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A Message is not a Story
I recently was given a review/awards copy of a book that was just plain awful. Those who know me know that I rarely say anything is “awful,” I’m very aware that “I didn’t like it” is not a synonym for “It is bad.”
But this book really was, in my opinion, awful. It was a political tract with some not hugely interesting characters attached masquerading as a novel. I don’t even remember the actual plot, such as it was.
I’m not going to launch into a diatribe about how science fiction has gotten too political. Because all science fiction is political. All of it. Even pulp adventure has something to say.
But if you do want to place an overt message in your work make sure that isn’t all you have.
Brave New World, Satire and Thin Plots
Just to prove that this isn’t a recent phenomenon, hands up who’s read Brave New World.
Brave New World is a political satire and considered a great science fiction classic. Huxley was worried about two things — eugenics and consumerism, and he combines the two in a book often considered brilliant.
Okay, hands up who remembers the plot of Brave New World. Savage something something savage something island something.
Yeah.