Science Fiction - Steven R. Southard (Poseidon's Scribe)

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The History of Science Fiction…So Far

Many people have written histories of Science Fiction, including Anthony Gramuglia, Robert J. Sawyer, and (in infographic form), the artist Ward Shelley. What follows is my version.

I split SF history into five ages. For each age, I’ll give the years covered, some characteristic aspects, how the age reacted against the previous age, and a list of representative authors. The timeframe for each age is approximate; within each, some authors wrote works hearkening back to the age before, and some presaged the age that followed. My lists of authors are short and therefore incomplete. I’m only discussing text works here; the history of SF in movies tended to lag behind that of written works. Here we go:

Age of Wonder

This covered the time before the year 1800. There were few works, and they tended to involve pseudo-science and took place in exotic settings. They used magic or unexplained methods to convey characters to those settings, and often the character was a chance traveler and passive observer. Representative authors included Lucian of Samosata, Johannes Kepler, Cyrano de Bergerac, Margaret Cavendish, and Voltaire.

Age of Science

This age spanned from 1800 to 1920. With the advent of the Industrial Age and the Scientific Method, authors incorporated scientists actively discovering or inventing, and then exploring in their steam-driven machines. The settings were exotic, but more realistically described. This age rejected the magic and chance of the Age of Wonder, and highlighted the scientist deliberately creating his invention. Representative authors included Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Age of Engineering

Covering the years 1920 to 1980, this age exploded the genre with a lot more authors and stories. It was the age of aliens, robots, space opera, pulp fiction, atomic power, and mad scientists. Aimed at a largely white male audience, the heroes were often white male engineers who reasoned out the problem using science, rescued the woman, and saved the universe. This age rejected the primitive naiveté of the Age of Science, updating it with the latest rocketry inventions and astronomical/nuclear discoveries. Authors included Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Larry Niven.

Age of Punk

This age ran roughly from 1980 to 2010. It explored the consequences of computers and artificial intelligence, often with dystopian results. It gave us numerous alternate universes, epitomized by cyberpunk, steampunk, and many other punks. Female writers proliferated. Heroes were less often white males, and antagonists had backstories and motivations beyond pure evil. It reacted against the Age of Engineering by including racial and feminist themes, and warning against the hubris of over-engineering. Representative authors included Philip K. Dick, Ursula K. Le Guin, Connie Willis, William Gibson, and K. W. Jeter.

Age of Humanity

Spanning from about 2010 to the present, this age turns inward more than any previous age. It’s about humanity in all its variants, and less about exotic settings. More than just women and blacks, we see LGBTQ authors delving into the future and consequences of sexual options. This is science fiction about biology and climate change. It includes mundane science fiction taking place in our solar system, without extraterrestrials or faster-than-light travel. Reacting against the negativity of the Age of Punk, it’s more a positive celebration of what it is to be human. Representative authors include Neal Stephenson, Melissa Scott, Robert J. Sawyer, Ted Chiang, and Charlie Jane Anders.

Age of…?

What’s next? I don’t know. Perhaps the next age of Science Fiction will be created by someone reading the blog posts of—

Poseidon’s Scribe

June 16, 2019Poseidon's ScribePermalink

Fixing Science Fiction

In a Slate Magazine article, Lee Konstantinou argued that “Something is Broken in Our Science Fiction.” Is that true? If so, what can SciFi writers do about it?

Konstantinou’s thought-provoking piece declares that SciFi remains stuck in the cyberpunk era of the 1980s, seemingly unable to break free. He contends that cyberpunk and its many offshoot ‘-punks’ were products of the Reagan-Thatcher era.

To Kontantinou, the various punks share common attributes, such as (1) a setting not too different from our own, (2) an individual struggling alone against a flaw-ridden society, and (3) an absence of collective action by a group or groups. Even recent trends like dystopian SciFi and its positive counterpart (hope-punk?) typified by Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future are just cyberpunk derivatives.

Is he right? Is Science Fiction broken? Are the punks to blame?

As a writer of steampunk and clockpunk, I experienced an initially sour reaction to Konstantinou’s article before I thought more deeply about it. I agree with him that something seems wrong.

Whatever you say about the punks, give them due credit; they’ve had a good, long run. Konstantinou’s common attributes of punks are general enough to cover a lot of territory and appeal to a broad range of tastes. Moreover, the various ‘time period’ punks such as steampunk, dieselpunk, atompunk, etc. cater to readers’ nostalgic longings.

Still, I get a sense that SciFi is in a transition period, waiting for the next movement to explode on the scene. Likely the seeds of that next era are already here in some form, just starting to sprout into public awareness.

