/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.20933237]

Is it just me, or is Science Fiction generally grim? Seems like most sci-fi books features "shit worse than death thought up by the author made only possible by advanced technology". Maybe I need to read more of it.

What are some positive Science Fiction books?

[Anonymous No.20933263]

yay aliens and space ships go pew pew pew. mr spock launch the warp speed bazinga

[Anonymous No.20933283]

Read the Foundation series right away my nigga, it's like a cool breeze on your balls

[Anonymous No.20933299]

>>20933283
>the Foundation
Not that I doubt you, but the TV series has a scene where a character is put into an eternity of torture where they don't experience any sensation, not sight or smell or anything. Just consciousness without any sensory experiences. Again, this is horrifying.

[Anonymous No.20934714]

From my experience big published authors mostly write pessimistic or scary stories and that's what audience wants most of the time unfortunately. Personally I found my fix of positive and fun sci-fi in fantasy magazines from the 80's and 90's that published less known authors. Also, perhaps 20's to 60's pulp sci-fi could be your taste in that regard?

[Anonymous No.20934999]

A lot of Arthur C Clarke's books are very much just about feats of engineering. The Fountains of Paradise is about the building of a space elevator, and not a lot else really. There's some minor peril involved, but it's mostly just Clarke sperging out over the concept of a space elevator.

[Anonymous No.20935163]

>>20933237
I seriously can't think of any. Hyperion is pretty happy... At least before the End.

[Anonymous No.20935166]

>>20933237
Weird you'd demonstrate your point by posting a book when in the end the entire human race turns into everlasting teleportation trannies who love each other.

[Anonymous No.20935240]

>>20934999
This.

[Anonymous No.20935275]

>>20933237
Does Lovecraft count? I always found his writings very optimistic.

[Anonymous No.20937182]

>>20933237
>Hyperion
Fun Fact: that one inspired Hegel

[Anonymous No.20937187]

>>20933237
hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

[Anonymous No.20938637]

>>20935275
>Does Lovecraft count?
no

[Anonymous No.20938693]

Everything written by C.J. Cherryh is basically about really smart people who have to figure out ways to survive completely impossible situations.

Even when the "good guys" lose so to speak, that's never the end, the story goes on the way History keeps going on. Downbelow Station is about a Civil War in space between two factions of humanity, and it's told from the perspective of the Earth faction, painting the Deep Space faction as a bunch of mad scientists terraforming worlds and building clone populations to develop them and clone armies to defend them. And the idea of "tape-trained" humanity is presented as the most horrifying thing imaginable.

The book ends on a major downnote for the Earth faction, but then the story continues in Cyteen from the other side's perspective and you come to find out that the cloned humans aren't really mindless, soulless automata, they're just super autistic. And the genetic engineers who designed them aren't evil psychopaths either, they have their own problems and their own solutions and their own values and culture, it's just different.

[Anonymous No.20938729]

>>20937187
Took 10 post for someone to finally post this. Sad.

[Anonymous No.20940106]

>>20933237
I Robot was pretty positive

There's an angle from which Hyperion is positive, which is the sense where it's about irrational love, community, forgiveness, and courage in the face of certain death. But I see how that might not be what you're looking for.
A lot of the adventure-y or pure it'd-be-cool-to-build-this type of stuff is reasonably positive.
I think what you're encountering is the essential regressiveness of all fiction and the need for conflict.

[Anonymous No.20940116]

>>20938729
>>20937187

Did you guys not finish the series? Sure they're funny but they're absolutely grim. There's a vein of real disgust for the universe and human condition specifically all throughout.

[Anonymous No.20940618]

>>20940116
If you stop reading the series after the 2nd book it's actually a pretty happy ending. I agree though. I find that kind of cynicism really obnoxious and boring.

[Anonymous No.20941293]

This is good clean escapist science fiction.

A lot of it was in the 40s-60s before writers started in on hard drugs, pedophilia and noticing we live in a declining civilization.

[Anonymous No.20942460]

>>20935163
fixed that for ya

[Anonymous No.20943687]

What about Robert Heinlein's works? I don't remeber much of his work being grim or pessimistic