Near-future science fiction stories (and smoothies)

Q: What do teachers, writers, and cocktail-bar-tenders have in common?

A: They all take the best ingredients available to them, blend them, shake them up or stir them, and deliver something fresh, palatable, refreshing and stimulating.

What does that very bad Q & A (that I just made up) have to do with Near-future science fiction stories? It's a matter of inspiration. Last night, I was wondering what to write about today.

I've been meaning for the last three weeks to share some research I've been doing into an ancient religion, but the last couple of weeks have been other religions' holy days, so I haven't. Last night, I decided that I'd do something else today, too.

So, I snatched up a variety of science and science fiction periodicals, and retired to bed to metaphorically throw ideas against the wall and see what stuck. That's my "smoothie" method of conquering writers' block, and it sounds a great deal more exotic than the "potage" method of making a tasty soup out of leftovers.

I've joined the National Fantasy Fan Federation. It found me on Facebook, you can find it at http://www.n3f.org  Also at http://tightbeam.net and http://www.fandominion.com

By the way, for aspiring science fiction writers who have sold no more than two stories to professional science fiction or fantasy publications, the deadline to get your short story into the 2009 N3F Amateur Short Story Contest is December 31st.

What stuck to my wall was a comment by Jon D. Schwarz in his reviews of three books by Dan Brown which was in the Reviews section of the September issue of The National Fantasy Fan.  "The publishers call them techno-thrillers, suspense thrillers, or suspense mysteries, but science fiction fans know them for what they really are: near-future science fiction stories."

Jon D. Schwarz's remarks remind me of an analysis that I think I remember was written by Orson Scott Card in How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy.... (only I cannot find it!). I recall being surprised and pleased at the variety of stories that Orson Scott Card suggested were science fiction, or even "science fiction romances" (with a lower case "r"): She; The Time Machine; Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea; The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen...

Jon D. Schwarz suggests that when Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton, and Dan Brown write about artificial intelligence, supercomputers, cryptography, anti-matter, spaceships and so forth, they are writing science fiction.

Now, in my opinion, that is something to think about!