Maybe the next big thing in SciFi will spring from one or a combination of the current observable trends:

LBGTQ main characters, and explorations of alternate sexualities
Climate change extrapolations; humanity as a spoiler of environments
Artificial intelligence, the entire spectrum from the weak (narrow) kind, through the strong kind, to the super-intelligent kind
3D Printing and nanotechnology implications
Cross-genre mashups
Biological and genetic science
Extended human lifespans, Trans-human possibilities, cyborgs
Mundane SciFi

More likely, the next SciFi movement will grow from something I haven’t anticipated or noted yet.

To paraphrase P!nk in her song “Just Give Me a Reason,” Science Fiction is not broken, just bent, and SciFi writers can learn to entertain readers again. One author who will make the effort is—

Poseidon’s Scribe

March 31, 2019Poseidon's ScribePermalink

8 Science Fiction Predictions for 2019

You’ve been wondering where the genre of Science Fiction will be going in 2019, haven’t you? I knew it. You’ve landed at the right blog post.

How do I know the future, you ask? Do I have a crystal ball? No. That would be irrational and silly. I have a CRISTAL ball, a Computerized Recursive and Iterative Stabilizing Trend ALgorithm, which I packaged in a spherical shape for optimized computing speed.

Diagnostic checks are complete and the presets are accurate, so I’ll set parameters for 2019 and access the graphical interface. Let me gaze into my CRISTAL ball…

In 2019, you’ll see more science fiction books written by authors from previously underrepresented groups (women, people of color, LGBTQ, etc.) and these books will explore concepts of belonging and isolation, as well as bending our current notions of gender and race.
The superhero theme in movies will peak and begin a gradual decline. It’s been an amazing ride, but I believe the market has saturated and audiences are getting tired.
Very few, if any, best-selling scifi books will feature faster-than-light drive. Most authors have accepted Einstein’s speed of light limit. FTL now seems hokey to readers.
Having already peaked, the steampunk and alternate history genres will continue to wane in books and movies, though they may retain strength in the video gaming world. This genre trend in books is troubling to me, since I enjoy writing steampunk and other alternative history.
We’ll see more Solarpunk, and the Punk Family will grow by a few more. I think there’s a great deal of uncharted territory in the solarpunk genre and a general hunger for it among readers. Most new ‘punks’ added in 2019 will be future-based, rather than alternative histories.
There will be fewer dystopian young adult books, and there will be an upsurge in YA depicting a positive (though not utopian) future. I think dystopias have run their course for the time being, and readers are ready for less bleak outlooks.
Overall, as a genre, science fiction will do well in the visual media of movies, video games, and graphic novels, but not in traditional book form. Plenty of authors enjoy writing scifi, but readers will turn away from this genre in greater numbers. This is another prediction I find personally disappointing.
The trend toward series novels will remain strong. Once modern readers make an emotional investment in a set of characters and their fictional world, they want to know what happens after the first novel, and after the next.

At the end of 2019, I intend to run a blog post confirming the accuracy of my CRISTAL ball. In the meantime, you can tell everyone you’ve glimpsed the future, as predicted by —

Poseidon’s Scribe

December 30, 2018Poseidon's ScribePermalink

Chessiecon Turkey Award, Second Worst Place

Every year, the science fiction conference Chessiecon offers an award, called the Chessiecon Turkey Award. The idea is to write the “worst possible opening to the worst possible SF/F novel (n)ever written.” It’s a SciFi version of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction contest.

I submitted an entry this year for the first time. As I was leaving the con, one of the Turkey Award judges told me I’d won second worst place! I couldn’t believe it.

Before I unveil my entry, please have all children at least exit the room, or preferably, the solar system. This entry is suggestive, racy, and risqué, but not necessarily in that order. Are all the kiddies gone? Good.

With apologies to H.G. Wells, here’s what I submitted:

“No one would have conceived in the last months of 2018 that this world was being debauched obscenely by protuberances straighter than man’s, as thoroughly as a man with a proctoscope might sodomize the prurient lechers in a tub of water. Yet across the gulf of space, inter-sexuals fast and cool and un-prophylactic regarded this earth with lascivious eyes, and Roly and Shirley spewed from their glands against us.”

Hmmm. I guess you’d have to call that novel Whore of the Worlds, or something. Good thing for humanity that nobody wrote that book. Ever.

Pictured below is the prize I won for getting second worst place. You guessed correctly; it’s the Flickin’ Chicken game, rated for ages six and above. My wife says I might be mentally old enough to play it next year. Yay!

On the package it says it’s “The Go Anywhere Game,” which is handy, because I won’t need a passport anymore.

