Greetings.
Last Thursday I participated in #PitMad, pitching my novels on twitter to prospective agents. I got a lot of new followers (hate that term). As those of you who know me well are already aware, I'm not a fan of social media. I maintain social media accounts for the purpose of promoting my written work and connecting with readers of science fiction, other writers, and prospective agents and publishers.
And as I've said before, I'm not a fan of blogging either. It feels too much like being one of those talking heads on TV or YouTube that I despise.
But because I have new readers I thought a restatement of this blog's purpose would be appropriate.
The purpose of this blog is to explore the intersection of science fiction and radical politics. By "radical" I do not mean the co-opted "leftism" of the left-wing of the Democratic Party. I mean anti-capitalist and anti-statist literature.
I don't believe there is such a thing as "apolitical." No writer exists outside of their own social context. When we employ narrative tropes uncritically, we are modeling an ideal of reality, and more particularly, an ideal of society- the Social Order. If we are conscientiously critical of that order, we are writing radical science fiction.
I hesitate to identify firstly as an anarchist. I came to anarchism through years of practical, hands-on experience working in systems like schools, mental health and child welfare. Social work is my calling; anarchism is a consequence of my experiences.
With this blog I hope to educate readers about the experience of urban social work and how this informs my science fiction writing. Social work is political (small p), so this blog is political. Nothing isn't political. People who attempt to distinguish between political and apolitical set themselves up as the arbiters of reality; it is an exercise in paternalism.
And if there is one thing I'm sick of, it's paternalism, whether the cultural chauvinist paternalism of the conservatives, or the "enlightened" paternalism of middle class liberals and progressives.
I hope that this blog will educate readers about anarchism, which is widely misunderstood to mean chaos.
I also hope that this blog will provide a critical perspective on science fiction. From HG Wells to Alan Moore, Ursula LeGuin and Corey Doctorow, there is a strong radical tradition in science fiction. It's important that readers do not artifically separate that tradition from prose. Radical ideas are embedded in science fiction, but there is also a minefield of reactionary ideas that one must carefully, skillfully navigate to arrive at a positive conclusion.
I hope this blog helps.