Recent Political Science Fiction

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2008-01-26 10:19am

There have been many examples of political science fiction, with the likes of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four and a whole slew of other stories dealing with dystopias. There have been many stories dealing with utopia as well. There are alternate-history stories (RAR!), you've got Heinlein's shtick in Starship Troopers and Verhoven's parody of said shtick (not to mention Verhoven's Robocop). But these stories seem to have been written in the distant past and dealt with the realities of their era.

I'm wonder, have there been any recent science-fiction novels or stories dealing with all the utter crap going on in our day and age? Or has Orwell basically summed up all of our woes, past, present and future, with Nineteen Eighty Four (Orwellian! *fapfap*)?

Zixinus · Post by **Zixinus** » 2008-01-26 02:23pm

From what I hear, there is no real similar type of authors. Less clear political climate in the world I guess.

Gullible Jones · Post by **Gullible Jones** » 2008-01-26 04:29pm

Glasshouse? It's definitely more "SF" than "political", but it's still "political SF".

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2008-01-26 04:29pm

Jennifer Government of Nationstates has a super libertarian society where the Police contract out to the NRA, and you get investigations if you can pay for it.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2008-01-26 07:31pm

The Sten books deal a lot with politics. Especially how people will accept dictatorship if also given the illusion of democracy.

Dune also gets pretty heavy into politics in the first few books.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2008-01-26 07:37pm

Orson Scott Card published the godawful 'Empire', in which the EVIL LIEBRALS use mathematics to defeat the heroes.

You can't make this shit up.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2008-01-26 07:52pm

Freehold by Michael Z. Williamson is basically a soapbox for the author to preach libertarianism. You can read it for free at the Baen Library. BTW, it's awful.

Battlehymn Republic · Post by **Battlehymn Republic** » 2008-01-26 08:15pm

Wikipedia wrote:Empire is not an original Orson Scott Card project, but rather stems from the development of the Empire video game. The game is being developed by the brothers Donald and Geremy Mustard, founders of the newly formed Chair Entertainment Group development studio and the original founders of GlyphX Games, which is developing the Advent Rising trilogy. Card was contacted by Donald Mustard and offered the chance to develop the game's storyline as well as a novel to set the series into action.

It still sounds dumb. Shame about Advent Rising, though.

Gullible Jones · Post by **Gullible Jones** » 2008-01-26 08:35pm

For stuff involving Libertarianism, Beggars in Spain is actually pretty good, although the Freudianism is rather dated and Kress sometimes takes cheap emotional shots.

(Nancy Kress apparently is a Libertarian, but she seems to be capable of viewing her own political beliefs in a critical light.)

Cpl Kendall wrote: Freehold by Michael Z. Williamson is basically a soapbox for the author to preach libertarianism. You can read it for free at the Baen Library. BTW, it's awful.

Wait till you see The Weapon, then. About half of it is available online, and IMHO it makes a good case for Williamson being psychotic.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2008-01-26 10:57pm

Gullible Jones wrote:
Cpl Kendall wrote: Freehold by Michael Z. Williamson is basically a soapbox for the author to preach libertarianism. You can read it for free at the Baen Library. BTW, it's awful.
Wait till you see The Weapon, then. About half of it is available online, and IMHO it makes a good case for Williamson being psychotic.

Williamson's about as close in politics to a militia member as I've met (although he isn't one). I talk to him online now and then, and he's a decent guy, just with politics that are batshit insane.

Zixinus · Post by **Zixinus** » 2008-01-27 05:13am

Are there SFs out there that DON'T have anything to do with libertarism? So far, it seems that most political SFs are just soapboxes to preach.

Zixinus · Post by **Zixinus** » 2008-01-27 05:14am

EDIT: RECENT political soapboxes.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2008-01-27 06:57am

Gullible Jones wrote:
Wait till you see The Weapon, then. About half of it is available online, and IMHO it makes a good case for Williamson being psychotic.

Is that the one where they rape SF troops during training? Fuck that shit.

Gullible Jones · Post by **Gullible Jones** » 2008-01-27 12:49pm

They don't rape the troops (at least not as far as we're shown), but the protagonist gets crucified as part of the "interrogation resistance training" IIRC. At the very least, the fact that such methods actually work in the novel indicates that Williamson does not understand the limitations of human soldiers - which is rather astonishing given how long he's been in the military.

speaker-to-trolls · Post by **speaker-to-trolls** » 2008-01-27 01:22pm

All Richard Morgans books have a pretty big political bent, along with massive amounts of violence. I think it's worth pointing to Market Forces in particular because it contrasts with the other books mentioned by being decidedly anti libertarian.