It is my high dishonor to accept this “award.” I’d like to take this opportunity to blame all the people who helped me along the way, including my parents, my teachers, and H.G. Wells.

To all those who said, “Steve, don’t enter that bad-writing contest; you’re not immature or unskilled enough,” I say, “nyah, nyah, nyah-nyah, nyah. I am too. Thphthph.”

Besides, you doubters, who’s got a firm grasp of his Flickin’ Chicken now? I’ll tell you who, it’s—

Poseidon’s Scribe

November 27, 2018Poseidon's ScribePermalink

Chessiecon, Day 3

Chessiecon, the science fiction conference held on Thanksgiving weekend just north of Baltimore, concluded today.

Chessiecon Panel — When DId Sci Fi Become So Political?

I joined other panelists in a session titled “When Did Sci Fi Become So Political?” In the photo, from left to right (locational left and right, not political) are the moderator, Mary Fan, and panelists Linda Adams, Lanthir Calendae, and moi.

What a great panel topic and a fine group (including the audience) to discuss it! We covered the politics of early science fiction, of Star Wars, of Star Trek, of more modern authors, and our own fiction. We agreed that politics, which one may define as the activities associated with governance and power, is inherently part of all science fiction, and perhaps all fiction, to some degree.

Overall, it was a fine conference. Always inspired and energized after weekends like this, I’m—

Poseidon’s Scribe

November 25, 2018Poseidon's ScribePermalink

Chessiecon, Day 2

Yesterday was a busy day for yours truly at Chessiecon, the science fiction conference being held just north of Baltimore.

Chessiecon panel — Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 200th Anniversary

First, I spoke as a panelist on the topic of “Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 200^th Anniversary.” From left to right in the photo, that’s me, Jo Miles, C.S. Friedman, Steve Kozeniewski, and moderator Carl Cipra. What a great way to honor Mary Shelley’s titanic achievement. How many science fiction or horror works written today will have bicentennial celebrations in 2218?

Later, I read my story “The Unparalleled Attempt to Rescue One Hans Pfaall” from the newly released anthology Quoth the Raven.

Chessiecon panel — Good Art, Problematic Artist

After that, I served on a panel speaking on the topic “Good Art, Problematic Artist” exploring how and whether one can separate good art or literature from its flawed creator. Don Sakers (left) moderated, and the panelists were Scott Edelman (who brought donuts!), Margaret Carter, and me. The topic verged into touchy areas, but Don, Scott, and Margaret handled it capably and the audience got something out of it.

The next panel was titled “It’s OK to Not Like Things” dealing with how and whether to express dislike for a story or movie everyone else loves. Sadly, the picture came out blurry, but Sarah Sexton, I, Valerie Mikles, and Timothy Liebe delved into every aspect of that subject with a very interactive audience.

That evening, I set up my table as part of a group signing. Probably twenty authors sat at tables around a large square, making it convenient for potential readers to roam from table to table. It’s fun to engage with readers and they love it when you sign the first page of your story in an anthology they’re buying.

One more day of Chessiecon to go. Make sure you attend, or you’ll miss the 12:30 panel, another great discussion that will include—

Poseidon’s Scribe

November 25, 2018Poseidon's ScribePermalink

My Chessiecon 2018 Schedule

Chessiecon is a science fiction convention taking place near Baltimore, Maryland over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. It’s also a great opportunity for you to meet Poseidon’s Scribe (me) in person.

Here’s my con schedule:

Date	Time	Topic	Location
Friday, Nov 23	4:15 – 5:30 PM	How Not to Get Published	Greenspring 1
Saturday, Nov 24	10:00 – 11:15 AM	Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 200th Anniversary	Greenspring 3-5
Saturday, Nov 24	1:00 – 1:45 PM	Book Reading	Chesapeake 1-2
Saturday, Nov 24	1:45 – 3:00 PM	Good Art, Problematic Artist	Greenspring 3-5
Saturday, Nov 24	5:30 – 6:45 PM	It’s OK to Not Like Things	Greenspring 1
Saturday, Nov 24	6:45 – 8:00 PM	Group Signing	Atrium
Sunday, Nov 25	12:30 – 1:45 PM	When Did Sci Fi Become So Political?	Greenspring 1

Those panels promise to be both fun and informative. This schedule is subject to change, and I’ll post updates here as I find out about them.

The con will take place at the Red Lion Hotel Baltimore North (formerly Radisson North Baltimore), in Timonium, Maryland.

