Category Archives: Region

Living Spaceship

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Interior passageway of the living spaceship Moya.

Howdy! I thought I’d share this cool picture of the interior of the living spaceship Moya from the SF TV series Farscape. In the show, Moya is a sentient bio-mechanical creature that the main characters, a rebellious collection of fugitive aliens and one human, live in. According to the show’s twitter account, “The shapes of Moya’s hallways and passageways were based on a Spanish architect and designer, Antoni Gaudi.” Moya is one of my favorite characters/ aspects of the show as she has a compassionate and quirky personality. The show itself is unique and has a lot of personality, I would definitely recommend!

 

Cosmic Engineers

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Cover of Cosmic Engineers by Simak

I chose this book because it was my favorite cover art of any of the books I had seen in The Green Hand, and I wanted to read more of Simak’s work. I absolutely love the bright colors, the mountain range in the background and the cute little planet right of the robot’s head. I would absolutely draw something like this background, so naturally I had to read the book. I just the wish the story had as much personality as the cover. The story follows a group of humans, most notably two space journalist Herb and Gary and a woman, Caroline, who they woke from suspended animation. Caroline was aware throughout her 1,000 years in suspended animation and spent the time training her brain and developing new concepts about spatial relativity and the physical nature of space. The humans are called to by a group of robots, the Cosmic Engineers, who are trying to protect the universe and need the help of beings with creativity (something they don’t possess). Together the humans and Cosmic Engineers, well it was mostly Caroline, they prevent two universes from colliding, stop the bad guy aliens and go home happy.

This story is an optimistic space opera written in the Golden Age of SF and contains a multitude of interesting SF elements. Some interesting elements include the idea of robots outliving their creators but remaining devoted to them, the concept of humans abandoning Earth, anti-government and pro-individualism. The evil aliens in the story are a thinly veiled allegory for wither German National or Soviet Socialism. From the anti-collectivist sentiments and glorification of humanities’ creativity and brave heroism, is evident that the author was writing this story as an American 1964.

I’ll start with my favorite aspects. The main scientist is a woman who not only saves our universe but saves another universe and actually creates universes. She is far from the damsel in distress that most stories in the Golden Age of SF portray. I also loved the optimistic and positive portrayal of humanity. So much SF reveals the ugly flaws of humanity or imagines alien races that are far superior. Yet in this story, humanity is refreshingly celebrated as uniquely creative and adventurous. However, it could be a little hard to get through. The characters are flat, and the plot just chugs forward without any tension to keep the reader engaged. I got lost in the inconsistent details of the plot and accidentally ended up skimming some parts. There just wasn’t any depth or sentiment in the writing.

I looked at the publication page and it turns out this was originally a short story that Simak wrote in 1939 but he adapted it into a novel. I think it should have stayed a short story and I would be interested in reading it. However, I am not sure I would recommend the novel and would perhaps direct people to some of Simak’s better, richer writing. I am frustrated because the concept of a genius woman saving the universe and celebrating humanity is something I love. But I guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover; for such lively and colorful cover art, the story was grey.

 

 

Original Publicaiton as a Novel:
 Simak, Clifford Donald. Cosmic Engineers. Gnome Press, 1950.
Version I read:

Simak, Clifford Donald. Cosmic Engineers. Paperback Library, 1970

Green Hand Book Review: Venus Plus X

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Sturgeon, Theodore. Venus plus X. New York: Dell, 1979.

 

I chose Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon because the cover first caught my attention. The book covers that I looked at before finding the book dealt with space but I thought this one looked cooler. The pages were also colored, which most of the other books did not have. After reading the little blurb on the cover, I quickly found out that it dealt with the theme of gender and its erasure of it. Within this course, I found that the topic of power relations, including race, gender, and sexuality intrigued me the most–and this book seemed to fit my interests. In class, we also mentioned Sturgeon a few times but did not read any works from him so I thought this book would be perfect!

