Perhaps you need to investigate some new genres. I think the appeal that many find in science fiction and fantasy is the implicit social commentary and not the technology.
Jules Verne is always mentioned for his scientific foresight, but what makes him a great writer is how he always tied the situation back to the human condition. Captain Nemo is the most obvious example.
I don't have any suggestions, but there are many novels from the past two hundred years which dealt with social conditions in the framework of a family or personal narrative. There were a rash of the them in the Dickens period dealing with the problems of the industrial revolution, there were a similar set in the US at the turn of the 20th Century as well. The current movie about oil based upon a novel of Upton Sinclair seems to indicate that some of these themes are still relevant.
I'm sure there are many contemporary examples as well, but I haven't been keeping up, I have enough trouble with the non-fiction BSO's (book shaped objects) that pundits keep publishing that deal with world affairs and economic concerns.
Sometimes a good librarian can make suggestions based upon what you have been reading. It's worth asking for some advice.
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Branch Out
Date: 2008-02-27 03:28 pm (UTC)Jules Verne is always mentioned for his scientific foresight, but what makes him a great writer is how he always tied the situation back to the human condition. Captain Nemo is the most obvious example.
I don't have any suggestions, but there are many novels from the past two hundred years which dealt with social conditions in the framework of a family or personal narrative. There were a rash of the them in the Dickens period dealing with the problems of the industrial revolution, there were a similar set in the US at the turn of the 20th Century as well. The current movie about oil based upon a novel of Upton Sinclair seems to indicate that some of these themes are still relevant.
I'm sure there are many contemporary examples as well, but I haven't been keeping up, I have enough trouble with the non-fiction BSO's (book shaped objects) that pundits keep publishing that deal with world affairs and economic concerns.
Sometimes a good librarian can make suggestions based upon what you have been reading. It's worth asking for some advice.