As if there hasn’t been enough chatter of late about genre and boundaries, I just stumbled upon Lab Lit, dedicated to realistic (?) portrayals of science in fiction:
Our name lab lit has a dual meaning. First, it suggests the illumination of a largely unknown or obscure world, and pertains to one main part of our brief: the culture of science in fact. The term also describes a small but growing genre of literary fiction (or other fiction media) in which scientific characters, activities or themes are portrayed in a realistic manner; this angle is explored here as the second major emphasis: the culture of science in fiction.
Worth a look are the list of Lab Lit works (though I am skeptical of any list that includes Richard Powers, Michael Crichton, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), and the essay "Writers experimenting with reality need to be more daring."
It all just seems terribly unneccesary to me. Maybe I’m just feeling low because I’ve read only 10 out of the 39 listed Lab Lit novels.
[poached from Dave Langford's Dec. Ansible]
One Comment
I have written a novel that may meet the standard for science within fiction, though it is as much about technology as pure science. The subject is nuclear power, though, so the boundaries can be unclear.
In any case, I am a longtime nuclear engineer who has written an very detailed thriller about an American nuclear power plant and an impending accident. It is available online and at no cost to readers at RadDecision.blogspot.com. My novel “Rad Decision” has far more scientific and technical information in it that most books of its type. It is meant both to entertain and to educate. The book is getting very good reviews from readers, judging from their comments on the web site front page. You might want to take a look. http://RadDecision.blogspot.com