Sci-Fi : Forum : Science Faction


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Science Faction

3 Weeks Ago


I just finished listening to 'Project Hail Mary' by Andy Weir. It's a great story, much better than 'Artemis'. More 'page turnable' like The Martian. But what struck me was the amount of science in it. Arthur C. Clarke said that Science Fiction can't be SF without science. That being said, I don't think there's anything wrong with a drop of Science Fantasy here and there (for Hollywood, it's mostly there!). But in Hail Mary I was struck by just how much science fact was in there. it was almost a science lesson from start to finish. 
I love learning things whilst reading. Neal Stephenson is great at this ('Snow Crash', or 'Cryptonomicon' for example). But I have to admit, in 'Hail Mary' it did feel like it was getting in the way of a fantastic story at times. Stephenson knows when to dial back the science fact so that the science fiction can shine. Weir, I think, needs to learn this skill. Clarke and Asimov (but not Heinlein so much IMO) dropped science in when they needed it, classically Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics). 
So: more fiction, less faction please.