Introduction
Hybrid Vigor:
Why Science Fiction Needs
Magic Realism
by
Elton Elliott
What causes a revolutionary advance in human thinking like the French and Scottish Enlightenments? Those, I believe, were caused by the synergistic influences of the Italian Renaissance, combined with the Protestant Reformation, the renewed interest in the Greco-Roman classics, and the example set by the improbable gonzo success of the American Revolution and how it impacted European thinkers such as Edmund Burke. Mixing different influences can create hybrid dynamism and powerful new forms of expression and thought.
What made the popular music of the 60s and 70s so powerful was its experimentalism combined with an attention to popular songwriting hooks. In particular, witness the tremendously powerful synergy that happened when groups such as the Moody Blues and the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) combined classic string music, then only heard in orchestras, with the raw power of the Paul/Fender creation, the Electric Guitar, and the evolving powerhouse known as rock-n-roll. This was a revolution, as Jeff Lynne (the inspiration behind ELO, the Traveling Wilbury's, and the spectacular rock opera War of the Worlds) revealed in the liner notes to the remastered CD of his breakthrough album, ELO II. That was caused by producers such as himself, George Martin, and Alan Parsons who brought disparate influences together in music (Parsons and Martin gave us the sound of the later Beatles, Pink Floyd and the incomparable Alan Parsons Project).
Well, Science Fiction (SF) has never really experienced the invigorating effect of such a cross-genre fertilization. As much as the so-called 1960s New Wave of SF tried to bring in the influences of the French Cinema of the early 60s (Truffuet, Chabrel et al) it (like the French auteur films) was too self-absorbed, too anti-commercial to really catch on. It had the experimentalism but not the fun, the over-the-top take-no-chances nature of progressive classic/rock music.
And that's the genesis of the book that you hold in your hands: to show that the genre that has the necessary ingredients to reinvigorate SF is Magic Realism. Why? And more importantly, why now? Because current SF is in an existential malaise over the demise of the space program and the realization that cutting-edge scientific ideas point to a radically different future than the traditional SFnal future of Campbellian/Heinleinian 30s through 80s SF. These ideas, which include Nanotechnology, Super Gravity, Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics, String Theory, Membrane Theory, and Entanglement have more in common with the universe of Harry Potter and the hyperfast novels of Dan Brown than they do with SF's Standard Future. This has led the field to the precipice of an identity crisis.
The traditional future's essential assumptions were ignored by the New Wave and never seriously challenged until Eric Drexler's Nebula Awards speech in 1994. Since then the traditional future of Science Fiction as we know it has been in the process of being deconstructed, with most of those in the field not even being aware of it. Although some might have taken a subconscious reactionary stance: Steampunk anyone?
At the same time a Latin American literary movement, Magic Realism, grew and flourished, and the SF field paid almost no attention, with a few notable exceptions. (Such as my esteemed co-editor Bruce Taylor. See his essay at the end of this book to learn more about Magic Realism). The really intriguing point about Magic Realism is that it embraces an attitude toward reality that is both more receptive and more in tune with the aforementioned cutting-edge scientific concepts. In addition, its insistence on close examinations of human behavior and its critical view of societal structures can revitalize an SF field rife with medievalist enthusiasms, cultural obtuseness, and creaking characterizations not grounded in realistic behavior.
As written SF faces an increasingly sophisticated media SF that is rife with deft, complex characterizations (such as the television series Fringe), prose SF needs the special hybrid power that only cross-cultural fertilization with a field like Magic Realism can bring.
The goal of this anthology, LIKE WATER FOR QUARKS, is to point the way toward that hybrid vigor. I think you will recognize both its potential and its power in the following stories, as the two most important literary genres in the western hemisphere, Science Fiction and Magic Realism, join forces for the first time. Embrace the future. Abrazar el futuro. Join the revolution. Unase a la revolucion!