"...Georgians burst spontaneously into choral song in places like elevators, rather like inhabiting an operetta."
-SM Stirling, Shadows Of Falling Night (New York, 2014), CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE, p. 414.
I have imagined some strange alternative Earths:
(i) Earth Opera where everyone in the street spontaneously dances and sings when something important happens between two or three people in their midst;
(ii) Earth Advertisement where no one can use a product without literally singing its praises;
(iii) Earth Cartoon where everyone looks cartoonish and the laws of physics are as in animated films;
(iv) Earth Anthropomorphism inhabited by bipedal cats, dogs etc wearing clothes, speaking English, driving cars etc.
There are probably more. A challenge for sf writers: write a story set in one of these universes and make it make sense. Poul Anderson's and Gordon R. Dickson's Hoka might be a start in this direction.
5 comments:
A friend of mine who traveled to Tibilisi gave me the anecdote about the people in the elevator bursting into song.
Kaor, Paul!
As regards your point (ii), Poul Anderson gave us many bazaar or market scenes where we see shopkeepers and artisans doing exactly that, praising their goods and services!
And we get similar scenes, I believe, in some of S.M. Stirling's books.
Sean
I once got into a duet, with the officer in charge of our battalion's Intelligence section, of The Beverly Hillbillies opening and closing themes. I don't recall what prompted it, but suddenly, there we were singing in the office:
"...And have a heapin' helpin' of our hospitality!
(Hillbilly, that is. Set a spell. Take y'r shoes off. Y'all come back now.)"
Kaor, Paul!
I'm not sure I understand your last comment here. I thought Anderson/Dickson's stories about the Hokas and the Interbeing League made sense in the context of that fictional time line. Were you suggesting that other writers should attempt giving us stories about the Hokas and the League?
If so, writers will need to keep in mind that Anderson/Dickson were writing humorous SF in these stories. Not that you can't find serious ideas in them (you can, esp. in STAR PRINCE CHARLIE), but they wanted to write some light hearted, humorous stories as well. Science fiction which is both well done and funny can be very hard to successfully carry off.
Sean
Sean,
The Hoka, resembling teddy bears, are a close approach to anthropomorphic animals.
Paul.
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