Final KQED Perspective

It seems to me that recently, my favorite speculative fiction books are becoming reality.

Speculative fiction is a genre that includes elements from science fiction, fantasy and dystopia, characterized by imagining worlds not so far from the truth.

Driving down to LA this past fall, I saw smoke in the distance from the Malibu fires. I couldn’t see much of the fire, but I smelled the coarse burning scent and my eyes felt rough from the ash. In my car I suddenly felt the presence, the memory, of a speculative fiction novel I had read. In the novel, the valley is plagued with fires set by arsonists addicted to a drug called “pyro”, a symptom of a larger failing of society. The characters flee their homes by foot up the 405, all seven lanes filled with bodies moving north.

This story entered my imagination to such a degree that I confused it with reality. For a moment in my car I thought I really remembered a time, not so long ago, when the 405 was filled with fire refugees on foot. This confusion made me realize just how close to the truth speculative fiction can be. In California today, fire refugees are very real. They may not have fled up the 405 by foot, but they were camped in the living rooms of my friends.

This isn’t the only speculative fiction novel I have confused with reality. Recently, my partner returned from visiting a friend on a tech-company campus. He told me how his visitor badge was his golden ticket, giving him access to three dinners, a haircut, and even car maintenance, all on campus! My imagination drifted to another novel where the elite live in armed, walled corporate compounds, and the commoners outside in the “pleeblands” disintegrate into crime and poverty. “Did you visit your friend’s on-campus apartment-pod?” I wanted to ask. But again, there I was confusing fiction with reality. Or was I? Today, tech-companies are ever increasing worker benefits and reaching their tentacles into real estate and housing.

These stories remind me not to normalize what I see. We need storytellers to shock us into seeing what is already before our eyes. Sometimes it takes speculative fiction to see reality more clearly.