{"id":3312,"date":"2021-05-29T21:01:28","date_gmt":"2021-05-30T04:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/?p=3312"},"modified":"2021-05-29T21:53:47","modified_gmt":"2021-05-30T04:53:47","slug":"jl-peridot-enjoying-fictional-science-just-because","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/29\/jl-peridot-enjoying-fictional-science-just-because\/","title":{"rendered":"JL Peridot: Enjoying fictional science, just because"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the years, I\u2019ve often heard that much of what we think of as \u201cscience fiction\u201d tends to be fantasy with a sciencey or technological twist. Now, I don\u2019t know how people feel about this idea, but I personally love it. And I love the fantastical science that comes with it.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t care if it\u2019s lazy science, junk science, handwavium, or a ghost in the machine. I\u2019m not always hungry for a textbook when I pick up fiction. It\u2019s nice when the facts add up, but if there\u2019s a good story in the story I want to read, I will most probably eat my fair share of any-flavoured science and enjoy every bite.<\/p>\n

Come, celebrate some unreal stuff with me…<\/p>\n

Artificial gravity<\/h3>\n

They say the difference between \u201chard scifi\u201d and \u201csoft scifi\u201d is whether the characters walk around their spaceship as if they were on earth. It\u2019s a fun rule of thumb, but I wouldn\u2019t put too much stock in it. \u201cHarder\u201d scifi like The Expanse<\/em> addresses this with magnetic boots that enable a sort-of gravity-affected walking, though you\u2019d still need to drink water out of a bag.<\/p>\n

In my own It Starts With A Kiss<\/em>, I treat artificial gravity like air-conditioning, something you can turn up and down at will, something that can degrade over time. I never go into the science behind it, but I like to imagine we\u2019ve found a way to harness such forces the same way we harness electricity and water\u2014to the point where post-gravity humans take it for granted like every other technology our culture has adopted.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Rotational gravity is the favoured scientifically plausible means of fictional spaceship gravity. Netflix\u2019s Stowaway<\/em> gives us a great example, including some of the quirks and challenges to needing to interact with it. Overall, humankind is still a ways off implementing it the way you\u2019d see it on TV.<\/p>\n

Instant communication across space<\/h3>\n

You know the lag you get when news broadcasters talk to reporters in the field? Communication across light years would be more like that, only worse. But like how popular spells such as Fireball, Magic Missile and Glamour that are accepted in fantasy fiction canon, faster-than-light communication is part of the cultural vocabulary of science-fiction-slash-science-fantasy.<\/p>\n

I barely give this half a thought in my own work, basing my communication hurdles instead on local infrastructure and political conditions. But I love seeing this challenge handled in other works. Like in Orson Scott Card\u2019s Ender\u2019s Game<\/em>, for example, which borrows the term, \u201cansible,\u201d from Ursula K. Le Guin. There\u2019s also The Expanse<\/em>\u2019s tight-beam laser communications technology, which is already an emerging reality thanks to the European Space Agency\u2019s SpaceDataHighway. And who can forget that earlobe business in Mork & Mindy<\/i>?<\/p>\n

\"Robin<\/a><\/p>\n

Conversely, it\u2019s fascinating to see how the challenge isn\u2019t handled, like in the heart-touchingly poetic Voices of a Distant Star<\/em> by Makoto Shinkai, focusing instead on how we communicate from the heart over space and time.<\/p>\n

Teleportation of matter<\/h3>\n

You know the one. It\u2019s the transporter in Star Trek<\/em>, the wormhole in Sliders<\/em>, the jaunte in Alfred Bester\u2019s The Stars My Destination<\/em>. In real life, the closest we\u2019ve got is quantum teleportation, which can\u2019t be used to transport matter, so it looks like we\u2019re stuck with Uber Eats for now.<\/p>\n

I think my favourite incarnation of fictional teleportation is the space-folding in Frank Herbert\u2019s Dune<\/em> universe. Where the previous examples come with a measure of risk, this universe\u2019s space-folding enacts a price on the Guild Navigator, who must consume disfigurative amounts of narcotic spice Melange in order to do it.<\/p>\n

I like that it asks us to consider what we\u2019re willing to sacrifice to send something where it needs to go. As someone who often mails parcels overseas from Australia, I relate very heavily to this.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/oEPe2Il.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

The earth has stopped rotating (lol)<\/h3>\n

One cannot write about junk science without mentioning The Core<\/em>, that 2003 scifi-disaster movie notorious for playing fast and loose with scientific principles.<\/p>\n

When a film gets as ham as this, I love it for a different reason. Ridiculous movies like this one, and Battleship<\/em> and Sharknado<\/em>, play an important role in a divisive, serious world that asks a lot from us each day. They give us something to laugh at together, and remind us not to take ourselves too seriously.<\/p>\n

My friends and I have something new in common after consuming fiction like this, even if it is how willing we are to give into the snark. Even if I never watch it again, I reserve the right to laugh about it with them for the rest of my life. And who doesn\u2019t enjoy having a smug laugh with friends every once in a while?<\/p>\n

\"Shark<\/a><\/p>\n

About JL Peridot<\/strong>
\n\"JLJL Peridot writes love stories and more from her home beneath the southern skies. When not working on her scifi manuscript, she picks up random skills that would be useful in a Martian colony, while attempting to keep cat hair out of her mechanical keyboard.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to JL\u2019s mailing list<\/a> for banter, updates, teasers, and a free copy of her microfiction collection, Love, Nostalgia & Lights in the Sky<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Website: http:\/\/jlperidot.com<\/a>
\nBlog: http:\/\/jayelle.pink<\/a><\/p>\n

Love, Nostalgia & Lights in the Sky<\/em><\/strong>
\nA collection of tiny stories, featuring previously published micro fiction, #vss (very short stories), flash and short poetry by JL Peridot. This book contains adult content of a romantic and sexual nature, and is intended for readers over the age of eighteen.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to JL\u2019s mailing list, Dot Club, for a free copy of this book.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the years, I\u2019ve often heard that much of what we think of as \u201cscience fiction\u201d tends to be fantasy with a sciencey or technological twist. Now, I don\u2019t know how people feel about this idea, but I personally love it. And I love the fantastical science that comes with it. I don\u2019t care if … Continue reading “JL Peridot: Enjoying fictional science, just because”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,3,1],"tags":[1786,1790,1795,453,1799,1798,1741,1789,1785,174,215,1787,1792,1791,1797,1788,1796,1793,1794],"class_list":["post-3312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-information","category-general","category-uncategorized","tag-battleship","tag-dune","tag-enders-game","tag-futuristic","tag-inter-planetary-travel","tag-it-starts-with-a-kiss","tag-jl-peridot","tag-mork-and-mindy","tag-movies","tag-sci-fi","tag-science-fiction","tag-sharknado","tag-sliders","tag-star-trek","tag-stowaway","tag-the-core","tag-the-expanse","tag-the-stars-my-destination","tag-voices-of-a-distant-star"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9wA33-Rq","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3312"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3331,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3312\/revisions\/3331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomadauthors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}