Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
I am not a fan of capitalism, and the past year has not endeared it to me in any great way. I am a fan of science fiction, and as such a theme that I encounter again and again is capitalism in space. It’s a huge part of The Murderbot Diaries (the most prominent area of settled space in that series is literally called the Corporation Rim), and a big part of Murderbot’s journey is adjusting its thinking away from corporation standard–learning to think of itself as a person (gross) rather than a thing. I think that’s something a lot of us have had to wrestle with as adults with jobs, particularly if we found ourselves trapped in our homes with ourselves and our jobs.
I recently played The Outer Worlds for the first time. I loved it and had a genuinely great time with it, but it takes the idea of frontier company towns and runs with it all the way to space. As compelling a narrative as that made, I found it harrowing at times–particularly in the first community you find yourself in, which is experiencing a plague. (yeah.) The game really leans into the aesthetic and has a great time with it, but whew! By the end, I needed a BREAK.
As I played, I found myself thinking about Becky Chambers’ books, in particular the third book in her Wayfarer series, Record of a Spaceborn Few. Record takes place on a generation ship, meaning it took a huge population of people far into space. By the time the book takes place, it’s not needed for travel any longer and is serving as a station, essentially, locked in orbit around a star. Its population is a mixture of the descendents of the people who originally traveled on the ship, as well as newcomers.
The Asteria, the ship in Record, is thoughtfully designed around tenets of equality for its passengers–there are no upper decks or lower decks, in terms of habitation. People live in community groups which are not necessarily connected by family. Work is done for the good of the community and the ship, but everyone takes shifts doing the less appealing jobs. There is no currency.
The Groundbreaker, a colony ship in the same vein in The Outer Worlds, is likewise populated by its crew’s descendents. The Groundbreaker is sort of the best of a bad galaxy, a place which is determinedly remaining neutral in a horrifically corporatized space. But functionally it’s a floating mall. There’s no escaping capitalism in The Outer Worlds.
I think, given the choice, I much prefer science fiction which takes radically anti-capitalist ideas and runs with them, rather than the reverse. There’s room in the genre for it! Trust me! I already live in a capitalist hellscape. I don’t need one to follow me to space.
dog thing
mixed media
good reads: Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert: I haven’t been in a romance (or even really a BOOK)-reading mood of late, but when my hold came in on this one, I wisely turned my internet off on my kindle and trapped it until I had the time. It took a day spent on the sofa thanks to a busted ankle, but this was worth the wait. The Brown sisters books have been a delight, and this was maybe my favourite one yet. Eve Brown is a failure, and that’s fine! She knows it, so it’s fine. Right? After her parents set an ultimatum for her, she ends up working in a B&B for the prickly Jacob Wayne, and discovering that maybe she’s not a failure, she just has unique skills. This is a romance between one person who knows he’s autistic and one person who is figuring it out, and I loved it.
good fic: From the Garden, Grow by galateaGalvanized. Star Wars Clone Wars, Obi-Wan/Cody. Fairy tale AU! I loved the melding of fairy tale elements and star wars elements in this one. And, as always, I love it when jedis are just wizards.
good music: Emigrant by Kishi Bashi: I am a Kishi Bashi superfan, and his new album is a lush collection of originals and covers, folksy and bluegrassy. It came together while he meandered across the US in an RV, and it has a wandering energy which I love.
good game: Heaven’s Vault: Two good friends have recommended Heaven’s Vault to me repeatedly and I finally took them up on it. I loved it immediately. Heaven’s Vault (which I played on the Switch) follows Aliya, an archeologist living in a nebula composed of moons connected by airborn rivers. The game follows her as she tries to piece together where a colleague disappeared to and why, and unlocks an ancient laguage and possibly the origin of the nebula itself along the way. The game is designed to be replayed–you unlock more of the language in repeated runs–and I replayed it a second time immediately. A truly lovely, truly innovative game.
lastly
My friend/roommate/life companion Robyn has created an instagram account for cataloging the queer books that they read (which is most books. we are very similar) with descriptions and thoughtful comments. If that sounds like something you would enjoy, you should give it a follow!