 

Venus Plus X follows the trope of a confused time traveler everyman coming into consciousness in a futuristic isolated community. In this community called Ledom, all of the members are gender-neutral and hidden from the rest of society; there is some ambiguity as to whether or not this society is utopic or just a means for human preservation. The protagonist Charlie Johns explores culture and technology, with interesting discourse about patriarchy, religion, reproductive practices and rights, and outlook on life. This story runs concurrently with an (underdeveloped) story of a “progressive” contemporary American family of the 60s who came off as only a foil. When it is revealed that the members of society are intersex and the process of how the members become intersex, the protagonist is disgusted and homophobic. While attempting to travel back to his time, it is brought to light that Charlie did not arrive through time travel. He’s a “control” person maintained by the Ledom for research purposes. He lives on the outside of civilization since he can’t be assimilated into Ledom society. The story ends with a nuclear bomb being set off but Ledom survives because of their technology.

 

This book was published amid Golden-Age SF with themes of sex, gender, sexuality, religion, technology, and human preservation. I think this book is interesting when looking at the context of the time period: It precedes both the Sexual Revolution and Second-Wave Feminism in the latter part of the 1960s. In this way, Venus Plus X is in some way a proto-feminist reading of society, where the core of the novel is an argument that the presumption that women and men are very different is wrong and socially destructive. Some ideas and dialogue are definitely antiquated but the messages are still applicable to our society today. It is also a story about human survival because the story also coincides with the middle of the Cold War, with the idea of forward-thinking technology and preservation.

 

I would recommend this book to people who like slow exposition stories. The book was quite slow at times and I found myself skimming through some parts. The latter half of the story is definitely where it picks up!

 

Extra notes: Venus Plus X was a finalist for the 1961 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Dolphin Sex: Book Review of Startide Rising

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When book hunting at Green Hand, I wanted to find a book that was good in the sense that it had been awarded something or came highly recommended. After some digging, I came across US author David Brin’s Startide Rising which won the Hugo and Nebula Awards (according to its cover). It is a sci-fi epic about a human expedition, led by dolphins that have been uplifted to human intelligence (there is also an uplifted chimpanzee scientist), that has uncovered secrets to the origins of life in the universe, a secret many alien empires are persuing and are fighting over in the space above the downed ship. On a water planet (conveniently for a crew of dolphins), the humans and company must survive and escape to Earth without getting captured with plenty of politics and competing philosophies at play. It is the typical “trapped with time running out” story that includes clear-cut heroes loved by all trying to do the best in the world they can. There are also comments on the process of uplifting and echoes of the consequences of playing God with nature that veer quite close to social commentary. That is what makes the book great with enough backstory to make Tolkien jealous and personal politics and strategizing to give Game of Thrones a run for its money with an interesting story. The downside, as the title suggests, is the weird moments of over-sexualization. I could’ve enjoyed the book just as much without the dolphin-human romance and the perspective of horny dolphin thoughts.

Overall, I’d recommend the book if you’re willing to take it with a grain of salt; it can be cringe-inducing at moments, but it does do a good job of making an entertaining sci-fi epic with some deeper thought if you want to go that far.

Citation: Brin, David. Startide Rising. New York: Bantam Books Inc., 1983.

Cover:

Startide Rising (The Uplift Saga, Book 2) | Science Book a Day

 

La Machine – France

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On New Years Day I was visiting Toulouse, France with my dad and we went to a museum hosting the work of the group La Machine, a “street theater” group that creates large-scale machinery for performance. The group’s creations remind me a lot of the steampunk genre of sci-fi we talked about briefly in class, which features retro steam-powered machines over more modern, electronic ones.

Their website has tons of information about and images of their works: a giant spider which was part of a performance through the streets of Toulouse, their newest design “Heron Tree” and many more. I’m fascinated by how the group incorporates the steampunk aesthetic into so many different aspects of performance (giant animals, natural objects and musical instruments to name a few). The site describes the animals as performers which “feed an unusual vision of theatre, reading movement as a language, and in turn a source of emotion. The operators, engines, animals and musicians intermingle, confront and tune in with each other, thus creating images that change our relationship with the city, suddenly transformed.”

They have so many projects it’s impossible to capture them all in one post. On my visit to the museum, I was lucky enough to ride on this giant centaur they had created out of wood and machinery. It was extremely detailed (you can see the steam coming from its nostrils, the chest moved up and down as it “breathed” etc.) and it moved around the property, operated by two individuals who used VR and motion sensors so the machine would mimic their movement.

There’s so many other intriguing parts of the museum and I highly suggest checking out the site for a bit (especially their musical performances). I thought this group and their work really connects to this class and expands the steampunk genre into the theater/performance realm. We haven’t seen many live performance pieces (other than Defekt, of course) so I thought I would share their super unique work!

