Recently, there have been a number of calls for more optimism in science fiction. Way back in January, Jetse de Vries laid down a challenge to the readers of Focus, the BSFA’s magazine for writers, to come up with stories that showed a convincing, progressive future -

Write an ambitious story about how the future changes for the better: one that is convincing, as well. As realistic and plausible as you can get it... Let it be grounded in the real, but a real that is more than just nihilistic, cynic, diffident, or disinterested. The progress can be incredibly hardfought, the progress can be met with all possible resistance, have setbacks, and all. But in the end, let there be some kind of progress.

Shortly afterwards, Jason Stoddard wrote:

Where we live is getting strange. But this doesn’t mean it’s a dystopia, or that we’ll be bowing to evil corporate overlords whose only mission statement is to rape the planet, or that we’ll have mind control installed against our will, or that we’ll all die because of climate change or slowing economic growth or whatever the cause du jour is. So why can’t we be strange–and happy?.

And:

…strange and happy does not mean looking forward to the boundless and perfect frontiers of a science-saturated future. It can easily encompass cynicism, hard realities, difficult sacrifices, ugly worlds, and many other hard, gritty scenarios… Because, even as we stumble forward along largely self-centered paths, there is the potential for greatness. And that makes me happy.

And today, over at the Guardian book blog, Damien G Walter also wants to move away from the gloominess that characterises much modern science fiction:

The challenge for writers of science fiction today is not to repeat the same dire warnings we have all already heard, or to replicate the naive visions of the genre’s golden age, but to create visions of the future people can believe in.

All of which makes me think of Ian M Bank’s “Culture” novels – gritty, visceral stories told against the backdrop of a vastly powerful utopia, where every citizen has the right to live exactly as he or she pleases, with no need of posessions or personal wealth.

I’ve written my own share of dystopias in the past – and will probably write a fair few in the future too. But this call for optimism has struck a chord with me, and I think it’s time we found a new balance in science fiction, between dystopias and utopias – a way to write involving, character-driven stories set against realistic, rigorously extrapolated futures that are as complex and varied as our present day – stories that show hope among the ruins, progress in the face of adversity.

After all, it’s all very well scaring people, but sometimes, you also have to inspire them.