Best Selling Books Sci-fi
Have you been to a Summer garden with beautiful flowers everywhere?
Most of us would say, Yes!
Now, do all of us visit a Summer garden merely to see a rose? Not exactly!
We all have our own "pet choice" of flowers, which means, if someone finds a rose very beautiful, it in no way should imply that other visitors too need to see a rose with the same lens of appreciation. It may happen that someone finds Crimson Red Carnations very beautiful, while there will be quite a many who would say the same for Orchids or Magnolia.
It is the same with the best selling books. All books that make it to the best selling list of books, may not appeal to all readers alike. Because every book bears a particular spectrum of appeal, generated via the author’s unique writing style found irresistibly powerful and appealing by many readers, whereas the same writing style does not appeal to other readers.
It is a well known fact that language is the dress of thought, and when it comes to readers’ psyche, few find the thought less appealing, whereas quite a many find the expression of the thought extremely boring. But an experienced writer is able to dress the thought with an eloquent language, where every word is used with matchless perfection to create a blend of words that dresses the thought with such brilliance, that the thought communicates directly with the readers’ mind.
It is always upto the writer to address the TASTE of the target readers. If a writer can blend his/her writing style with the reading taste of the readers, then the author has already won part of the sales battle. Afterall, “ Good taste is the flower of good sense.” And when it comes to a book, the flower of good sense is a hybrid flower, which carries the mental essence of two individuals; and if they fuse into one entity, they give rise to a hybrid flower of good sense where two tastes can coexist in harmony and breed new ideas and scientific thinking.
And all science fiction writers, for that matter writers in other genres; find it very difficult to cultivate a hybrid flower of good sense, that blooms as a beautiful thought in the mind of the writer and reader as well. But, if the writers manage to overcome this obstacle, largely related with the creativity aspect of writing, the science fiction writer is believed to have uncovered the fundamental part of writing with a style that is auto aligned with the taste of the readers.
It is this science fiction author who is aware of something very important, “Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas.” With this realisation the author is able to take his/her first step towards writing the science fiction bestseller. Because in a best selling science fiction novel, every word bears a semblance with a new and brave idea that grows on the mental premise of the reader. And, now the matured science fiction writer is aptly able to use language as the only instrument of science.
It is at this stage, the science fiction fans, get to experience best selling science fiction novels like:
In these science fiction best sellers, the originality of the thought is conveyed to the reader without abridgement of any sort. The writer expresses his/her concept/plot via a literary medium that is unique to his/her style, but quite generalised when it comes to satisfying the taste of every reader. This absoluteness in terms of writer’s command over his/her words gives rise to a language that interacts with the reader’s vocabulary at his/her level of understanding, while being able to get across the primary message without forcing the reader to compromise with his/her taste.
Achieving this level of sophistication, demands literary brilliance that is possessed by a very few writers.
I call this the art of blending vocabulary with the peaks and lowlands of the reader’s reading taste. Almost like a prayer with a universal tone of deep desire ascribed to it. Easily understood by almost everybody. This may sound too devoted to serve the purpose of a quintessential cliche or too philosophical, but in the end this is what it takes to be a writer whose every line is interpreted by the reader as an expression of his/her own desires and scientific adventures. There are very few science fiction writers who manage to achieve this level of communication with their readers.
Allow me to quote few lines from Mr. John Irving's Fiction novel titled: A Prayer For Owen Meany.
“I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice- not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.”
—
Now there is so much happening in just few lines and the information shared by the writer has four main pillars that it rests on:
1- Boy with wrecked voice, whose voice is not at all wrecked
2- He is the smallest person
3- yet he is portrayed as the instrument of mother’s death
4- And how is it that someone believes in God because of a person who killed his/her mother?
As a reader here are my options:
Option 1. Enter into a mental state where my imagination darts in all directions and I try to guess all possibilities that could lead to these almost unbelievable situations. And when it comes to finding the right answer, the only right guess would be to keep on guessing forever.
Option 2. Read the novel and know how a very small person could kill somebody, and then further understand how a murderer could be the reason for the deceased person’s yearning kinsman to believe in God. And a mature writer who manages to create this situation of conflicting statements, knows it is important not to give up any of these secrets until the reader has not read the last page of the novel.
And whenever a novel or a book manages to force the reader to opt for option no. 2, the novel is bound to be a bestseller. No matter which genre it belongs to. This is irrespective of the genre based classification of best selling novels.
