Sci-Fi Writers Imagine Alternative Realities and Futures – A booming genre across the world

Sci-Fi Writers

Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service

An increasingly racially and ethnically diverse field of writers, both in the US and abroad, are using fiction (Speculative, Science, Fantasy) to reimagine their world and their future, as well as complex problems like climate change, the legacies of colonialism and globalization, violence against women, inequality and other issues.

A panel of writers and experts at the EMS briefing on March 24 discussed how fiction genres that used to be identified with aliens, spaceships, and monsters, coming out mainly from a Western, white, male perspective (with some exceptions), have become a popular way to deal -or react to world realities.

Ericka A. Hoagland, Associate Professor & Coordinator of Graduate Studies, English & Creative Writing, Stephen F. Austin State University; Co-Author of Science Fiction, Imperialism, and the Third World said believes that science fiction can truly explore the continuing legacy of colonialism, new manifestations of globalization, climate change, civil war, economics, interdependence among nations, etc. Hoagland mentioned that she often shares some stories with students in class. When thinking about these stories, they will start to look forward to possible futures, go beyond the stereotypes brought by previous science fiction, and localize, regionalize and integrate them into a community and connect to the world in which they live.

Libia Brenda, Writer, Editor, and Translator, based in Mexico City; Climate Imagination Fellow, Center for Science and the Imagination, Arizona State University said a lot of the imagination is rooted in our traditions, but it also incorporates a lot of foreign cultures.

Ken Liu, American Author of speculative fiction; winner of the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards; winner of top genre honors in Japan, Spain, and France that technology has guided many of his own works to a certain extent.

In fact, the foundation of technology is far ahead of science. Technology is about human attempts to make the psychological structure tangible.