The Rules of the Game: A beginner's guide to hard sci-fi
The science fiction I spent my youth with consisted of faster than light travel, aliens who spoke perfect English for no good reason and sword fighting on mars. While this brand of science fiction is where most of us teethed, there are those pundits who believe that this flavour of “nonsense”, having no actual basis in real ‘science’, should have the word removed from its name. There have been arguments where terms such as ‘Space Fantasy’ got used a little too liberally and some trekkies get somewhat belligerent. Eventually the extremists ended their holy war and settled on the term Hard Sci-Fi, the general idea being that all Hard Sci-Fi is based on actual science, whether for the entire premise of the story or simply for the setting. As with all aspects of science fiction, there are disagreements. Some people are very black and white, drawing a line at what can be proven conclusively now, while others construct elaborate grading systems designating everything from Babylon 5 down into various grades of mushiness, and assigning everything from Dune up varying degrees of solidity.
This hard-line taken by learned folk in white coats doesn’t in any way detract from my interest in, and appreciation of, hard sci-fi, because despite the boring and educational implications of scientific accuracy, it often adds a strong sense of plausibility to the work in question. It’s a strange realisation while reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy that this may actually happen one day, but If 1700 pages of the colonisation and terraforming of the red planet isn’t your cup of tea, then it’s worth getting hold of 2009’s Moon starring Sam Rockwell. It’s an easier transition into the sub-genre that will only cost you 97 minutes of your life, and it’s an outstanding piece of cinematic writing and directing where the accuracy stands more as a setting and general approach than an overall theme.
The hard cyber-punk of William Gibson’s Bridge Trilogy is a wholly desirable piece of work in this respect, and has been my go-to SF trilogy for all oppositionists who don’t like the space bound settings and ‘ridiculous’ premises of a majority of my library. Ever since my first trip into the media obsessed near future of hackers and corporate warfare that is Virtual Light I have considered it a law unto itself. It still lives the wild adventure of the Cyber Space Trilogy with its edges hardened into something nearly happened in its tangibility. Its hardness gives it credence.
In a more traditional setting the anime series Planetes is deep in the folds of hard sci-fi with the entire premise, setting and many of the sub-plots revolving heavily around a realistic and technically accurate speculation on the future of space travel. The main characters are responsible for recovering the satellites and other space debris that have become a hazard in the space age. The laws of orbital physics, known and theoretical space travel related illnesses as well as the limitations of interplanetary travel are not only adhered to, but essential for the unfolding and direction of the plot. If you pay attention, you may even learn something about the history of space travel.
It is in the policing of this realism that we find The Game. A brandished rapier and glove in the face, that revolves heavily around scientific ridicule and public humiliation. It is a challenge put forth by the authors and taken up by his audience, and the rules of The Game go a little something like this:
1. Approach a literary, cinematic or television work of science fiction having taken all the necessary safety precautions.
2. Subject all elements of the work in question to the rigors of scientific experimentation and theory.
3. Publish all scientific errors to your nearest internet and hope that you too haven’t made mistakes.
4. No eye gouging.
Every time a Hard Sci-Fi author publishes a book, this is the gauntlet they must endure. This has lead public mockery at science fiction conventions, and in the case of Larry Niven this has resulted in the publishing of corrected reprints and the writing of sequels with retroactive fixes to his scientific blunders. From the outside it appears very harrowing. Which is why it’s entertaining. I personally have never taken part in The Game as all of the science I have learnt since high school comes from books about the accuracies and inaccuracies in science fiction.
I still like your books Larry.
This hard-line taken by learned folk in white coats doesn’t in any way detract from my interest in, and appreciation of, hard sci-fi, because despite the boring and educational implications of scientific accuracy, it often adds a strong sense of plausibility to the work in question. It’s a strange realisation while reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy that this may actually happen one day, but If 1700 pages of the colonisation and terraforming of the red planet isn’t your cup of tea, then it’s worth getting hold of 2009’s Moon starring Sam Rockwell. It’s an easier transition into the sub-genre that will only cost you 97 minutes of your life, and it’s an outstanding piece of cinematic writing and directing where the accuracy stands more as a setting and general approach than an overall theme.
The hard cyber-punk of William Gibson’s Bridge Trilogy is a wholly desirable piece of work in this respect, and has been my go-to SF trilogy for all oppositionists who don’t like the space bound settings and ‘ridiculous’ premises of a majority of my library. Ever since my first trip into the media obsessed near future of hackers and corporate warfare that is Virtual Light I have considered it a law unto itself. It still lives the wild adventure of the Cyber Space Trilogy with its edges hardened into something nearly happened in its tangibility. Its hardness gives it credence.
In a more traditional setting the anime series Planetes is deep in the folds of hard sci-fi with the entire premise, setting and many of the sub-plots revolving heavily around a realistic and technically accurate speculation on the future of space travel. The main characters are responsible for recovering the satellites and other space debris that have become a hazard in the space age. The laws of orbital physics, known and theoretical space travel related illnesses as well as the limitations of interplanetary travel are not only adhered to, but essential for the unfolding and direction of the plot. If you pay attention, you may even learn something about the history of space travel.
It is in the policing of this realism that we find The Game. A brandished rapier and glove in the face, that revolves heavily around scientific ridicule and public humiliation. It is a challenge put forth by the authors and taken up by his audience, and the rules of The Game go a little something like this:
1. Approach a literary, cinematic or television work of science fiction having taken all the necessary safety precautions.
2. Subject all elements of the work in question to the rigors of scientific experimentation and theory.
3. Publish all scientific errors to your nearest internet and hope that you too haven’t made mistakes.
4. No eye gouging.
Every time a Hard Sci-Fi author publishes a book, this is the gauntlet they must endure. This has lead public mockery at science fiction conventions, and in the case of Larry Niven this has resulted in the publishing of corrected reprints and the writing of sequels with retroactive fixes to his scientific blunders. From the outside it appears very harrowing. Which is why it’s entertaining. I personally have never taken part in The Game as all of the science I have learnt since high school comes from books about the accuracies and inaccuracies in science fiction.
I still like your books Larry.
Horrorphile
My favourite science fiction novels are:
1. Altered Carbon - Richard Morgan
2. Solaris - Stanislaw Lem
3. The Time Machine - H. G. Wells
4. Neuromancer - William Gibson
5. The Brass Dragon - Marion Zimmer Bradley
Sci Fi's Not Trash
Ray-Guns and Spandex
Me Vs The Movies
I haven't read The Brass Dragon, but I've ordered it after seeing it amongst such good company.
Horrorphile
So anyway, just a heads up that it's a short novel and isn't as "adult" as the other four novels I listed, but brilliant just the same.