There will be a lot of interesting panels, books and art for sale, games, music, costumes, etc. And you can meet—

Poseidon’s Scribe

November 18, 2018Poseidon's ScribePermalink

Interview with a Moon Voyager

Today I’m interviewing the first man to land on the moon. I’m speaking, of course, about Hans Pfaall, who appears in my story “The Unparalleled Attempt to Rescue One Hans Pfaall,” in the anthology Quoth the Raven. It’s my sequel to the Edgar Allan Poe story, “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall.”

Poseidon’s Scribe: Greetings, Mr. Pfaall. And welcome to my blog. Thank you for consenting to this interview.

Hans Pfaall: Thank you, Mr. Southard. However, I confess I do not know what a ‘blog’ is, nor do I understand how you are able to conduct an interview under these circumstances.

P.S.: Never mind all that. Let’s focus on you. First, am I pronouncing your name correctly? Does Pfaall rhyme with ‘pail’ or ‘ball?’

H.P.: You’re pronouncing it correctly.

P.S.: Um….okay. Let’s move on. Up until five years ago, in 1830, where did you live and work?

H.P.: I was a citizen of Rotterdam. I repaired fireplace bellows.

P.S.: But then you went on a remarkable voyage. Please tell us about that.

H.P.: I constructed a balloon of my own design and used it to travel to the Moon.

P.S.: I can’t believe that. All on your own, with meager resources, you built a balloon?

H.P.: Not on my own. That would be ridiculous. My wife and three men assisted me.

P.S.: How were you able to travel, let alone breathe, in the vacuum of space?

H.P.: You suffer from a widely held misconception. The space between the Earth and its satellite is not a vacuum. Although the air is thin, one can use a compressor apparatus to render it breathable, which I did.

P.S.: I see. Once you reached the Moon, what did you find there?

H.P.: The most significant things were the numerous hamlets and the single sizable city, in which I landed. Also of interest were the natives, who are similar to us in many ways, except for their diminutive stature and their lack of ears. I wrote about all of this in a letter; I gave it to one of the Lunarians and sent him back to Earth in a balloon for delivery to the officials of Rotterdam. Did they not receive it?

P.S.: They did. But your letter ended with some tantalizing mysteries. Please describe those.

H.P.: I presume you’re speaking of the strange connection between every human on Earth and a particular Lunarian. Not only does such twinning exist, unbeknown to us, but the lives and destinies of the linked individuals are interwoven with each other. Moreover, I believe I mentioned in the letter something about the dark and hideous mysteries that lie on the far side of the Moon, the side forever turned away from Earth.

P.S.: Right. Don’t you think those things deserved more than one paragraph?

H.P.: That letter had rambled on too long already. I will write more letters soon.

P.S.: Did you think about the effect such a letter might have on the residents of Rotterdam? I’ve heard they may send a rescue mission.

H.P.: What? I didn’t ask to be rescued. I don’t want to be rescued.

P.S.: You’re happy, staying on the Moon?

H.P.: Quite happy, sir.

P.S.: Well, this is a bit awkward. The rescuers are…um…

H.P.: What do you mean? Are you saying they’re on their way already? Tell them to turn back!

Poseidon’s Scribe: I’m just an author. I don’t have complete control over these things. But, thank you for this fascinating interview.

Hans Pfaall: No, this isn’t over. Promise me you’ll get the rescuers to return home. I don’t want to be rescued! Tell them!

Sheesh. That interview didn’t go exactly as I’d planned. In the anthology Quoth the Raven, you can read the story, “The Unparalleled Attempt to Rescue One Hans Pfaall” written by—

Poseidon’s Scribe

November 4, 2018Poseidon's ScribePermalink

Who the Heck is Mynheer Superbus Von Underduk?

Edgar Allan Poe could be just as creative with character names as Charles Dickens, or Dr. Seuss, for that matter. I’ll tell you about Poe’s story first, and then introduce Von Underduk.

Among Poe’s least remembered short stories is “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall.” Hmm…Pfaall. Would that be pronounced ‘fail’ or ‘fall?’ Both would be apt, and Poe probably intended the ambiguity.

In Poe’s story, the citizens of Rotterdam were alarmed when a peculiar balloon appeared above the city. How peculiar? Its gasbag was made from newspapers, and its lone occupant was an earless dwarf. This odd aeronaut remained silent, but dropped a sealed letter before his balloon drifted from sight.

The anxious citizens read the letter, written by Hans Pfaall, a repairer of fireplace bellows and former resident of Rotterdam, who hadn’t been seen for five years. Pfaall’s letter described how he’d constructed a balloon and voyaged to the Moon.

Near the end of his letter, Pfaall mentioned he had much to say about the strange inhabitants of the Moon, about an odd connection between Lunarians and Earthlings, and some “dark and hideous mysteries” which lay on the Moon’s far side. There his letter, and Poe’s story, ended.

