When I began writing this post, I started by ranking my top ten favorite stories from this course. It went like so:

1. “Zima Blue” by Alastair Reynolds
2. “In the Hereafter Hotel” by Bob Shaw
3. “Think Like a Dinosaur” by James Patrick Kelly
4. “Speech Sounds” by Octavia Butler
5. “Desertion” by Clifford Simak
6. “Cardboard Box” by Hanmura Ryō
7. “Opportunities Galore” by Gabriel Bermudez Castillo
8. “Bokko-Chan” by Shinichi Hoshi
9. “Readymade Bodhisattva” by Park Seonghwan
10. “Take Me Down the River” by Sam Lundwall

Looking at this list, the most salient theme I can detect is something I would call self-obliteration. By this, I mean that the protagonists of the stories decide to intentionally erase themselves from existence in some capacity or another, through suicide, transformation, or spiritual enlightenment. The stories where self-obliteration comprise essential plot points are:

• Zima Blue
• Think Like A Dinosaur
• Desertion
• Cardboard Box
• Readymade Bodhisattva
• Take Me Down the River

Other stories that have a loose connection to this theme could be:

• “Hereafter Hotel”: the protagonist accidentally kills himself (gently) after putting so much thought into his self-preservation
• “Opportunities Galore”: the gambling behaviors of the protagonist are certainly self-destructive

This is sort of a difficult theme to track down. I could only find one monograph on the subject: Suicide and Contemporary Science Fiction by Carlos Gutierrez-Jones at the University of Santa Barbara. But I’m not just talking about suicide; I’m talking about transcendence from normal reality and into something more sublime, or just, or enlightened.

I think this is a particularly fascinating theme in science fiction because it takes qualities of religion and brings it into a sci-fi context. Attainment of something greater than possible in normal life is particularly religious, whether it be in salvation or nirvana. This erasure from existence may comprise an ascension not possible through means of technology, so in these stories.

For this week’s post, I went through and tried to tie a rope around this subject. It was a bit of a struggle. However, I did come up with five sci-fi movies that also deal with this subject. I’ll think of more in the near future. Maybe this could be something to write my manifesto about.

Other works with this theme (that I’ve found so far)

• Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus
• Frankenstein (1818)
• Arrival (2016)
• The Discovery (2017)
• Annihilation (2018)
• Upstream Color (2013)
• Looper (2012)
• The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
• Predestination (2014)

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