How to Read Safely in a Science-Fiction Universe by Prerna Chaudhary

“Dune’s” 2021 movie release has made some of us naively turn to it as an introductory novel into the world of science-fiction. This has inevitably scared us away to make us feel like, hey maybe I’m not built for this? The novel is equally impactful as intimidating, but that doesn’t mean sci-fi is worth giving up on.

I like to think of sci-fi as a spectrum where we have “Dune” on one side, which is in a world I can barely recognize (even with its allegories). And on the other side we have shows like “Black Mirror,” falling under the category of speculative fiction. These stories are set in a world where I can see myself reflected using a new piece of technology or unusual system.

illustration by Jessica Lyle

According to MasterClass, “Margaret Atwood defines speculative fiction as literature that deals with possibilities in a society which have not yet been enacted but are latent.” With this broad definition that includes sci-fi under its umbrella, we can get into the first recommendation:

“Children of the New World” by Alexander Weinstein

Sci-fi is a genre that lends itself to world building, yet some of my favorite stories begin with a world seemingly similar to ours. “Children of the New World” by Alexander Weinstein falls much closer to the “Black Mirror” style that is easier to understand than “Dune’s” style, but has its peculiarities.

The short story anthology format is scifi beginner friendly while still keeping you engaged, and if you don’t like one of the stories, just skip to a new chapter! A well known short story from this collection is “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” an exploration of the evolving definition of family. It has been turned into a movie distributed by A24 in North America, so it has that artsy stamp of approval as well as my own. I don’t want to give anything away because the shock factor is one of the best parts of sci-fi. If I were you, I’d go in blind. If you find yourself confused at any point, however, just pull up a review article that summarizes the story in the beginning to better understand it.

Getting to know a world you’ve never been to is daring, so internet breakdowns can serve as helpful reading guides – SparkNotes isn’t just for catching up on assignments!

The other stories I recommend from this collection are “The Cartographers” and “Ice Age,” which can be best summarized by this quote from the inside flap of the cover:

Weinstein is a visionary new voice in speculative fiction for all of us who are fascinated by and terrified of what we might find on the horizon.

Sci-fi is so powerful because it uses futuristic technology and far off universes, to get varying perspectives on the human condition and reflect back on our own world.

“The Emissary”/“Last Children of Tokyo” by Yoko Tawada

This Akutagawa Prize winning book verges on the subtler side of the sci-fi spectrum. Yoko Tawada created a dystopian post-apocalyptic world where Japan has cut itself off from the rest of the world and shows how adults who are living well into their hundreds are taking care of their physically fragile but mentally wise great grand kids. The generations in between them have been wiped and we get to grow with the great grandfather, uncovering what he remembers and misses of the old world. Capitalism and others’ perceptions of you in relation to your social status objectively make the best sci-fi stories.

“Convenience Store Woman” by Sayaka Murata “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine” by Girl Honeyman “Exciting Times” by Naoise Dolan

While these books are not technically sci-fi, they provide commentary on things many people consider normal that make social interactions frictionless, but when removed from context, they can seem very odd and confusing to people from different cultures or people that don’t consider themselves part of the mainstream.

All three of these books are about women who question the expectations society places on them and how other people react when they do and don’t conform. If you want an introduction to speculative fiction and the deconstruction of “normal” according to sci-fi writers, then these are the books for you.

“Interior Chinatown” by Charles Yu

Writer Charles Yu has a line up of books and TV writing credits that range from “oh I get to this” to “hold up I need someone to explain this to me.” But here’s where to start: “Interior Chinatown” is much like the world we live in, but written in a screenplay format. The Concord Insider calls “Interior Chinatown” a work of “metafiction, meaning that it is structured self-consciously, in a way that calls attention to its constructed-ness.” Take the name: “interior” is what you write for a scene in a screenplay and the location is “Chinatown.” He names people with the roles they play on a Hollywood screen, like generic Asian man, or confused old Asian man or young Asian woman.

Blurring the lines between reality and memories or consumed media is a popular trope in speculative fiction and this happens in the “Dune” movie, too. This is also being turned into a Hulu show through A24. I hope my free student Hulu subscription doesn’t end by the time it comes out.

The Sci-Fi Spectrum

Illustration by Jessica Lyle

“How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe” by Charles Yu

“Safe” is not the word I’d use to describe how I felt when I read this book. This novel is about a father-son relationship, memory mixing and convoluted time jumping. It can make your head spin, and I didn’t get everything, but that’s a part of the reading sci-fi journey. Just take it slow, reread and even take notes to keep track of rules and characters.

“1984” by George Orwell

Arguably, “1984” has stayed just as relevant as “Dune” in 2022. Orwell’s novel introduces readers to the vocabulary of its world, which is good practice for “Dune” since it has an entire appendix. Like “Dune,” it also has a social hierarchy which is crucial to keep track of in order to follow the complex storyline. All of this is happening during a revolution! It shares themes with “Dune” about colonialism and allegories about war, so this will certainly prepare you to read high concept sci-fi. It follows a stream of consciousness format that is breaking down the world around the narrator as we get to know it, so while there is a lot going on, it’s approachable.

TBR: “The School for Good Mothers” By Jessamine Chan “Severance” by Ling Ma “100 Years of Solitude” By Gabriel García Márquez “Dune” by Frank Herbert

Last year, I decided to pick up “Dune” to get a feel of the story before watching the movie. Not having read a sci-fi novel for many years, I was not ready for the extensive characters, phrases and social structure. But soon, I’m going to try again. I am determined to read it because I’d like to see for myself if it is as revolutionary to the sci-fi genre as people say to expand my understanding of the possibilities of our experiences to reflect on them.