Why I Write Science Fiction
Editor's Note: This April, the library is celebrating the Keep Toronto Reading Festival and our One Book – "Fahrenheit 451," by Ray Bradbury. Guest blogger Hugh Howey, author of the bestselling novel, "Wool", shares his thoughts on why he writes science fiction.
I write in several genres, but the reason I find myself
drawn to science fiction as an author is the same reason I found myself sucked
in as a reader when I was young: I had discovered worlds that one day might
come true.
My first love as a reader was the fantasy genre. I read any
story with a dragon or a wizard in it. Even better if it had both. But then I
discovered "Ender's Game", "Dune", and "I, Robot" and suddenly I imagined equally
fantastical realms that were different in a major way: they might become
possible.
As the years have gone on and science has wielded more and
more of its magic, the world around me seems straight out of the books I read
as a child. People have artificial hearts, knees, and hips. We all carry powerful
computers in our pockets and can'talk to any other person around the globe at
any time. Cars drive themselves. I can'talk to my TV and it does my bidding.
Yesterday's sorcery is today's reality.
Science fiction does many other things. It allows us to
analyze the human condition by tweaking our environment so that we highlight
our flaws and our strengths. It's a perfect vehicle for satire and for
exploring serious ethical quandaries.
But most of all, it whisks us away to
adventures that loom ahead. Where I used to read about a past that never was,
now I am free to write about a tomorrow that just might be. And what could be
more exciting than that.
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