A Question
Instead of a blog post, I have a question for my readers. It’s something I’m curious about.
Faster than light travel in fiction. Do you like it? Do you care?
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Susan
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Dec 03, 2014 01:23PM
I think in the right book-- sci-fi/fantasy-- where there is lots of sciency stuff that we don't necessarily have at present, it can be a useful plot tool.
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FTL is the only known method of being able to traverse the wide cosmos of solar system-to-solar system, let alone crossing galaxies or any significant portion of the universe in any amount of time we would consider worthwhile. While there are alternatives to breaking the speed limit in the Newtonian Universe - Wormholes, spacefolds (similar to the first), stargates, heretofore unknown methods of the imagination, etc - anything that isn't space-based (Warp Drive and other FTL-engines) would have to contend with gravity (I should say Gravity): which is a little understood quarter of the four major energy sources of the universe (as we understand it ;).If your going to get to anything other than our nearest neighbors on generation-ships, then you've got to have some sort of FTL travel in a story that involves multiple planets or solar systems. Unless, of course, you're going the quantum route (think the American TV show of the 90's Sliders).
Any way, the biggest thing I see on book discussions containing FTL is how "practical" and "believable" the FTL system being described is. In some ways, the less explanation of the science behind an FTL system, the - sometimes - less problems people have of coping with it in the story. The more involved and "realistic" the author tries to make it, the more they had better get it right in the descriptions, layout, logic, and known-science compatibility area.
Personally, I like it in my SciFi, as FTL is the only way I see Humanity surviving for more than a couple hundred more years on this rock. Also, I enjoy reading what the author thinks FTL should look like in the future: pretty much why I like SciFi in the first place - getting a peek at others' visions....
Thanks for the replies. Personally I like the use of FTL.
Steve McHugh - Writer
Writer of Urban Fantasy and whatever else happens to pop into my head.
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