I’m a bit tired of so much of science fiction being dystopic. As if I need more of that with all the news about wars, climate change and whatnot IRL. In this day and age a little optimism wouldn’t hurt.
I’m looking for books set in a (near or far) future where we’ve actually solved some of the major problems with technology, co-operation or whatever, and not everything is dark and depressing. Like the TV show *For All Mankind* or *Star Trek* (the older shows at least). Of course conflict is a part of a good story, I just want something set in a brighter (even utopian) future. Thanks.
by Mental-Reaction5749
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Psalm for the Wild Built – It’s about a future society where humanity has overcome it’s destructive relationship with technology and lives more in harmony with nature. There are sentient robots left over from the industrial age that live outside human society, the main character meets a robot and they try to learn more about each other’s way of life.
The “Daughters of a Coral Dawn” trilogy by Katharine V. Forrest has the energy of a Star Trek:TOS episode. Like, if Kirk and Spock encountered a planet full of lesbians, this is what I imagine their back story would be. As a disclaimer, it’s a bit too cheesy to be really ‘good’, but it’s unapologetically optimistic about what women can do if they work together. The third book even manages to address splits between generations of queer women in a way that feels hopeful.
Suzette Haden Elgin’s “Native Tongue” trilogy cycles through some dystopias, but is ultimately hopeful to the point of being utopian, IMO. SHE was a linguist, and she created a whole conlang for it, to help people express their emotions better. She was a big believer in the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Anyways, it’s about a sexist world where specialized linguists are responsible for communication with aliens, and some female linguists decide to invent a secret language to express their experience of the world.
For short stories, “Octavia’s Brood” is an anthology of social justice-inspired stories, many of which have a hopeful bent. “Buffalo Is the New Buffalo” by Chelsea Vowel is a collection of Metis futurism stories, and while they have dark sides, the tone is overall about making space for indigenous people in the world, which is good vibes IMO.
EDIT- I’d also add that I think there’s a hopeful bent to Ann Leckie’s “Imperial Radch” universe from her “Ancillary Justice” series and “Providence”. The civilizations are massively flawed, its true. But there’s a consistent theme of humans with good intentions, trying their best, within those civilizations. The CHARACTERS feel hopeful, to me.
Iain M. Banks’ Culture series.
Here’s his description of what it’s all about: http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/cultnote.htm