Star Trek

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Photoshopped/ digital art of different Star Trek characters.

Created using Photoshop and Procreate. Original character images found on getty images.

“Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before!”

After about the fifth time my parents laughed at a reference in a movie and brushed it off as “oh it’s a reference to Star Trek,” I demanded they introduce me to the iconic show. My mom picked out her favorite episode in the Original Series, “The Trouble with Tribbles” and I was hooked. Nine years later and I’m taking a Science Fiction class as a senior in college all because of those pesky tribbles. I may not know how to speak Klingon or have a cosplay costume ready to go in my closet, but I have come to the conclusion, alongside many others, that Star Trek is the greatest science fiction franchise of all time. It continues to stand the test of time with the current Star Trek canon including eleven TV series (with more on the way) and thirteen feature films. But why is it so great?

Star Trek, to its core, embodies hope. It’s had a purposeful mission from the beginning, not only to boldly go where no one has gone before, but to show viewers that the future can be good. It portrays an optimistic vision of humanities future where the defining characteristic of humans are our curiosity. In this vision, humans are dedicated to science and exploration, of both space and themselves. Star Trek imagines an Earth without war, poverty, or pollution where technology works FOR us rather than against us. The current geopolitical tensions that rule our world’s governments are described as petty squabbles that have been solved and left behind in humanities’ dark past. Star Trek shows how peace and discussion are far more interesting than war and violence. Differences are respected and actively depicted as good. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek was invested in showing how humanities strength lies in our differences.

Star Trek has embraced diversity from the beginning, not only in the stories but in casting. In the Original Series, Nichelle Nichol’s Uhura and George Takei’s Sulu were main officers on the bridge. As the first black woman in a position of respect and power on an American television series, Uhura was unprecedented in 1966. Famous endorsements of Uhura came from Martin Luther King Jr. encouraging Nichols to continue playing the role after the first season and Whoopi Goldberg who was inspired as a nine-year-old watching the show for the first time. Ahead of its time, the 1968 kiss between the Uhura and Kirk is, among much debate, often cited as the first interracial kiss on television. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine put a black man in charge through Avery Brooke’s Sisko and the next series Star Trek: Voyager has Kate Mulgrew’s Janeway as a female captain of the crew.

The franchise came into itself on television in a time where special effects were limited and so although most of Star Trek is in space, it devotes itself to talk over action. While the more recent series and films can take advantage of incredible special effects to give viewers the space battles and martial arts scenes we want, at its core the focus is still on asking big questions. Each episode and movie explore different philosophical issues. What does it mean to be human, Klingon, Vulcan, non-corporeal, immortal or an android? With many hours to explore ideas and questions, Star Trek tackles a wide variety of themes and tells many different types of stories such as mysteries, romances, horror stories, spy stories, workplace drama, family stories, and so many more. Many episodes explore emotions. What are they, when or how do we give into them, repress them, or make use of them? Vulcans repress them through their pursuit of pure logical thinking, while Data, a perfectly logical android seeks to be more human and emotional like his friends. Star Trek: The Next Generation has two regular characters who function as therapists for the crew, Deanna Troi as ship counselor and Whoopi Goldberg’s Guinan as the wise and ageless bartender.

Something that always stood out to me was how the characters of the show are “cool” because they are intelligent and good at what they do, not because of wealth or looks. They are curious and ask questions, determined and passionate about what they do. In their pursuit of interplanetary goodwill and space exploration, they unapologetically ask “why?” and “what if?” As the resident Trekkie of the class, I wanted to share why I love it and continue to go back to it. Star Trek embraces the awe and wonder of the universe that is at the core of what science fiction means to me.

** If you want to get into the franchise but don’t want to watch eleven series and thirteen films, I recommend watching the recent trilogy that features a younger version of the original crew in a different timeline! The cinematography, special effects and music is stunning! (Star Trek, Star Trek: Into Darkness, and Star Trek: Beyond)

Sources/ inspiration for this post:

Roddenberry, Gene. Star Trek. 1966-present.

Lloyd, Robert. “’Star Trek’ Is the Greatest Sci-Fi Franchise of All. Why It’s Stood the Test of Time.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 28 Oct. 2021.