Poe intended to write further installments of this story, but never did, since another author upstaged him with an outlandish Moon hoax story. Still, the questions posed by Hans Pfaall’s letter have gone unanswered since 1835…

Until now.

My sequel to Poe’s story is “The Unparalleled Attempt to Rescue One Hans Pfaall” and it appears in the anthology Quoth the Raven, which just launched today, exactly 169 years after the day of Poe’s death.

The good people of Rotterdam wouldn’t let Hans Pfaall remain trapped on the Moon. They’d organize a rescue, of course. They have everything they need. They have determination and grit. They have Pfaall’s letter with its detailed description of his balloon.

But most of all, they have Mynheer Superbus Von Underduk, the Burgomaster (mayor) of Rotterdam. Though a politician, Von Underduk is a man of many fine qualities:

He’s decisive and bold. Von Underduk takes little more than a month to consider the matter and authorize the rescue expedition.
He’s trusting and empowering. “Herr Pfaall, do not touch anything else unless I agree first. Understand?”
He humbly shares the spotlight. That miserable bellows repairman is not the only one capable of magnificent acts of lasting greatness…This time I alone will get the credit and the glory.
Most of all, he’s loving and tender. It should be understood that I, however, loathe him with hatred beyond all cosmic boundaries.

Now you can follow the journey of Burgomaster Mynheer Superbus Von Underduk and his fellow 19^th Century astronauts as they pursue their desperate mission of rescue. Discover answers to the dark and hideous mysteries mentioned by Poe.

Buy Quoth the Raven and read “The Unparalleled Attempt to Rescue One Hans Pfaall” written by—

Poseidon’s Scribe

October 7, 2018Poseidon's ScribePermalink

End of the SF Gender War

The war raged on a few years ago, and I had hoped by now it was over. I’m talking about the gender war among science fiction writers.

The old stereotype was that male authors wrote hard science fiction, plot-driven stories that were true to science; and female authors wrote soft science fiction, character-driven stories that verged into magic and fantasy without a firm backing in scientific principles. Moreover, some considered the former true science fiction and the latter not SciFi at all.

However, I suspect the vast majority of SciFi readers don’t care about the author’s gender at all. There might be, among female readers, a feeling of pride in the sisterhood at reading a book by a woman author, but for the most part, readers just crave good stories by any author. To some extent, writer Mike Brotherton backed that up with an unscientific poll on his website in 2010, where 86% of the responders said the author’s gender had no impact on whether they bought and read a book.

In 2014, K. Tempest Bradford wrote an article for NPR titled “Women Are Destroying Science Fiction! (That’s OK; They Created It).” The article reviewed the controversy and highlighted a then-new issue of Lightspeed magazine, edited by women and containing stories written by women.

But Bradford’s article came out four years ago. Surely both sides have declared a truce by now. Right?

Apparently not. I went to a literary SciFi convention in Dallas, Texas last week, a convention called FENCON. I attended an enjoyable panel titled “Ladies First! – Female Writers and How they Got Started.” Authors Patrice Sarath and Mel Tatum made it an informative and educational session. The panelists praised female SciFi authors, both past and present, and neither they nor the audience (mostly male) had any trouble rattling off the names of many famous female authors in the genre.

But someone mentioned that, although we could name such authors, they tend to receive less recognition than male authors. Specifically, women win fewer Hugo and Nebula awards than their male counterparts do. (However, that’s not true of the 2018 Hugos.)

As a not-quite-famous-yet author, I thought it seemed petty to tally up the female and male award winners to see if percentages are appropriate. Then I began to realize how unfair it must seem if your gender is the under-represented one year after year, even though writers of your sex are producing fiction of comparable quality. Even if awards aren’t as valuable as sales, a striking disparity in awards must sting. Awards are a more tangible representation of esteem and recognition.

During the FENCON panel, someone also mentioned that in any listing of the top science fiction authors, there are usually few women’s names. Women science fiction authors have come a long way since the early days, but clearly, they’ve not yet attained the credit and appreciation they deserve.

I suspect this situation is much like any field of endeavor that started out predominantly male. At first, a few brave female pioneers enter the field, and endure a lot of criticism, but persevere. Later, women become more and more accepted over a long period. Eventually, no one will be able to recall a time before women had been working in the field.

If the SF gender war is not yet over, we’re at least in witnessing only its final skirmishes. In some more enlightened age (soon, I hope), we’ll realize how stupid this war was and we’ll settle into a comfortable peace.

Then we’ll probably start a gender war over something equally inane. That’s the pessimistic view of your humble observer of human nature—

Poseidon’s Scribe