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I try really hard not to repeat answers for the two blogs hops I participate in here, but this week’s prompt was such a no-brainer for me and most of the speculative fiction I read is about such dangerous worlds that I’m going to need to be a little repetitive today.
There are two books in Becky Chambers’ series so far: “A Psalm for the Wild-Built” and “A Prayer for the Crown-Shy.”
I would love to live in Panga, the peaceful island where Sibling Dex lived a quiet, happy existence and developed a friendship with one of the descendants of the robots that had abandoned humanity generations ago.
What I love most about this series is how it learned to include conflict without putting anyone into terrible danger. Sibling Dex’s conflicts are more about personal development and trying to foster diplomatic ties between humanity and robots instead of anyone being at risk of physical harm. It was a much calmer reading experience than a lot of novels are, science fiction or otherwise!
No matter who you are, you would find safety and community in Panga. You don’t have to be cunning, intelligent, lucky, or wealthy to thrive there. Their entire economy is based on living in harmony with nature and your fellow humans.
It’s a simple life that includes manual labor for everyone who is capable of such things. If you can’t do physical labour, many other types of work are equally valued, and everyone has all of their basic needs met no matter who they are or how much they’re able to contribute.
There’s something appealing to me about that sort of social contract, especially since characters can change jobs so easily if a previous assignment no longer suits them for any reason. I love that freedom and flexibility for everyone in a society to find the best way for them to contribute without anyone going in debt for education or being discriminated against due to harmful stereotypes about what someone who performs role X should look like. If you have the interest in and aptitude for X, you can do it in Panga without anyone caring one whit about your sex, gender, race, age, disability status, etc.
Not only are all basic human needs automatically met in this world, many of the higher-order needs like seeking a purpose in life or finding self actualization are surprisingly easy to pursue as well. (it doesn’t mean anyone will necessarily succeed at them, of course, only that it’s much easier to worry about those things when you already have the first few levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs sorted out).
I think I could be pretty happy in this world, and I would be thrilled to visit it.
Unless you count the loud footsteps that sometimes rumble up and down my in-laws stairs (but that are probably just coming from a noisy neighbour in the other home in their duplex), I have never seen or interacted with a ghost.
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On the rare occassion I visit a zoo, the primate exhibits are the most interesting portions of those trips to me.
As I mentioned in an earlier Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge post, I generally borrow ebooks from the library instead of purchasing them.
Toronto has an excellent public library system that offers a wide range of paper, audio, and electronic books.
Dusting and sweeping are my least favourite chores. There is no carpet in my apartment, so these two chores sort of meld together.
Let’s see if I can answer this question without writing a whole book on the topic. Ha!
My all-time favourite plot line is rebirth. That is to say, the audience is introduced to a morally ambiguous character (or even a downright jerk) who learns the error of his or her ways and eventually make a genuine and permanent change in their behaviour for the better.
Of course, I still draw boundaries about what I’m willing to read and watch. I do not consume stories that make excuses for violence, hatred, or any form of abuse.