The Red Scholar's Wake

"So, first I wanted to go back to an earlier point I made about this being the first time all six of these authors have been shortlisted for the Clarke Award, which is true but doesn’t mean that they are new to science fiction, or indeed other awards. Aliette is a fantastic author, and one I have long expected to see shortlisted here by the Clarke Award, and the fact she hasn’t been already perhaps speaks more to how much she moves across the breadth of science fiction and fantasy in her work. This book though, as you say, is absolutely all-caps SCIENCE FICTION. It is space opera , with an emphasis on the operatic although it has a very human centre. A convenient criticism of science fiction is that it often sacrifices the human in favour of the grand sweep of ‘big events’ or long explanations of warp drives, worm holes, parallel universes, and the like. I’m not sure those criticisms are based on any science fiction actually being written or read these days, but what a book like The Red Scholar’s Wake tells us more than anything is that science fiction can be fun and thematically serious and well-crafted while easy to lose yourself in all at the same time. If there’s one book on this year’s list that really speaks to the joy of contemporary science fiction, and remind us why we first fell in love with the genre and all its most popular tropes while still being highly original and distinctly voiced, this is that book. This is a great question, and an important one as well, I think, as we consider all of the different modes that science fiction can potentially take. It’s worth noting that before the term science fiction became the popular way to define our field, a previous term was ‘science-‘ or ‘scientific romance’. It’s also worth noting that the term romance had different contextual meanings then as well, so I don’t want to overlabour this point to the err of real sci-fi historians, but no I don’t think it is unusual to see science fiction combining with romance or other genre tropes at all. Science fiction is a vigorously hybrid genre, which perhaps explains its continued success, and is very capable of having its tropes adapt and merge with other narrative approaches. Just think of how many of our classic science fiction narratives are built upon the plots of other genres— for example, detective fiction. Jumping forward to present day, I also think we are seeing something of a trend towards more science fiction books wearing their romance elements on their sleeves (and their cover jackets). For me, this connects with the ongoing diversification of voices writing science fiction and the call from readers, echoed by editors, for stories where they can see themselves represented. This goes beyond romance, of course, but I might suggest a growing interest from readers in stories that are set on the intergalactic stage but where plots are driven by interpersonal considerations and relationships rather than the machinations of evil empires or invading aliens. The message really is that good science fiction is always more than the sum of its component parts!"