A long time ago in a galaxy not too far away... I was a huge science fiction fan and constantly found myself deep diving into classic sci-fi to get a certain fix — get my brain thinking critically about our current world and how it could evolve. Little did I know this was the beginnings of my love for fiction that takes place within the constructs of our current world but has further advanced current technologies over time to a point where we must rethink our ethics regarding technology. In this post, I'll introduce you guys to the idea of this kind of science fiction, some of my favorite key titles in the genre, and The Chimera Code by Wayne Santos, which takes place in a world not too unfamiliar. I received a digital Advanced Reader’s Copy (e-ARC) of The Chimera Code from the publisher, Solaris, and Caffeine Book Tours as part of my participation of this tour. If you would like to read more reviews of The Chimera Code as part of the #ChimeraCodeTour, click here for a helpful and handy Twitter thread. You can also peruse the #ChimeraCodeTour tag on Twitter and Instagram for more content. Ethics... why should I care?To a degree, all of the stories we know and love come with experiences, facets, and commentary based off of life as we know it. After all, our fellow humans (shared experiences or not) are writing these stories, and thus experience a life not too far flung from our own. I believe the best fantasy has its roots in problems we see today. Strong examples exist in high fantasy books like The Never-Tilting World duology by Rin Chupeco (an allegory for the climate crisis) and The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (depicts events from the Sino-Japanese war with criticism of colorism, westernization, and genocide). Despite taking place in a world unlike our own, the reader can very obviously see key features that force us to reflect on our own current state. Science fiction is one of the best genres for making commentary and building off of current human experience. Innovations in science have been utilized in science fiction since the late 1800's, when books like The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells terrified us with the thought of an alien species coming to visit us. Science fiction has also made great commentary on the ethics concerning these innovations as humans become more inventive and efficient, but also bring around technologies that could have deadly costs. While we currently think ourselves immune to these issues, there's a good chance we're going to have to start thinking about the ethics and issues surrounding advancing science and technology quite soon. Some suggested titles to start with
Where is sci-fi now?
Synopsis: "Neuromancer for a non-binary age: an action-packed techno-thriller with a side of magical realism. Everything’s for hire – even magic. But when they’re hired by a virtual construct to destroy the other copies of himself, and the down payment is a new magical skill, Cloke knows this job is going to be a league harder than anything they’ve ever done." Like the aforementioned titles, The Chimera Code imagines a world not too unlike our own (with a heavy sprinkling of magic), but with the expected twist that our current technology and society has advanced far past what we know today.
I hope you check out all the titles I mentioned if you haven't already! I believe reading is a powerful act that not only expands our world scope, but also gets us to think about our own world, and how we need to take care when it comes to the advancement of humankind.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Shealea & Caffeine Book Tours for selecting me for part of this tour. It was my first book tour, and such an amazing experience! If you'd like to chat with me about the book at all, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or Instagram.
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hi, i'm mari, and i'm a STEM grad student, i watch baseball, and i read... a lot of books. i hope you learn some-thing new while you're here!
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