In this ongoing series, we ask SF/F authors to describe a specialty in their lives that has nothing (or very little) to do with writing. Join us as we discover what draws authors to their various hobbies, how they fit into their daily lives, and how and they inform the author’s literary identity!
I have long had a fascination for First Contact novels, films and stories. I have probably read every English-language First Contact novel published. I am an inveterate Trekker (one of the kindest takes on First Contact there is), and I’ve seen angles on the theme ranging from the hard-science approach (Sagan’s Contact, Clarke’s Ramas series, Pournelle and Niven’s Moties series) to the sociological (McDevitt’s Thunderbird, Patrick Tilley’s seminal Fade Out) to the way-out-there (Zelazny’s Doorways in the Sand).
A few years back I started doing the research for my Willful Child series (no, really, there was research!). The first thing I needed to sort out was how to subvert the Star Trek take on First Contact (you see, it occurred to me that, unlike the enlightened humanists who found themselves face to face with Vulcans, a more realistic approach would be to assume that the inmates in charge of the asylum that is present day civilization would be the same inmates in charge of the asylum on the day the aliens arrive, and all we’d see is a fractal expansion of our collective idiocy. Granted, I was aiming at a satirical take on this, but even so….)
Anyway, this led me into my new hobby here at Wingnut Central. Needing to people the future for Willful Child, I went in search of UFO sightings and related conspiracy theories. Did you know there’s a lot of them out there? In fact, according to quite a few of these theories, we’re already in contact with aliens. We already have bases on Mars. There are ruins on the Moon and extraction plants on the dark side. We have a space fleet. The little greys work for the big greys and on Friday nights they get their kicks probing anuses. We’re being genetically manipulated. We’ve been genetically manipulated. Aliens visited, are visiting, and will really visit in the near future. Governments know stuff and they’re not telling. NASA knows stuff, too. Whistleblowers spill all and then mysteriously die or just disappear. Professional debunkers troll all the sites. (I assume they’re professionals, since why would any disbeliever spend all that time debunking stuff to people who don’t believe anything they say in the first place? Is it an ego thing [“I’m rational and smart and you’re all idiots”], or is the perpetual sneer the only reward they require? Do tell, interested minds want to know. Because, like, if you’re professional, who’s paying you? {American Skeptics Syndicate, isn’t it? That’s my guess. You’re an ASS.})
Where do I stand in all of this? That’s the great thing. I don’t stand anywhere. My curiosity, as insatiable as it is, remains firmly unattached. That said, these new predilections worry my wife. They make my son roll his eyes. Behind my back, friends are conspiring to do an intervention. Probably late at night, with a sack over my head and psionic stunners, and I’ll wake up in some West Coast rainforest with no memory, and strangers in the dark angling their flashlights everywhere but on the path they happen to be walking. I’ll have to run. Even disappear.
Conspiracies are wonderful, the best thing ever. Their only flaw is in the assumption of extraordinary efficacy in governments and their ability to (a) organize; (b) stay organized; (c) keep a secret; (d) keep keeping a secret; (e) decide to do things; (f) get things done; and (g) represent our interests. They can’t. They don’t. In fact, if you think about it, it’s in our interests (we, the people) to get this damned First Contact done with, so we can get on with the show. Conversely, it’s in the interests of the ones in power to block every effort at First Contact, so they can get on with the show. And therein lies the crux—the fertile core of every conspiracy out there.
People wanting to maintain the status quo to hold onto their power, wealth, etc., against people who want it all taken down, blown apart, the guilty punished, and a new paradigm established on the basis of equality and justice.
You see, from this angle, who can blame the conspiracists? More power to ’em, I say.
As for those professional debunkers, WTF’s wrong with you?
PS: NASA, stop smudging those Mars pics, will you? I get better pics on my vintage 2.3 Mb phone cam, circa 2001. I mean, really guys, what do you take us for? Oh, and I tried driving around off-road with two of those phone cameras strapped to my eyes and take it from me, you can’t drive worth shit using those things. I know you’re not using crap technology on those rovers, so what’s the deal?
Hobbies. Hobbies are good for the soul.
