Jiabao Li: "Dear Michael Damian and Lynne Thomas: Theirs Are Not What I Thought"

Dear Michael Damian and Lynne Thomas: Theirs Are not What I Thought

By

Jiabao Li

As a slow reader (a really really slow one), I prefer wandering around eloquent sentences and subtle generalizations, instead of paying most of my attention to plot details. In fact, I often find that the endings of books are similar to my expectations. Because I       no longer listen to my grandma’s bedtime stories about fairies nor do I have time activities other than homework, I did not have the chance to sit down and read speculative fiction until this year. However, reading has given me the opportunities to slowly taste the small bits of meaningful and touching descriptions in speculative fiction.

Some small realizations of the world, most of which are sentimental, are where I found the book realistic, rational, and informative to my own life and my own world. The “given worlds” from short science fiction and fantasy are usually places we look forward to live in. Whether it is a colonized planet or a magical wonderland, these worlds have things we do not: futuristic, high-tech, power and magic (no wonder why people find escapism in this genre). However, the details I like from short SFs are often heart-breaking facts that shatter my expectations on the fictional universe.

The first story I will mention is Philip Dick’s Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep, a story about Rick who is a bounty hunter. He is forced to retire seven androids because they were considered dangerous because of their lack of empathy. After retiring the androids that he used to admire and love, he came to the realization that machines, though worthless, still had lives. Rick was sympathetic toward these paltry machines, describing them as those living for nothing, being lonely but unable to feel or express emotions. It was a heart-warming realization for Rick; however, to me, the truth about androids having no feelings tells me more that the world I visited here is not the perfect world I thought it was, lacking of love and care, which I didn’t expect for the beginning.  

“Super-Toy Last All Summer Long” by Brian Aldiss reveals a phenomenon similar to that of Philip Dick’s piece. In this heart-breaking piece, David, an android, was an adopted son of a family, but was soon sent back to factory after his family found out that they were going to have a human baby. Teddy is another android bear, which played a role as David’s comforter, persuading him that both his mommy and daddy are “good” so that they were real. Teddy, knowing that David would be abandoned, insisted on avoiding David’s questions about whether his mommy and daddy were real. I am glad, as an outsider looking into their given world, that I understand why Teddy is avoiding answering David’s question: to protect David’s feeling and preventing him from being sad. It was sweet, but still bitter. It surprised me that this world with such advanced technologies, was lacking in human affection.

That last one I would like to mention is Neil Gaiman’s Stardust. I forgot about time when I was reading this story, immersed into the beauty of its language, about the “human world”, the “fairies world”, and the starts. I not only fell in love with the simplicity of the language, but also the reveal of our behaviors that we might never realize. In the story, stars are amazed “every time another little human believed itself the center of its world, as each of us does.” (Stardust, 73) The generalization about human beings considering themselves at the center of the universe expresses a sense of pity. It is as if nature is looking at us, thinking that we have limited views, and that we are self-centered. These ideas can be expressed in realistic fictions and it was surprising to me that the world in Stardust is aware of such similar phenomenon in our real world has as well.

Disregarding the high or low fantasy, and hard or soft SF, subtle generalization of the given world gives me joy, as well as some connections that I can easily tie back to my world. Such generalizations, which can be either nostalgic or straight forward, are telescopes, asking me to look through them to catch a glimpse into their worlds. Although many times they usually never live up to my expectations, it is interesting to immerse myself into new worlds.