When most people pick up a book they want to escape something to distract them and absorb their attention. Picking a book genre could be obsolete to some but to me, it is a salient topic that has a correct answer. In the audiobook market science fiction and mystery are the most popular genres, and along with fantasy science fiction as a genre has the largest share of sales among all audiobook categories.
Science fiction promotes more creativity in the plot because of the innovation needed to come up with a positive or negative set of circumstances based on real-life science or at least science-related agendas real or fictional.
It improves knowledge of the real world and can help with problem-solving. Science fiction relates more to the reader since these books tend to be set more in the real world
concerning real problems like dystopias, and utopias. This link to realism can also promote curiosity in science so an interested and or passionate reader could start pursuing a career in the science field.
Not only this but I also believe that science fiction pairs the best when it comes to genre bends. You can combine almost any other genre with science fiction and it will work well because of its displayed themes. I know this well due to one of my favorite sub-genres being sci-fi mystery.
This also contributes more to the innovation I mentioned earlier where you can mix and match anything with science fiction to push the boundaries of writing and create an entirely new concept.
A book that is an example of this is lock in by John Scalzi. It is a murder mystery in a world of people affected by locked-in syndrome who are referred to as Haydens, which is a real-life condition only taken to a more extreme measure in the book. They can’t move their bodies so they have to operate in the physical world through threeps a remote-operated android. Or they can take over the body of someone else who has a brain transmitter called an integrator by paying them money to experience events or other things in the real world. The main conflict is that someone was killed while Hayden was controlling an integrator even though they are still conscious and can jump in if the “session” gets out of control so something irregular was occurring. The integrator and Hayden have lawyer-client privilege so the mystery becomes very lawful and holds many surprises.
As lock-in syndrome is real it is an amplified case of what has happened in the real world and relates to problem-solving as science is complex and with new laws and procedures made in this new form of the world. It’s very different and you as a reader need to adapt and adjust yourself to see what is happening and place yourself in the character’s shoes, but also to think about the outcomes of these idealistic or horrendous problems you the reader have to explore your thoughts to come up with your own opinions.
One of my other favorite science fiction books is Unwind by Neal Shusterman. This book takes a darker turn than lock-in. Instead of adapting and helping to provide to the topic demographic in this book, they are shunned from society. After the Heartland war, a hard-fought and vigorous battle on how abortion should be dealt with. To stop the fighting both sides reached a compromise, and unwinding was established. A process in which you as a parent can sign an order to condemn your child from the age of thirteen to eighteen to have their very cells spliced apart and used as perfect spare parts. You are not considered dead as you still can have feeling in those parts after unwinding and rewinding onto someone else’s body in universe the term is known as phantom limb. The book opens with our main character Conner Lassitor as he finds an unwind order filled out on his father’s desk and runs away only to become one of the most infamous AWOLs in history.
I think this book is very interesting because it makes you think about what the real world would be like if your parent got fed up with you and you were sent to be carved apart and harvested for your body parts. Who would be safe? It gets you to think if we become more corrupted and self-centered as a society to throw away and claim other’s lives as if it were a common practice. I think that this is a defining book for this genre because while it may prove to make you uncomfortable that makes it all the more worth the read. It is a great example of how books can relate to the reader and improve or change you. It is a very moral and character-based story with many interesting characters and a perfect example of a dystopia.
And lastly, how could I end this article without mentioning a staple in the genre? Robert A. Heinlein is one of the three major authors who helped propel science fiction into the limelight along with; Isaac Asimov, and Author C. Clark. Heinlein’s book Starship Troopers was published in November 1959 over half a century ago. This book has stood the test of time for me the language is surprisingly modern and reads like a book that came out in the 2000’s. The book is certainly creative with the premise being a rich kid Juan or Johnny Rico has left the life his father has prepared for him to join the MI or mobile infantry the harshest branch in all of the futuristic military, that uses body-fitted armor suits that give you insane strength and agility to fight off the bugs. An alien race that has been quickly consuming the galaxy.
From what you think would be an easy action-packed war book is a very tricky read. Jhonny keeps getting reminded of his philosophy teacher in high school who was missing an arm and served in the Mi after the brutal dispatch of one of his insubordinate squadron members who was given several lashings and later a letter from that very teacher. He very much questions the ethics of the captains and often wants to quit but the only thing that keeps him going is the thought of his father confronting him when and if he comes home.
Later when he enrolls in Captain school he has to take another philosophy class and after that, he becomes the acting captain as he needs to be watched in the act of duty before being given the official title. He finds out the friends he made in his old squadron died and he leads his new merged squad to capture one of the bug queens helping the humans get a large leg up in the war through shaky instructions.
Especially for one of the first in the genre the complexity of the book makes you have a mental deep dive. For a book that is only 263 physical pages, it feels at least twice that length. I very much enjoyed the heavy touches of humanity and questioning in this story that after digesting will improve your reading process and mental continuity on all of your next literary adventures, a good balance between all different human aspects and is a creative expression that if I read in 1959 I would certainly be anticipation the rise of this up and coming genre.
