Race in Speculative Fiction

I came across this article by Jha on the Intersection of Race and Steampunk. It raises some interesting questions. Since Steampunk is based on the Victorian era, when colonialism and repression of indigenous races was rife, how do you translate this for a modern sensibility?

The author says:

'I’m aware that other steampunks come to the subculture differently. Our stories are as diverse as our backgrounds, our reasons for participating are many. Interests tend to overlap in steampunk; we’re all geeks in some form or another. Reasons for being drawn to the subculture are various: a love for history, a love for speculative fiction, the giant robots, the ray guns, the fabulous clothes.'

But the fact remains that the steampunk genre is romanticising a period when anyone who wasn't a white protestant male, was repressed. How accurate do you want to make a story, to give it the flavour of the time? I'm currently writing a story set in approx 1840, during the settlement of Australia where everyone is racist to some degree. I expect the reader to be mature enough to see it as characterisation, not my personal endorsement.

When Le Guin wrote the Earthsea books she set out to create fantasy characters of colour, but she wanted the reader to identify with these characters before they realised the characters were coloured so that the average readers of the period would not be put off. So she did not slip in the colour of their skin until the story was well under way. Yet, when the TV series was made, the producers managed to white-wash her characters, which did not please the author at all.

How do you handle the ticklish question of authenticity of historic characters without crossing the line and making them all touchy-feelie?

Being Human ...

Joseph Merrick, Elephant Man.

I think there are two types of people in the world. There are cat people and dog people. No, sorry, being flippant there. Start again ...

There are two types of people. There are people who find anything and anyone who is different threatening, they hate change. And then there are the people who are curious about the world and invite experiences because they welcome change.

Science Fiction writers and readers, by definition, are in the second category.

Many years ago I read a book called 'Freaks', (nowadays it would not be published under this title, the authors were referring to how the disabled made their living in earlier times). Joseph Merrick was one of the people featured in the book. I remember coming away from reading this with a profound respect for these people and one line always stayed with me. 'No one loves Coffey for himself.' That quote is from memory after 30 years. Coffey worked for Barnum and Bailey and I think he was the 'Man with Rubber Skin'. I don't remember, I just remember Coffey wishing someone could see past the disability to the person inside. Having said that, the people who worked as Freaks formed a tight knit community and accepted each other.

Here is an article by Mike Treder, on how we (I think he means Western Society in First World Countries) are getting better at accepting the differences in people. He says, 'We have learned to accept differences in appearance caused by nature or by accident. And we are getting better about appreciating the diversity of bodily expression that modern society has brought. But all this is only the beginning.'

He quotes Elephant Man, 'I am not an elephant! I am not an animal! I am a human being! I am a man!'

As writers, we portray people. We sometimes write from a male perspective, or female, or child of either gender, irrespective of our gender or age. If we are Speculative Fiction writers, we'll write from the View Point (VP) of characters who are not human, dragons, elves, aliens and Artificial Intelligences (AIs). Backw hen her First Earth Sea book was published, Ursula K Le Guin was congratulated for writing about coloured characters. Before this, most fantasy had been populated by 'pasty white guys', to quote Ursula.

How often do we write about people who are disabled? (Differently-abled, if you want me to be politically correct). George RR Martin writes from the VP of Tyrion, the dwarf. When I met George at World Con in 2005, I told him Tyrion was my favourite character in the Fire and Ice series. He confessed, Tyrion was his, too.

I have a small, genderless character in my Shallow Sea series, which is currently with my agent. One of the 'Twisted', the character is not pretty and charming, but ugly to outsiders and resentful of them. And I thoroughly enjoyed writing from this character's VP. I really hope this series gets picked up by a publisher. Maybe, if Mike Treder is correct, it will, since I'm exploring what makes us human and how we treat differently-abled people.

Maybe Spec Fic readers will enjoy my Twisted character and sympathize with their frustrations. But the people who most need to learn how to empathise with others won't be reading my Shallow Sea series, or any other books about AIs, Aliens, or Orcs, because they find anything different frightening. How do you reach people who reject difference and want to live in mental strait jackets?

I used to judge a children's writing Competition for World Vision, short stories and poetry by children on the topic of refugees, persecution and hungry children. I'll never forget one 10 year-old boy who said at the end of his essay, 'Why can't we all just be a little bit nicer to each other?'

What led you to becoming a reader/writer of Speculative Fiction? Have you read any interesting depictions of characters who weren't the traditional hero/heroine? Lois McMaster Bujold's classic series about Miles Vorksigan springs to mind.