Science Fiction Profundity
Science fiction is a great genre for making profound statements. And many of these profound statements are made through the elastic power of metaphor. Put the right words together to create a metaphorical image and situate it within the cosmos and everything sort of sounds profound. Just don’t dig too deeply for meaning:
“Life was the most dangerous thing there was.”
When Nightmares Become Real
Science fiction is one of the most nightmarish of literary genres. When it is done right, any rate. Whether it is an alien popping out of a stomach or just the long and winding road to from earth to Jupiter, the vast expanse and all its mysteries out there promises the stuff dreams are made on. But not all dreams are of the kind one wishes to come true, right? Imagery is perhaps no more effective in science fiction than in those moments when dreams turn into nightmares:
“Kira didn’t wait. She loosed a yell and jumped after the creature. With one hand, she stabbed out toward it, and the Soft Blade complied by impaling the sore-covered nightmare with a triangular blade that then sprouted a pincushion of black needles.
The creature squealed, thrashed, and went limp.
With her other hand, Kira stabbed the next nightmare in line and killed it in the same fashion.”
The Hardware
Of course, the other end of that spectrum is the stuff one does dream of with the hope of it coming true. Science fiction can be dark, but it is inherently an optimistic genre. Or, at least, futuristic space-traveling science fiction is. After all, it promises a future of exploration and getting closer to the vastness of the cosmic consciousness, right?
“An emerald ship sailed through the darkness, a tiny gleaming dot, lost within the immensity of space. No other vessel accompanied it, no guards or companions or watchful machines. It was alone among the firmament, and all was quiet.”
The End
It is the rare novel that can come to a conclusion which effectively sets up a sequel while avoiding the non-ending inherent in a story that continues and do so on a pitch-perfect bit note of imagery. Because one needs to know so much of what happens before the almost-last line, this is not really a spoiler, but is a demonstration of success in attaining that rare achievement:
“Within the lonely ship, within the emerald cocoon and the swaddling flesh, there lay a woman. And though her eyes were closed and her skin was blue, and though her blood was ice and her heart was still—though all of that, a smile appeared upon her face.”
