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Hindi kailangang palaging tungkol sa dystopian na hinaharap ang science fiction, malapit man o malayo. Lubos naming na-enjoy ang masinsinang pag-uusap na ito kasama ang may-akda sa likod ng seryeng Monk & Robot at Wayfarers, tinalakay ang pagtakas laban sa paglaban, ang pagiging bayani ng mga ordinaryong tao, ang kahulugan ng natagpuang pamilya, ang pamumuhay laban sa simpleng pag-survive sa science fiction, at kung bakit ang ilang kwento ay hindi talaga kayang i-film.
"Hi Gamereactor friends, this is my last day at the Celsius 232 in Avilés, Asturias, Spain.
And you know, we've met a bunch of authors already, many of them were fantasy authors, so it's a pleasure and it's really nice to talk science fiction for a change."
"So thank you so much for joining us, Becky.
Your work has been mostly described as optimistic, optimistic sci-fi.
So would you say you use that more as escapism or as rebellion?
Oh, I would say it's a healthy mix of both."
"If you pick up my books and all you get, all you get, quote unquote, is an escape, that's good.
That means you are resting, that means you are fueling yourself for whatever it is you've got to tackle next.
Rebellion, however, is definitely a big part of it.
I do write books that show hopeful or positive futures, but it definitely comes from a place of resistance and often anger on my part."
"I think that in a world in which we are faced with so many enormous challenges and with such overwhelming messages from all sides of this is just how it is, nothing's ever going to get better, one of the most powerful things we can do is dig our heels in and say, no, we believe that a better world is still possible.
We believe that everything is subject to change and all you have to do is keep that space open within yourself."
"And I guess that partly answers my next question, which is about the sort of the people, the characters you use.
They are not galaxy saving heroes.
They are more like regular people.
So why do they, you know, attract you more than going for more like the, as I said, the galaxy saving hero?
Is that to connect with what you just said or what else can you tell me about your choice for characters?
So that is very much part and parcel of the same thing, especially when I am writing stories that take place in space, because both in fiction and in reality, we have this perception that space is something that belongs to the elite, right?
Here in the real world, it, you know, we began with the military elite during the space race."
"We've moved on to the intellectual elite, you know, the best of the best.
And now we're in this era of it being the economic elite, the extremely wealthy who have access to the greater cosmos.
The truth of the matter is that space belongs to everyone.
We are all equally part of this enormous, wonderful universe."
"And I think it's important that fiction matches that reality.
If all we're telling our stories about, you know, the extraordinary hero, the one man against the universe, that is furthering the idea that space only belongs to a very, very select portion of us.
I want to tell stories about the rest of us, about the ordinary people who have just as much ownership, just as much of a sense of belonging as anyone else."
"And another element of your works is found family, more so than traditionally structured family.
So what would you say, you know, resonates with you with this choice to sort of connect those characters and connect your stories?
So we are, humans are a deeply social species.
We are an inherently social species."
"And our bonds between each other are not only our greatest strength, they're our most powerful adaptation.
And so if again, this is all pieces of the same idea, right, that none of us can go out there and face reality, can face existence alone, that we are at our very best when we work together.
And for that reason, I tend to shy away from a single protagonist."
"I often prefer to write ensembles or a duo in which we are exploring different perspectives of a shared time and place.
I think that that speaks to both our cooperative nature and our need to continue to be cooperative if we are to build those better futures, to tackle those challenges in a sustainable way.
This interview is already very optimistic. I could use some of this."
"All right, I wanted to ask you about Monk & Robot and another sort of angle you give here, or a question you ask is how we live when all our basic needs have been met.
I think this is very interesting and very fresh.
Do you think science fiction focuses a bit too much on the survival aspect rather than how we would live after all that is met?
I do think there is an imbalance there."
"I think that stories about immediate struggle, immediate survival, dystopian futures, I do think that they serve a role in our cultural conversation about what the future might be.
Those are stories that are not only important for the reader to find catharsis in, but also important for the creator to express their own fears, their own anxieties about things."
"And also they're just exciting stories. We tell those stories for a reason.
But if those are the only stories we're telling, then the future inherently becomes something that we are afraid of, that we know is going to be a place of suffering, of great hardship.
There's nothing in that that makes you eager or excited or even just determined to go out there and face it."
"So my stories often take place after a collapse, in a sort of post-post dystopian sort of way.
Something has happened that has led to a need for enormous change, and here is what that looks like.
I try hard not to paint societies that are perfect, that are just sort of perpetually in motion.
They are things that need active work."
"But I believe it's crucial for us to have something more than just pure animal survival to strive for.
We need to know what is going to make the struggle worth it, and that is what I try to portray.
Fantastic. And finally, some of your fans say your work is unfilmable.
Do you see that? Perhaps it's too internal, too personal, and it's too character-driven to put it into an adaptation."
"Do you see that as a limitation, or do you just rather think that those stories belong to books?
I think that my medium is writing, and so that is what I embrace.
And I am constantly experimenting with structure, with form, with all of these things.
My concern is not how these things are adapted."
"My concern is writing the best book that I can at the time.
Now, if someone wants to pick that up and run with it, I would love to see it.
And I think it would be a really cool challenge to see somebody tackle that stuff.
But I write books, and I'm content there."
"And if you had to choose one of your books to be adapted, which would you think fits best to an audiovisual adaptation, be it movies, TV, or perhaps even video games?
I think my Wayfarer series in particular was written out of so much love for 90s science fiction on my TV.
And so I think that if you were going to—I feel like it's already in some ways a packaged season of TV."
"That was very much how I was writing the TV show in my head when I wrote the book.
I think that regardless of which of my works it was, though, I would really want to see a touchable, tangible sort of adaptation.
I would love to see animation. I would love to see puppets. I would love to see practical effects.
I put a lot of effort into making my worlds feel as palpable and real as possible."
"And so if it were to happen, I would love to see an adaptation approach that was every bit as much real.
And I think that's important nowadays as well, to be real and to feel real and to be optimistic.
So thank you so much for your time. Enjoy your final day at the Celsius, Becky.
Thank you. It's been a pleasure being here."
