Using the Programme Guide of the World
Science Fiction Convention in Helsinki Finland in August 2017 (to which I will
be unable to go (until I retire from education)), I will jump off, jump on,
rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf
copy of the Programme Guide. The link is provided below…
Mental Illness in
Science Fiction and Fantasy
Mental illnesses
are often used as "short hand" for being evil, but they are also used
much more realistically and successfully in science fiction and fantasy. The
panelists discuss the good and the bad examples from fiction. (8/12/2017, Saturday
11 am)
Ash Charlton: loved,
written f/sf (not published)
Howard Tayler:
writer and illustrator, co-hosts “Writing Excuses” podcast
Mary Duffy: Assistant
Editor
Emma Newman: author,
co-writer and presenter of a podcast
Hmmm, no
disrespect intended, but it seems like the Con Committee couldn’t find enough people
to fill this discussion…Newman seems to be highly qualified,
Where’s Mishell
Baker (The Arcadia Project books); Erika Satifka (Stay Crazy); Dan Wells (John
Cleaver series); David Mean (Hystopia); and there are others listed in my
resources below.
Be that as it may,
there’s really only one branch of mental illness that concerns me and while it’s
a disease as well, it certainly CAUSES mental illness. I know you may complain
that I harp of this subject endlessly, but it’s personal and it’s an axe I will
continue to grind until there’s MORE than hope on the horizon.
Looking through
posts on cures, treatments, or SOMETHING effective for Alzheimer’s, I find
things about “herbal cures”, laser helmets (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5459322/);
treatments for diabetes that miraculously cure Alzheimer’s (I wrote about this
here: http://breastcancerreaper.blogspot.com/2018/01/guys-gotta-https://www.outerplaces.com/science/item/17440-find-cure-alzheimers-by-accidenttalk-aboutalzheimers-13.html)
and any number of things, but what I DON’T find is science fiction dealing with
curing Alzheimer’s. Probably because current SF writers aren’t “that age” yet.
So there’s really
nothing much to talk about here. Clearly mental health has caught the attention
of the speculative fiction community.
Seems like it
might be time to do a novel about Alzheimer’s and its treatment – and the
implications of that treatment. Nancy Kress, one of my favorite “issue” SF
writer took on the societal impact of creating people who no longer have to
sleep in what has come to be called the SLEEPLESS series (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beggars_in_Spain).
Wikipedia points out that the core question of the series “…what do productive
and responsible members of society owe the ‘beggars in Spain’, the unproductive
masses who have nothing to offer except need?”
What if I could
develop a core moral question for a novella – I wrote the short story (here: http://theworkandworksheetsofguystewart.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-pig-tale-by-guy-stewart-analog.html)
Would I be able to ask the questions that Kress asked about eliminating sleep
from the Human genome? Could I spin it into a series? Certainly John Scalzi
touched on the subject, though never explicitly in his novel OLD MAN’S WAR (you
can read his acerbic humor and fascinating insights as well as read about his
novels here: https://whatever.scalzi.com/)
So…I think I need
to get to work.
Resources: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/5-sci-fi-fantasy-books-that-treat-mental-illness-with-compassion/,
http://www.unboundworlds.com/2018/04/10-novels-featuring-lead-characters-mental-health-issues/,
and for a look through the classics http://www.bettysbattleground.com/2017/07/17/sf-mental-health/
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