Top image from The X-Files
Steven Erikson is an archaeologist and anthropologist and a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His New York Times bestselling Malazan Book of the Fallen has met with widespread acclaim and established him as a major voice in fantasy fiction. He lives in Canada.
If I wanted to dip my toe into these waters, where would be a good place to start? :D
Seriously.
Because now I’m actually curious too :D
I always love when your biographical statement ends with, “and he lives in Canada.” Like that explains everything you write. ‘There, there boys, little Stevie lives up there, you understand, so you’ll have to excuse him.’ Though this is the first time it may fit. ;)
Twentieth Century UFOology is a fascinating study. In Right Where You Are Sitting Now, Robert Anton Wilson makes the point that it’s part of a truly alternative culture, one that shades into Illuminatus! conspiracy theories and far-right loons, etc.
It makes a good basis for truly far-out fiction, though. You don’t need to make this stuff up – all you need to do is pick and choose.
As for “what’s wrong with me”, I’m a sturdy fan of debunking irrationality as a stand against its anti-life traits. Unless you want to go completely Rousseau on the noble savage argument, figuring out the rules of the universe and acknowledging them as abiding is always going to be a step forward. I don’t mind speculation where there’s unknowns in the equation, but I object to certainty based on no sure evidence. It is very nice to be credible and open-minded, but it is very bad to give all your money to one of these Nigerian fellows who just needs a bit of help to share his massive inheritance with you, Mr. Random Stranger.
I’m endlessly entertained by rationalwiki.org, which has insightful things to say about first contact and a host of other intriguing topics.
@steven Erikson – if you read these comments: Have you read Blindsight, by Peter Watts (who also lives in Canada ;) ). Best First Contact book I ever read, just curious how you feel about it.
(My mind always links the two of you because you both made proto-humans who should have been long extinct into much more interesting versions of horror-movie clichés. You took the zombies, he the vampires.)
cecrow: I see a lot of debunking going on at sites exploring archaeology, so I take that as my guide-post. But here’s the thing. As an archaeologist, I saw from inside the discipline how dogmatic it is, and in fact, I saw how entrenched ideas held onto by established academia would go so far in defending those positions as to ruin careers of young archaeologists who dared challenge the accepted status quo. One of the clearest examples lingers to this day: the Clovis First crowd, who basically assert that the Clovis Culture were the first inhabitants of the New World, despite reams of evidence to contrary. Arguments against the new evidence ranged from ‘wrong experts’ to ‘incompetent excavators’ to outright racism. So, perhaps unlike you, my skepticism is with established positions, since so often they are nothing more than turf-defending that has nothing to do with rationality or facts; and all too often I see the skeptical stance taken in order to undermine revolutionary discoveries (see the ‘Hobbit’ debacle which continues to this day). That’s what makes me skeptical of skeptics.
Cassane: Yes indeed I’ve read Peter Watts and yes, amazing writing. Alas, of late, I have grown depressed at just how oppressive, dystopic and nihilistic so many SF novels have become, and the sequel to Blindsight made me want to top myself. Present SF writers, being the visionaries that they are, are showing us a seriously miserable future. It’d be nice to see optimism offered us for a change, don’t you think?
Read Thomas Kuhn’s “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”. He explains that often a new scientific view doesn’t convince the old scientists, it becomes the new paradigm when young scientists accept the new view and those who cling to the old view die.
Zdrakec, You should check out http://www.contactinthedesert.com. It’s the biggest UFO/Lost Civilizations convention in the world (USA Today calls it “The Woodstock of UFOs). 40 of the best and most serious researchers/authors in the field (no crackpots!) are presenting there June 3-6. Just tooling around the website to the different speakers’ profile pages will give you a good start.
Steven: most sciences have hidebound reactionaries who block progress; since I haven’t studied archeology seriously, I can’t argue that yours are no worse than others (although I note that (informal?) archeology also has its share of … interesting … views). But I think you’re being way too hard on skeptics, professional or otherwise; at least in the U.S., getting people to think rationally is an ongoing struggle. (I’d make analogies to current politics, but that could lead to serious thread drift.) It’s arguable that failing to do this, rather than any lack of training in mechanical skills, is the big flaw in U.S. education. I’m sure there are debunkers working solely for a feeling of superiority, but a lot of them are just trying to get people to confine their magical thinking to their fiction.