Blog

As a writer, if you are looking for something difficult to write, it would have to be hard science fiction poetry.

Why? Because I guess you are using both sides of your brain, there’s no lead in, it has to be intelligent and moving. There’s just nowhere to hide. The poetry of hard science fiction is a genre that should be regarded as an elite literary form, as it should be talking about our future in a way that will engage the spirit as well as the mind. There is some of it out there, hosted online by entities like the science fiction poetry association.

When I was writing my novels I put aside thoughts of genre, though I was hoping to be widely read by people who like thrillers and political fiction as well as science fiction. But what I actually wrote was hard science fiction, that is, work based on science and facts. The people who joined me on Twitter and the “also bought” list told the story. I thought this was great – my readers may not be a multitude, but they are intelligent people. So began my swift descent into the world of genre snobbery, a topic I learned a lot more about at a great session at Sydney Writers’ Festival 2013. Panellists Lauren Beukes, Robert Drewe and Luke Davies talked about writing across different genres. Between them they covered novels, poetry, journalism, novellas, scriptwriting, comics, and stuff I’ve probably missed out.

They discussed the gulf between people who read science fiction, which as we all know is the literature of ideas, and people who read literary fiction, which is also very thoughtful. Their observation was that readers of one genre frequently won’t read the other, because one is highbrow and the other is beneath their notice. Lauren Beukes (scifi/fantasy) thought that everybody should just shut up about it and read across genres, because they all have something to offer. Luke Davies (poet, novelist, screenwriter) confided that he was completely elitist about poetry as the highest literary form. This made sense to me, in terms of purity of language and ideas without constraints of plot or characters.

My conclusion is that the highest form of literature is poetic hard science fiction. This sounds almost a contradiction in terms, but I don’t believe that it is. For example, when I wrote my Cyberethics PhD, I felt as though I was trying to construct something very practical and useful, like a chair. The structure had to be solid enough for someone to sit on, so all the “legs” of the the thesis had to be strong. Then I went ahead and wrote my novels, Mindwave and Survival Year, in which I try to show how these ideas will translate to the real world. Then it felt more like town planning. There are two ways to do this too – the strictly practical, or the extra effort that you make to try and make something that will inspire the people who live there, help them live a productive life. If I had been to this session before I started my writing, I would have tried to write poetry as a starting point towards making my books have beauty, something to transcend the form of a science fiction or political thriller genre novel. As writers we need readers of our ideas to be inspired to change the world, not to just read, and then put down their device.

So I will try the ultimate genre – when I’m ready for the challenge!

1. A universal internet vote to enable enhanced global democracy

2. Development of a global internet-mediated collaborative governance plan

3. Respect for human rights

4. Equality under a global legal system

5. Ethical open commerce enabling ecological sustainability and the welfare of all species

6. Outlawing nuclear weapons, and other weapons of mass destruction

7. Freedom of electronic communications guaranteed by a law against spy applications

8. Safeguarding of privacy of electronic communications

9. Collaborative global response in the event of natural disasters and conflicts

10. Collaborative governance for failed states

The term “global citizen” is thrown round by politicians, advertisers, communications companies,just about everyone seeking an inclusive term that sounds important.

But what is a global citizen, really? It is actually a term that carries the weight of our global future. Its principles are considerably more subversive than national politicians would like to think, because it carries the seeds of real global change. If we see ourselves as global citizens, we cannot possibly be happy with the problems we see in our world.

And if we are smart, we can see that change is not only possible, but necessary on a short timeframe. To achieve real change though, we need to set our principles and agree on them. The principles above have developed from the development of the internet and its global reach, international agreements on human rights, and the globally recognised need for our earth to be protected from global warming and environmental devastation.

To be a global citizen is to be a person working in their own way towards a better world. But global citizens need to join together as a community. In my book Survival Year I explore how such a community could work. If you search online, there are many groups of global citizens working to create a better future.

This is a serious endeavour.

Hard Science Fiction Poetry: The Ultimate Genre?

The Ten Principles Of Global Citizenship