On positive sci-fi

While reading the excellent The long way to a small angry planet by Becky Chambers I’ve noticed a trend in my recent reading habit: I prefer sci-fi literature and universes with a positive outlook over dystopian futures and post-apocalyptical deserts. This doesn’t mean that there cannot be bad things happening in such a universe. There are tons of atrocities and wars in the Star Trek universe or the Wayfarer series, for instance. The moral of the main characters, though, is one guides by optimism. Optimism that cooperation is the best way to live together. I also simply live that warm feeling whenever I read stories where people are cooperating to create a better world.

While I appreciate an exciting space battle as much as anyone, there is just nothing that compares to this feeling.

Other examples include The Life Engineered by J-F Dubeau or the Department of Temporal Investigations series by Christopher L. Bennett. Heck, even the Expanse universe thanks to Naomi and James Holden might fall into that category for me, at least to some degree πŸ™‚