Why I write sci-fi (and fiction in general)

Everybody’s offended.  Everybody’s right.  Everyone’s opinion is the most correct, most virtuous one.  If you don’t agree with me, you’re a horrible, evil person.  The world will end soon.  The daily grind will crush our souls and kill us all.  Etc Etc.

I write and read books because I want to escape from the shenanigans of the world around me.  I want to envision a place where people stop making up stupid things to fight about, more reasons to divide ourselves from each other, and get on with life.  I read fiction to escape and nonfiction (currently on a psychology and astrophysics trend) to learn more about the universe we live in.  There are other, much greater problems out there, and my fiction deals with that.  Entertainment media helps us escape from the daily grind, gives us a few moments where we can live in a world that distracts us from the problems -both large and small- that plague us (and will still be around tomorrow anyway).

Using Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry dealt with social issues, using sci-fi stories to trick people into paying attention long enough to deliver the message and a little social commentary.  It’s something I notice Seth MacFarlane is doing with The Orville and love seeing those little nuggets of wisdom tucked cleverly inside an entertaining TV show.

My message is simpler: stop screwing around with things that shouldn’t be an issue, and worry about rampaging alien conquerors, corrupt government, and galaxy-spanning criminal enterprises.

I’ll live my life, you live yours.  Maybe we can talk like civil folk and learn more about each other and why we have our unique opinions on the various issues of the day.  We may not agree on everything, but we can still be pals, can’t we?