Escape From The Planet

Gandar woke up in a forest. He was lying on a green patch of grass. His head was groggy. Where was he? It came to him - Thera. Thera? Last place he wanted to be! The Therans and the Anders, his race, did not quite see eye to eye. Had not for a few centuries. How did he get here? That answer refused to come to him.

First, he had to find out if he was really on Thera. He started walking and reflected on the history. What started the feud was now shrouded in history; something probably small and insignificant which should have been resolved in five minutes; something which had seeded a hate on both sides which continued to fester and made the two sides sit on the brink of active engagement. The Therans and the Anders detested each other and actively engaged in jingoism. Getting caught on this planet, if that is where he really was, would not do. Moreover, if he were mistaken for a spy, which was likely, the impact would be well beyond him.

Science Fiction As A Genre

I have always been fascinated by science fiction. More so than fiction set in normal settings. One aspect of this has always been related to my interest in technology and how stuff works. The futuristic aspects of technology in books as well as popular shows like Star Trek always worked well as far as my attention was concerned.

However, there seems to be an even more important factor - the flexibility that SciFi provides in creating settings. This ability to distort reality from any angle allows the author to bring out the central theme as clearly as possible. Readers of Nightfall by Sir Isaac Asimov will recognize this.


There is also a conundrum about SciFi. I have rarely come across a piece that I find acceptable. I am either quite enthused about what I read or quite disappointed. My first personal attempt at writing (as a young teenager) was also in the same genre; it turned out to be bad enough for me to not attempt again for over two decades. Now that I have begun to write again, I have thought about why SciFi elicits such extreme reactions from me. It seems that in exploiting the flexibility given, we can make good better, but we can also make bad worse.  Some thoughts on this below.

Area	Thumbs Up!	Thumbs Down!
Story	A good story line just like any good fiction	No story line. A story line confused with a technical paper. A story line which would not work in regular fiction.
Technology / Setting	Supports the story and provides a context for it	Is the story. Interferes with the storyline.
Philosophy / Point	Clearly articulated using the story. The context allows for it to come out clearly.	No philosophy or point at all. Preachy with the context providing an excuse.

Given that I would like to write some prose, and it will end up being SciFi, I hope the above thoughts will help me avoid staying away from writing for two more decades.

So, as somebody famously said, Engage...