Geek Alert: Why Sci-Fi Is Cool

Tomorrow, you'll get to read an author interview from Greta van der Rol, a fantastic, strong science fiction writer (among other things). Today, in celebration and in anticipation of both the interview and her upcoming new release, I thought we'd discuss what makes great science fiction.

Well, okay, this list is entirely subjective. But this whole blog is subjective.

Science fiction is basically defined as plausible, real-world based fiction. It's different from fantasy; fantasy is more about magic and the supernatural. Science fiction is rational and logical. Like a Vulcan!

The Iron Admiral certainly wasn't my first brush with sci-fi and it won't be my last. I love Star Wars and I've always been a closeted Star Trek fan. (Mostly the Original Series and The Next Generation, much to my father's exasperation; I just can't get into Deep Space Nine.) I spent my teen years reading Elizabeth Moon, David Weber, Orson Scott Card, and Douglas Adams. I still read the Star Wars expanded universe books. I'm actually reading Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber right now. (Zombies. In Star Wars. How much more could I ask for?) Mike Stackpole is the first author who really opened my eyes about the business of being a writer.

A lifetime spent reading the genre has given me some perspective on what makes a great science fiction story. I believe this to be true, anyway. So I'm going to share my list.

Rational science.
You have to make the reader (or viewer) believe that the science in your universe is sound. In the Star Wars movies, space travel is never really explained, but that doesn't matter, because everyone in the Galaxy Far, Far Away takes space flight for granted because they understand it.

Human interest.
When everything else in your new world is strange and unfamiliar, the audience needs to understand your characters. In Tanith Lee's Biting the Sun, virtually nothing about life or society is recognizable--but the protagonist's struggles with her humanity are all to familiar.

Sound politics and war strategy.
Whether your antagonists are human, alien, robot, or hybrid, if you're writing political maneuvering, you need to make it believable. In Star Wars, The Empire is based on the Roman Empire and the Nazis (something you didn't see much in the films was the Empire's utter disdain for non-humans and women). In Star Trek, you have the Borg (and the Klingons, and the Romulans). If you're writing a war, you need to make that strategy believable, too. How we fight wars has evolved from literal sticks and stones to tanks and sniper rifles that can take out an enemy from several kilometers away. Strategies, like chess strategies, have remained largely the same. In your future war-torn galaxy, your protagonists might have fancy new weapons and brilliant leaders, but their strategy won't change too much.

Alien life.
What good is science fiction without aliens? The ptorix are easily a new favorite of mine, but I'm also a fan of Wookiees, pretty much every alien mentioned in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and--despite the fact that they were the antagonists in one of the most heart-breaking book series' I've ever read--the Yuuzhan Vong. The thing about aliens is that you can come up with whatever you want and your audience will generally buy it.

Cool technology.
Hyperdrives. Faster-than-light travel. Flying cars. Underwater cities. Floating cities. Datapads. Portable communicators. All right, so we have those last two (tablet computers and cell phones), but my point remains valid. The best sci-fi has some seriously cool gadgets.

Bonus: Planet hopping.
Most of my favorite stories take place on more than one planet. I blame this on my fascination with anthropology. I absolutely love the idea of other inhabitable worlds that are sort of like Earth but not really at all.

Free Books!

You know what's awesome about ereaders? Free books! For those of us who have debilitating book-buying habits, being able to download free electronic books is one of the very best things about having an ereader. Well, it is for me. Once a month, I hit up the Kindle Top 100 Free list and I go download-crazy. I have a bunch of books I haven't read yet, but it's nice to have that stockpile. (So I'm preparing for the apocalypse. An apocalypse in which I still have electricity to charge my Kindle.) I don't worry about being stuck with nothing to read.

That might be something I actually worry about. Maybe.

Anyway, there are more places online that offer free books legally.

• Smashwords is a great place to get free original books.
• Have a NOOK? Get your free books at Barnes & Noble.
• Project Gutenberg is the go-to site for free public domain books. 
• Feedbooks.com offers both public domain and original free books.
• ManyBooks.net boasts 29,000 free books.
• The sci-fi/fantasy publisher Baen offers some free titles from some of their top authors. (Like Aaron Allston and Elizabeth Moon, huzzah!)
• The Mobile Read forums have a wiki page dedicated to free books where you can find a ton of resources.

You weren't planning to be productive or anything this weekend, were you? I hope not.