When it comes to science fiction, the reader’s expectations are very high in terms of new and innovative concepts that he/she will get to interact with. If there is any deficit in this context, the science fiction readers usually tend to discard the book. But many science fiction writers manage to bypass this aspect of best selling science fiction novel writing, by generating a bubble of creativity, where the imagination of the reader is trapped, and the actual dexterity of the writer is tested to its limit, when he/she successfully manages to cause the bubble to burst when the reader is on the last page.
Although the reader actually interacts with a single innovative thought, his/her imagination by virtue of being trapped in the bubble of intense creativity, is neither able to think of alternatives nor able to experience the monotony of the same scientific idea being repeated in one way or the other.
Here I am reminded of one of my own poems titled :
“Circles, small, large and many circles,
That is what few lives are like,
Always moving and pacing in circles,
Circles of love, circles of desire, circles of hope, circles of deceit, circles of revenge , too many circles, but none alike.
Situations, circumstances presenting themselves in circles,
With infinite loops, where I always end up where I began,
With the only difference that I change circles, but I can never leave these circles,
Even if I tried hard and I desperately ran.”
Now what relevance can be drawn from this poem?
A lot actually.
You are a reader trapped in the bubble of intense creativity, and no matter how hard you try or run, you cannot escape the bubble at your own sweet will, even if you tried, it will present itself as another bubble of creativity, trapping you once again, to set you free only when the bubble bursts eventually, but of its own choosing.
Let me explain the phenomenon of the bubble of intense creativity that traps your imagination with a linear course of thought. And for satisfying every tenant of this objective Mr. H. G. Wells' science fiction novel: The Time Machine will certainly be ideal.
I have copied the first line or a few initial lines from four chapters of this sci-fi novel. Please read them carefully.
Chapter I : introduction
The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us.
Chapter II : The Machine
The thing the Time Traveller held in his hand was a glittering metallic framework, scarcely larger than a small clock, and very delicately made.
Chapter III : The Time Traveller Returns
I think that at that time none of us quite believed in the Time Machine. The fact is, the Time Traveller was one of those men who are too clever to be believed: you never felt that you saw all round him; you always suspected some subtle reserve, some ingenuity in ambush, behind his lucid frankness.
Chapter IV : Time Travelling
I told some of you last Thursday of the principles of the Time Machine, and showed you the actual thing itself, incomplete in the workshop.
Did you notice the brilliance of Mr. H. G. Wells?
Let me offer you a hint. Imagine it is 1895 when the science fiction novel was first published.
Nevermind, let me explain how I realised the genius of Mr. H. G. Wells.
I will keep it simple and brief. Referring to a concept like Time Travel in 1895, would have been like talking about aliens and spaceships to prehistoric men and women. But Mr. H. G. Wells does it with such professional conviction that the reader is led to believe this is possible. And Mr. Wells manages to create the bubble of intense creativity, when he repeatedly mentions:
Time Traveller
and
Time Machine
And everything revolves around these two concepts. But it is performed with literary deliberation that renders the reader completely powerless, and he/she submits before Mr. Wells, the writer who knows how to trap the reader's imagination in his bubble of creativity- A genius par excellence and extraordinary in many ways. Because he does not accomplish this perfection in just one science fiction novel, he exhibits similar mastery over the creative aspect of his linguistic brilliance in almost all his novels.
And he unerringly, always manages to burst the bubble as and when he pleases to.
Now let us refer to
Chapter XII : In The Darkness
We emerged from the Palace while the sun was still in part above the horizon. I was determined to reach the White Sphinx early the next morning, and ere the dusk I purposed pushing through the woods that had stopped me on the previous journey. My plan was to go as far as possible that night, and then, building a fire, to sleep in the protection of its glare.
Here the reader is made to believe, the bubble of Time Machine and Time Traveller has burst, and his/her imagination is free to wander, as he/she may please now.
But then something very unique to Mr. Wells, takes over his/her imagination once again and traps him/her in yet another bubble, which actually is a recreation of the previous bubble.
Chapter XV : The Time Traveller’s Return
So I came back. For a long time I must have been insensible upon the machine. The blinking succession of the days and nights was resumed, the sun got golden again, the sky blue. I breathed with greater freedom. The fluctuating contours of the land ebbed and flowed. The hands spun backward upon the dials. At last I saw again the dim shadows of houses, the evidences of decadent humanity. These, too, changed and passed, and others came. Presently, when the million dial was at zero, I slackened speed. I began to recognise our own pretty and familiar architecture, the thousands hand ran back to the starting-point, the night and day flapped slower and slower. Then the old walls of the laboratory came round me. Very gently, now, I slowed the mechanism down.
I saw one little thing that seemed odd to me. I think I have told you that when I set out, before my velocity became very high, Mrs. Watchett had walked across the room, travelling, as it seemed to me, like a rocket.
