Predicting the Future

*Take a moment to enjoy a post from guest author, Jessica Subject.*

One of the joys of writing speculative fiction—which includes science fiction romance—is that as the author, we get to predict the future. And I’m not just talking about future technologies such as spaceflight and gadgetry that is based on science. We can also predict the future on a social level. This includes governments, religion, and even romance. Will the class structure of society become more distinct? When we do meet beings from other planets, will discrimination play a factor in our interactions?

I look at these social aspects in many of my stories, including my upcoming Elitia/1Night Stand story, Another Night, Another Planet. And, of course, I like to add in some futuristic technology, too.

Here’s an excerpt from Another Night, Another Planet:

Buzzing through the heavy traffic on her hover bike, [Ava] reached the spaceport in record time. Perfect. She found a parking locker in the cold, dank underground lot to squeeze her bike into, then dashed toward security. If she could pick up a faint signal, maybe she would have a chance to check her email one last time before take-off. Unlike the guests on board, she couldn’t afford to connect her tablet from space to the wireless system on the mother traveler, not since she’d paid for her one-night stand. Though once a week, all crew were allowed a video call back to Earth. And she called her mom and dad.

She’d been raised by middle-class parents with little chance of furthering her education past what the government paid for. When her father had received a pink slip from his employer of twenty star cycles, any hope she’d held onto of going to college flew out the window. And without that diploma, she could only find meaningless jobs that paid less than the effort she put into them.

Bags checked, Ava dashed down the plain, white corridors of the employee level, pausing for the vacuum seals to release on doors along the way, until she reached her room for the duration of her stay. After thumbing the security pad to open the door, she crashed on the bed to the left, the right one belonging to Michelle, her best friend, who had convinced her to apply to housekeeping aboard Star Spirit. They’d been interviewed together, and started space training the very next day.

Four star cycles later, she was all set to venture out on her seventh tour. Though she didn’t have much of a life traveling through space, the pay was better than she would find anywhere on Earth. Her basic needs of food and shelter were met, and when she returned home, she always split her earnings between her parents and her savings account. She couldn’t let the people who had raised her suffer because she’d found an opportunity they hadn’t.

Tell me: What societal changes would you like to see in the future?

Another Night, Another Planet Blurb:

Limited by status…

Ava is a housekeeper aboard Star Spirit, a luxury cruise ship that travels between the Milky Way and the Belvarian System. Coming from a middle-class family on Earth, she is considered by passengers as nothing more than an object to be tossed away when they’re done with her.

Shunned because of his lineage…

Being banned from several planets across the universe has made it hard for Nate to run his interstellar shipping business. But the DNA of an exterminated race runs through his blood, giving him a diluted form of their powers, and leaving him labeled as a terrorist.

Both searching for the one…

Through her 1Night Stand dating service, Madame Evangeline matches these two together for a celestial escape on the pleasure planet, Elatia.

Will Ava and Nate find what they’re looking for, or will their date go up in flames?

Coming Soon to Decadent Publishing and other eBook retailers.

Jessica E. Subject Bio:

Jessica Subject is the author of contemporary and science fiction romance, ranging from sweet to erotica. In her stories, you could meet clones, or a sexy alien or two. You may even be transported to another planet for a romantic rendezvous. 

When Jessica isn't reading, writing, or doing dreaded housework, she likes to get out and walk. Fast. But she just may slow down if there is a waterfall nearby.

Jessica lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband and two energetic children. And she loves to hear from her readers. You can find her at jessicasubject.com and on twitter @jsubject.

Website/Blog | Newsletter | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon | Authorgraph

What I love most about writing science fiction.

*Enjoy this cool post from Elatia author, D.L. Jackson.*

I’ve said time and time again that all science is fantasy until it’s proven fact. For instance, two hundred years ago you would have been tried as a witch for flying or communicating with someone half way around the world. Today we have cell phones, planes and computers, and even though we may not know every little detail behind the science that makes these objects work, they certainly make sense, and we’d never blame it on ye olde witchcraft. You don’t see anyone getting pressed, burned at the stake, or hung for it these days.

I love that I can take situations that might seem impossible, apply a little science and make them plausible. One of the sciences I’ve toyed with in several novels, is electromagnetic waves. EM waves make great defensive weapons  and shields. They can also be bent to make objects invisible to the naked eye. The invisible woman of our comic books is no longer fiction.

Another is bionics. I love the science of helping people to function normally, and though bionics was a fictional technology we based shows on in the 70s, today it has given back independence to  those who have lost limbs, or are blind, deaf, even paralyzed. The future is happening now, before our eyes, unfolding like a science fiction novel from our past.

One of my favorite scenes, where I take technology and give it a possible futuristic use that is plausible science fiction, is in Courtesan Boot Camp, where Dayne’s tattoo moves. And though we think science fiction applies mostly to ships and space, here’s an example of the future of cosmetic enhancements on a microscopic level.

Here’s an excerpt:

On his chest, he bore a tattoo of a Ruellan military insignia from a spec-ops unit made up of Toric soldiers—for-hire mercenaries. The tattoo, a dragon-like creature known an avenger, whipped its tail around, moving across the surface of his skin through a nanite-infusing technology. The nanites were housed in microscopic beads that made up the ink used by the artist. They were programmed to change the color inside each bead, going from clear to any hue in the spectrum within a micro-second, creating a moving picture that could travel from head to toe on its host, if the person had been tattooed in that manner. A lengthy and painful process, Shay had only ever seen pictures of it before.

The avenger opened its mouth as though it were roaring and slipped down his chest, across his abs in a serpent-like, undulating motion, sliding back up onto the opposite shoulder, where it wrapped its tail around his arm before freezing in place.

Ah, moving tattoos. And Dayne’s doesn’t just move on his chest. When it disappears under his clothing, my heroine begins to wonder where it went. Who wouldn’t?

What other roles could science play in cosmetics? Could a person change their eye color? Perhaps their hair with a shake of the head? Maybe cells could be manipulated to reverse aging? The thing I love about science, knowing that it at one time was fiction, means that I can create my own science, plausible theories and perhaps in the future, it could be proven fact. We certainly use nanite technology today. What’s to stop us from using it for cosmetic purposes? There’s big money to be made in the industry.

Now, who wants to know where exactly on Dayne’s body his tattoo can move???

I’m giving away a signed tee-shirt to one commenter on this post. Tell me what science fiction elements you’ve read or watched in a movie or on television, are your favorites. Is it warp drive, or perhaps teleportation? How about enhanced eyesight, or maybe cyborg technology. What science fiction flips your switch? What made you sit up and say, I want that, or I’d love to do that?

At the end of the week, I’ll draw a winner.

*Visit the Elatia Series.*