Why I don't like Post-Apocalyptic dystopias - and one I do.
Let me clarify. As a reader, I don't care for post-apocalyptic fiction. (Disclaimer: This doesn't mean I'll never write any.) I've trying to figure out why not.
Firstly, of course, it tends to be depressing. It gets old reading about the world going to hell (or gone to hell) in the latest fashionable way. It used to be nuclear warfare; then world-gobbling plagues, natural or iatrogenic or of the nature of biological warfare; and of course the ecological disaster, including climate change impacts on the North Atlantic Current and knock-on effects from that.
Second, and this is often related to the genesis of the particular dystopia, many of them are strong on Message. They comment on matters of current relevance in ways that might be done better - and more carefully - in an essay or an article.
Third, they feel rather elitist. The underlying trope for the post-apocalytic world is usually how the western world has ceased to function and how dangerous/ scary/ deprived life has become. But this is real life for people in many parts of the world. Their apocalypse is now. Of course, they also are unlikely to read apocalypse fiction, which is addressed to people who are very comfortable and describes for their entertainment how it could be very uncomfortable.
So there it is. I've read some stories in this genre that I enjoyed. (Edited: An awesome one just showed up in Strange Horizons. It's by my Clarion classmate Ramsey Shehadeh: Jimmy's Roadside Cafe.)
But in the main, I'd rather read the non-fiction versions.
Firstly, of course, it tends to be depressing. It gets old reading about the world going to hell (or gone to hell) in the latest fashionable way. It used to be nuclear warfare; then world-gobbling plagues, natural or iatrogenic or of the nature of biological warfare; and of course the ecological disaster, including climate change impacts on the North Atlantic Current and knock-on effects from that.
Second, and this is often related to the genesis of the particular dystopia, many of them are strong on Message. They comment on matters of current relevance in ways that might be done better - and more carefully - in an essay or an article.
Third, they feel rather elitist. The underlying trope for the post-apocalytic world is usually how the western world has ceased to function and how dangerous/ scary/ deprived life has become. But this is real life for people in many parts of the world. Their apocalypse is now. Of course, they also are unlikely to read apocalypse fiction, which is addressed to people who are very comfortable and describes for their entertainment how it could be very uncomfortable.
So there it is. I've read some stories in this genre that I enjoyed. (Edited: An awesome one just showed up in Strange Horizons. It's by my Clarion classmate Ramsey Shehadeh: Jimmy's Roadside Cafe.)
But in the main, I'd rather read the non-fiction versions.