In this chapter Mr. Wells refers to the word "machine" once again and in the next paragraph of the same chapter, he refers to: traveling that seemed like a rocket.
And the moment you interact with it as a reader, you are again led into the bubble, though not at the velocity of the rocket, but at the pace which Mr. Wells wants you to obey, so that the delicate walls of the new bubble that is beginning to take form around your spring of imagination, does not burst without his command. This is why Mr. Wells happens to be one of my favourite writers.
He could imagine Time Travel when many of us did not even know how to drive a car. That is a true trademark of a genius, and humanity should always owe him and the likes of Mr. H. G. Wells, an immense debt of gratitude for their brave display of thinking beyond the ordinary and crossing the boundaries of imagination to lead the reader into the promised land. I call it, The land of ultimate scientific bliss. Where everything unravels itself, capacitating the human thought to solve the greatest mysteries surrounding our universe.
And if a science fiction novel is able to create this bubble of extreme creativity , the science fiction writer is bound to inspire a generation of Time Travellers.
Chapter XV : After The Story
I know,” he said, after a pause, “that all this will be absolutely incredible to you, but to me the one incredible thing is that I am here tonight in this old familiar room looking into your friendly faces and telling you these strange adventures.” He looked at the Medical Man. “No. I cannot expect you to believe it. Take it as a lie—or a prophecy. Say I dreamed it in the workshop. Consider I have been speculating upon the destinies of our race, until I have hatched this fiction. Treat my assertion of its truth as a mere stroke of art to enhance its interest. And taking it as a story, what do you think of it?”
Here in the concluding chapter of the science fiction novel, The Time Machine, Mr. Wells manages to express his actual intent in a literary undertone that is in a class of its own.
A- Take it as lie- or a prophecy.
B- Consider I have been speculating upon the destinies of our race, until I have hatched this fiction
This clearly expresses his deep desire to motivate the younger generation of his time and inspire them to think of bold scientific adventures where we can hitch our aspirations to the brightest star in the sky. The word prophecy proves it, and when he says “destinies of our race” he once again manages to create something extremely extraordinary, a bubble of creativity that seeks its form within the bubble that is now bursting and losing its grip on your imagination, but in parallel a new bubble emerges where your imagination is now organically bound to this intense and thought provoking message of Mr. Wells. And this bubble outlives its fate of brief existence; instead it lingers on as a motivating and inspiring thought which belongs to your indigenous Time Machine, your mind; in the form of a beautiful memory that is free to move forward and backward at your will. But you need to admit that this beautiful and scientifically enriching thought was created at the author’s will, Mr. H. G. Wells will. And he let it germinate in your imagination as long as you live. This is phenomenal because he has managed to be a part of your memory, without having a face to face conversation with you. In 2023, it would be more convenient to say, that Mr. Wells, ethically hacked your mind and thoughts, to seat his own thought in your mind and allow it to germinate.
This is what a well written science fiction novel is capable of. And the sci-fi novel, They Loved in 2075, is nowhere close to Mr. H. G. Wells dexterity as a writer, but it shares a similar proximity with the intention that most of the science fiction novels share in common. That of inspiring the scientific genius, a sensitive but a restless innovator residing in each one of us.
And the science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075, makes a sincere attempt in asking some important questions that we as a race need to address. Because they shall define the course of our progress as the civilisation of thinking beings. It attempts to discover how humans will experience love in 2075? This science fiction novel navigates through the possibility of men and women falling in love with machines, without knowing they are robots imitating human emotions. Will you still dare to fall in love in 2075 or will you strive to tell the difference between a human lover and a robotic lover?
They Loved in 2075, tells the story of a man who falls in love with a real woman in 2075. And how he struggles to feel human and keep his emotional composition intact.
This Sci-fi story also aims at revealing why the man chose to love a real woman and not a never ageing and always beautiful woman with synthetic feelings. In 2075, this might be a choice we all will have to make. Especially our children!
I dedicate this blog post to all science fiction lovers who believe in the possibility that anything is possible, only if we have the acumen, talent pool, enthusiasm, resources and the ecosystem that encourages scientific thinking. And I also share a kinsmanship with all science fiction readers, because I believe they are in possession of extraordinary ideas and minds. Because, “Minds of moderate caliber ordinarily condemn everything which is beyond their range.” But science fiction writers like Mr. H. G. Wells brings every great scientific concept within the range of the human mind's ability to dissect its logical core.
With that said, I shall say no more.
But just this, “The love of Heaven makes one Heavenly!” And love is a divine word with infinite interpretations. So, love well and read very well!
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