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Why
I Write Military Science Fiction
by Elizabeth Moon ...
Three things pushed me toward writing military
SF. The first reason is history. In the long history of humanity
so far, war is almost as constant as death and taxes. Since the
best guide to future behavior is past behavior, the constancy of
intertribal conflict suggests that there will be war for a very
long time to come.
The second nudge towards military SF was personal experience. I
grew up among veterans of WWII and Korea, men and women who are
now called "the greatest generation." I knew them as interesting,
competent adult civilians long before I knew about their military
experience.
I admired them for their hometown skills in stringing wires and
farming and frying chicken and making bread before I knew that they'd
been Seabees and Army nurses and paratroopers and pilots. That early
experience among veterans led me to join the military myself, where
even so brief a period of active duty—three years—made permanent
changes and still affects my life today.
Finally, there's science fiction, which makes possible stories
that cannot be written in the here and now, stories which can deal
with ideas and issues in ways that leapfrog barriers in the readers'
minds.
Besides the obvious crash-bang-boom of armed conflict, there are
deep moral, ethical, social, and political issues that engage everyone
who joins any military organization, and these deserve thoughtful
consideration, not sound-bite dogma. Soldiers come to the military
with attitudes and ideas already formed, with cultural and personal
pressure behind them.
No matter how hard a military organization tries to make its members
into identical units, individuals remain individuals, and the sandblasting
of military discipline reveals more than it conceals. Some of the
issues soldiers face in our military today will still be around
in future wars; others may vanish with changes in both technology
and society.
It's the sharp ends where character meets conflict, where preconceptions
meet reality, that make up the stories I like to write...and for
a lot of such stories, the natural home is military SF.
Elizabeth Moon
(c) 2004 - Elizabeth Moon and Del Rey
The following material is being reprinted from
the Del Rey Internet Newsletter. Thanks to Fleetwood Robbins. To
subscribe to their free, monthly e-newsletter, visit http://www.delreybooks.com.
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OTHER CONTENT - December 2004
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Tad
and the Shadow
Fantasy author Tad Williams on the immersive nature of epic fantasy, the fact
that what most of us who keep coming back to fantasy fiction love about it is
that “sinking-in” feeling, that thrill of sliding into a new and convincing
world that exists side-by-side with our own ...
(AUTHOR INTERVIEWS)
Trudi
Canavan Interview
Fantasy author Trudi Canavan on the Black Magician trilogy, a world where some
humans have evolved the ability to use magic - an energy that is natural and
has no link to gods, demons, the land or any notion of good or evil. The catch
is that to release and develop their ability all magicians must be taught by
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(AUTHOR INTERVIEWS)
The
Impatient Writer's Guide to Worldbuilding by Victoria Strauss
Another fab installment in the Writers Bloc series from artesix's guest writers
...
(ARTICLES)
Liz
Williams Interview
I often start with images; dreams, impressions, and occasionally characters,
but those tend to come later, after the setting has developed. For example,
I've just written a short story that started life as an image of a unicorn in
Kew Gardens in London -- from that developed a far-future SF story. I also quite
often misread things, and that sparks off ideas as well.
(AUTHOR INTERVIEWS)
Why
I Write Military Science Fiction
Three things pushed me toward writing military SF. The first reason is history.
In the long history of humanity so far, war is almost as constant as death and
taxes. Since the best guide to future behavior is past behavior, the constancy
of intertribal conflict suggests that there will be war for a very long time
to come.
(ARTICLES)
Who
is Dr. Strangelove?
Stanley Kubrick's film, Dr.Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And
Love the Bomb, begins with a rolling fog of rumors. A foreign country is plotting
weapons of mass destruction, a Doomsday machine, against the United States.
Then it segues to beautiful, romantic music and two B-52s having sex...er, refueling
midair. Is this a good dream or a bad dream?
(ARTICLES)
Dead
Birds
About the only thing that is original and unfamiliar about this house of horrors
horror film is that it is set during the Civil War.
(MOVIE REVIEWS)
Phil
the Alien
Amateurish and low-budget skit on film has its moments, but mostly in its first
half. The film outstays its welcome.
(MOVIE REVIEWS)
Rahtree:
Flower of the Night
This ghost story goes in eight different directions at once, from tragic social
message to slapstick comedy. Some scenes are chilling, but the film is unfocused.
(MOVIE REVIEWS)
The
Incredibles
Pixar does it again with a comedy/action film about a family of superheroes.
Just when they thought they were out of the superhero business they get pulled
back in. Of course, as a film from Pixar it is computer-animated, but that is
just the gimmick. The writing is the real attraction.
(MOVIE REVIEWS)
The
Limb Salesman
This is an ironic love story set in a future world that has been badly damaged
in some strange way making uncontaminated water rare. Society is now built around
the efforts to find safe water. The story drags more than a little.
(MOVIE REVIEWS)
Space
Oddysey
Imagine crashing through the acid storms of Venus, taking a space walk in the
magnificent rings of Saturn, or collecting samples on the disintegrating surface
of an unstable comet.
(ARTICLES)
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