Guest Tam Linsey: Science Fiction Romance – A Ball in Both Courts

I playfully claim to write post-apocalyptic dystopian science fiction romance. The description is spot on, if a bit overwhelming. I could go on and on about the subgenres, but today I’d like to focus on science fiction versus romance.

Science fiction is about possible futures: humanity has reached the stars, or aliens have arrived (with their advanced technology,) or our genome has evolved to include paranormal abilities. In science fiction, readers may not care about getting inside characters’ heads, but the events must be plausible. Genetic mutation must explain superpowers, and the laws of physics had better apply to a spacecraft leaving orbit. Sci-fi fans don’t always expect a happy ending, as long as the facts behind the science add up.

Romance, on the other hand, is all about characters in a relationship and the emotional changes they undergo. The last thing the hero and heroine want is to fall in love, yet readers know that is exactly what the characters are going to do. Regardless of whether or not the physics of the warp-drive are explained, the story had better explore the angst of a heroine who kept the birth of her baby from its father, or the self-sacrifice of a hero who would die for his one true love. In romance, emotions need to rule the story. In addition, the story has a guaranteed happy ending.

To satisfy both types of readers, science fiction romance must meticulously incorporate enough science to explain the world, and enough psychological introspection to validate a character’s emotional changes. Yet, it must also resist overwhelming readers with too much of either aspect.

In Botanicaust, genetically engineered weeds have wiped out Earth’s croplands, and the world is no longer hospitable to human life. The heroine is a doctor with green, photosynthetic skin who believes humanity must accept genetic modification in order to survive. The hero comes from a remnant farming community where they believe anyone who has accepted modification is damned to Hell. Who would think they might fall in love? Science is the main source of tension between the lovers, which in turn mimics the conflict between their cultures, creating a rich and deeply emotional plot for fans of both science fiction and romance. But I didn’t include every scientific fact I discovered. I condensed the information into a few salient points about each character – like giving the villain a skin disease caused by his chloroplasts. 

Science fiction romance is a growing genre, and there are many great books that successfully incorporate scientific plausibility with a satisfying emotional experience. If you read romance, how important to you are facts? For science fiction readers, how important to you is developing a character relationship?

TAM LINSEY

Tam Linsey lives in Alaska with her husband and two children. In spite of the rigors of the High North, she grows, hunts, or fishes for much of her family’s food. During the long Alaskan winters she writes speculative fiction. You can find her at www.tamlinsey.com or on Facebook or Twitter

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The only crop left ... is human

 

After genetically altered weeds devastate Earth's croplands, much of humanity turns to cannibalism to survive. Dr. Tula Macoby believes photosynthetic skin can save the human race, and her people single-mindedly embark on a mission to convert the cannibals roaming what's left of Earth. But when Levi, a peaceful stranger, refuses alteration, Tula doesn't think the only options should be conversion or death.
 

Levi Kraybill, a devout member of the Old Order, left his Holdout farmland to seek a cure for his terminally ill son. Genetic manipulation is a sin, but Levi will do almost anything for the life of his child. When he's captured, he's sure he's damned, and his only escape will be death.

What's in YOUR Food?

by Tam Linsey

When asked to share my passion, I didn't have to think long about my "soapbox." I love to garden, I love to cook, and I love to eat. My novel, Botanicaust, is about about a future world where these things are taken away. Taken by a rogue genetic manipulation (GMO) that devastates food crops across the globe, and leaves humanity struggling for survival.

You might think this means I am anti-genetically modified organisms. I'm not. I think this kind of science has huge potential. But as the saying goes, "with great power comes great responsibility." Don't rush releasing new organisms into the biosystem. Test it and then have someone else test it again. (And NOT the company that stands to make money from the item in question.) This is an area I think government really needs to take a strong hand.

Right now, if you live in the United States, you are probably eating genetically modified organisms. It is in nearly anything that has corn or soybean based additives. That's nearly everything processed.

And they don't know the long term effects of eating these items. Some evidence points to real problems. Since the late 1990's, food allergies have risen drastically. Just like exposure to sunlight takes years to develop cancer, exposure to the new genetic structure in our foods could take years to manifest. But current regulations allow such crops into the food chain after less than a handful of years of development and testing.


And companies are not required to tell you about it.

The only way to be fairly certain you are not eating GMO's is to buy only organic. And even then there could be contamination.

Now there may be readers out there shaking their heads who don't believe any of the potential dangers. And that's all right. They can believe what they want, eat what they want. But I deserve to eat what I want, too. I deserve to know what I am eating. I deserve a choice. If you think you deserve a choice, too, I encourage you to go to Just Label It right now and tell Congress we want to require companies to provide full disclosure about what they put in our food.

And thanks for listening to my soapbox.

© Tam Linsey, 2011. All rights reserved.