Kraftwerk’s “Computer Love” and Online Dating

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I’ve recently been in a bit of a Kraftwerk phase, so I thought that it would be nice to write a blog post about one of my favorite songs of theirs, which happens to be an example of SF and “SFional” music predicting the future.

Cover art for Computer Love by Kraftwerk

Off of Kraftwerk’s 1981 album Computer World, “Computer Love” is a danceable yet melancholic song that oddly seemed to predict the future of dating with its lyrics:

Computer love, computer love
Computer love, computer love
Computer love, computer love

Another lonely night, another lonely night
Stare at the TV screen, stare at the TV screen
I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do
I need a rendezvous, I need a rendezvous

Computer love
Computer love
Computer love
Computer love

I call this number, I call this number
For a data date, for a data date
I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do
I need a rendezvous, I need a rendezvous

Computer love
Computer love
Computer love
Computer love

Unsurprisingly, with the social isolation that and resultant loneliness that were spurred by the pandemic, dating apps such as Tinder saw a massive spike in usage. I won’t assert an opinion on whether this is a good or bad thing, but I certainly find it interesting to think about, especially in conjunction with “Computer Love.”

If you haven’t listened to this song or other Kraftwerk songs, I would definitely recommend checking them out! Their live performances are especially fun to watch, as they truly adopt the robotic personas that embody the themes present in many of their songs. I hope you give this song and their others a listen!

song

dating app article

Solar punk: a radically optimistic view of the future

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The relationship between humans and the land has changed so much, from the relationship we have cultivated over tens of thousands of years, to after settlers started colonizing the land, to now with industry and a system of capital leading to a disregard of the planet. 

Many young people have lost hope for the future of humans and of the planet. Science fiction is a window into our interpretations imaginations of the future, but much of science fiction is pessimistic and doesn’t often imagine a sound and ideal future. 

Radical hope is needed to create the change we need for the future. Solar punk brings back indigenous ways of living in balance with the land, while also acknowledging that technology is here to stay and can be used for good. 

Linked are some depictions of a solar punk imagined world. 

Discovering the Rainbow: Solarpunk embodies an optimism towards the future that our society needs | The Milwaukee Independent

Why “Solarpunk” Gives Me Hope for a More Sustainable Future - YES! Magazine

While researching more about solar punk, I came across a Chobani yogurt ad that beautifully depicted an optimistic solar punk future, a future where people living in harmony with the land while also striking a balance between us and nature. 

This was particularly interesting because I have dislike for any corporation that could be greenwashing and trying to appeal to an audience that cares about the Earth just to make more money. Despite my qualms, this ad, without the company references, was beautiful done and represents solar punk pretty accurately. 

The future that I want the children of the future to have, is one like solar punk, where balance is stuck. I will try to fight back against the pressing feelings of helplessness, and turn that frustration into doing what I can, as soon as I can, for the future. To be a good ancestor… 

 

The Matrix — trans narratives and use of allegory

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Recently I’ve been thinking back to The Matrix film — as some of you may know, it was written and directed by two trans sisters (Lana and Lilly Wachowski). I’ve linked below an interview with Lilly Wachowski where she discusses being closeted during the making of the film, as well as why she was drawn to science fiction and the power of the genre to imagine worlds beyond your current reality. One of my favorite quotes from this interview is when she speaks to the “seemingly impossible becoming possible.” This reminds me of Arthur C. Clark’s 3 Laws and venturing a little ways past the impossible 🙂

I’ve also linked an interesting review of the film by a writer I’ve been reading lately, Andrea Long Chu (an excerpt from her book “Females: a Concern”). She challenges this narrative quite strongly, stating that “Allegorically is the least interesting way to read anything.” Do you agree with this? I think at the time that this film was made, the writers were looking for a way to communicate their experience without having to delve into specifics. It’s interesting to think about science fiction as a vehicle to tell your story indirectly especially to such a mass audience such as the Matrix franchise. I’d be curious about science fiction that more outwardly engages with gender — I’m excited to reread Bloodchild by Octavia Butler, as I remember it reimagined reproductive rights in a nuanced way. Overall, I think The Matrix accomplishes a lot of alternate reality building, and it is in many ways is productive to recontextualize this narrative in terms of gender. Hope you all enjoy the video and article!

 

https://www.vulture.com/2019/02/what-the-matrix-can-teach-us-about-gender.html