Gullible Jones · Post by **Gullible Jones** » 2008-01-27 02:57pm

Umm, Glasshouse is not pro-Libertarian.

Axiomatic · Post by **Axiomatic** » 2008-01-27 03:19pm

SirNitram wrote:Orson Scott Card published the godawful 'Empire', in which the EVIL LIEBRALS use mathematics to defeat the heroes.

You can't make this shit up.

Well, that and their liberal giant spider robots, if I recall correctly.

Academia Nut · Post by **Academia Nut** » 2008-01-27 04:36pm

Question: are there any sci-fi stories out there where the liberals are the good guys? Because this godless, commie Canadian would like to see something that isn't some sort of right wing, libertarian masturbatory fantasy for the author where the lone, valiant <insert stock character here> shows the limp-wristed, pinko traitors how mistaken they truly are.

I nearly wretched when in one of John Ringo's books they had characters thousands of years in the future talking about the history of the War on Terror and why it was successful and a good thing. I don't even care what your politics are, doing something like that with current events, especially controversial ones, is asking to be laughed at later.

Gullible Jones · Post by **Gullible Jones** » 2008-01-27 04:50pm

That's actually kind of a tough one... From what I've seen, liberals seem for the most part to recognize what constitutes wanking of their beliefs (at least on this forum). I can't say I've ever seen the same of conservatives.

(It's a pretty good way of telling which side possesses the most sanity. Another good way is to see which side has more people who advocate killing the other side... But I digress.)

The closest thing I can think of to what you're talking about would be The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner, but that's anything but recent, and it's really more axe-grindy than anything else.

Hmmm... Maybe Kim Stanley Robinson would fit the role of a liberal counterpart to John Ringo?

Gullible Jones · Post by **Gullible Jones** » 2008-01-27 04:56pm

Ghetto edit: ah shit, I thought you were talking about a wankish liberal fantasy, not non-wankish stuff.

Shortie · Post by **Shortie** » 2008-01-27 06:04pm

As speaker said Richard Morgan is about the only one that really springs to mind. Lois Bujold and Iain Banks have fairly left-wing universes, although aren't much on the preaching.

Oh, and China Mieville, though that's more steampunk.

I think that sci-fi authors tends more to conservatism, for various reasons (not that there aren't plenty in the centre).

Gullible Jones · Post by **Gullible Jones** » 2008-01-27 06:08pm

Mieville is a socialist, not a liberal.

(And if you honestly think that SF authors tend towards conservatism, you need to read more SF.)

Academia Nut · Post by **Academia Nut** » 2008-01-27 06:53pm

Oh, I know that SF doesn't tend to lean right, the only thing is that as has been mentioned, a lot of the ones with more overt political overtones tend to follow the libertarian and/or conservative/neoconservative mould, or at least it seems that way because the guys who do that sort of thing tend to be both prolific and obnoxiously loud about it.

What was that line from this forum from years back again? From a thread on "Most ridiculously one sided vs. ever". I believe it was along the lines of "The positive characteristic of a liberal vs. the Honour Harrington universe". Can't quite remember it exactly, and I haven't read those books, but it stuck with me.

Shortie · Post by **Shortie** » 2008-01-28 02:34pm

Gullible Jones wrote:Mieville is a socialist, not a liberal.

(And if you honestly think that SF authors tend towards conservatism, you need to read more SF.)

That's still left wing.

And as I said, there are plenty in the middle, but look, we've hardly come up with any on the left, but you can find right-wing ones all over the place.

Sriad · Post by **Sriad** » 2008-01-28 02:49pm

Glasshouse by Charles Stross is the first novel I thought of as well.

The first summary on Amazon is total shit. Glasshouse has a continuous revelation structure which it spoils in significant ways; don't read it if you haven't yet. The second summary is much better:

In an era of virtual immortality, where computer backups of human consciousness have become as routine as unlimited body modification, Robin is a patient in a rehab clinic for convalescents of voluntary memory erasure. With only scant clues, contained in a letter from his former self, to his previous and possibly espionage-related career, Robin quickly discovers his new identity offers little protection from several would-be assassins. Seizing the chance to evade his pursuers for good, he volunteers for a three-year experiment, devised by history professors, to simulate the "dark ages" of early-twenty-first-century society. As a participant in the guise of a middle-class housewife, Robin initially feels secure but soon suspects the experiment may simply be a clever front for his, or her, enemies. Stross amusingly recasts our own era into one of "meaningless customs" while blending suspenseful action with inventive, futuristic technology.