a few examples. Read more of this post

The Sunday Re-Blog – The Hero’s Progress

So last week, I did a re-blog of a list I had written, but I used the PressThis share feature, and that really does not give you much to work with as far as a post. It’s basically a one-liner link. I think you should check it out, it’s a good list of epic scifi and fantasy series.

This week, I will try to use this again, only this time by adding this text, and we’ll see how that works.

As explanation, this post was called The Hero’s Progress, and it was a theory based on plots and how we overuse some. Also check out the one I link to early on, my wife’s post about the recent controversies about the Damsel in Distress trope.

If you’re writing, think twice before falling for: The Hero’s Progress.

The Hero’s Progress.

The Sunday Re-Blog – Science Fiction Today – Federal Budget Cuts and Transportation

So I think I’ve found a way to talk about one of my favorite things – political problems today, and how science fiction can provide us the answers. And, as I said I would be re-blogging on Sundays, I give you the first of my Science Fiction Today posts, back when the sequester was looming and I was thinking about the implications for us vacationing right afterwards. Which got me thinking more generally about transportation in the future. Anyway… enjoy!

Read more of this post

Character Creation

I got a great App on my Mac, has lots of great workspace for writing. It’s called Scrivener, and it has templates for creating characters, as well as great workspaces for your chapters and sections. You can move them around, and rearrange. You can show multiple panes at once, so that your notes or outline can be showing on one, and you can be writing in another. Overall, pretty excellent.

Then I got an iPad. Read more of this post

Need Your Help

Hi all,

I am reminded of the things I have learned so far about blogging and community. I have a bit of one here. I just started a Tumblr – and have none there. Like, literally none.

But what do I do? I go and ask a question. Which no one has answered. And which I actually kind of would like other peoples’ thoughts on.

I shared on Facebook, no answer. I shared on Twitter, no answer.

Maybe no one has an answer. That’s fair. Or really scary, actually.

But I thought I would ask here.

The short version of the question? What would science fiction written by the presidential candidates – or their parties – look like? In other worlds, what is the future world that they are hoping to build?

See the full version, and feel free to answer with your thoughts, here. Or leave a comment below.