Dear Reader,

 

Fall has always been one of my favorite times. It’s a season of distinct change where everything seems slightly spooky and anticipatory. The October/November issue has always been one of my favorite issues to produce because we get to try to capture that fall vibe in our stories, artwork, and poems. 

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It is seasons like this that remind my how much the world really is changing. In terms of science and innovation we are making new discoveries every day. New technologies come to us a light-year a minute. So it always strikes me as odd that science fiction doesn’t always keep up with present day advances. Pick up any copy of a science or technology magazine and it’s bound to talk about new incredible inventions. Read through the articles in Science Daily and discover just how much advancement is being made in fields of medicine, chemistry, and astrophysics. With so many developments, why do we keep coming back to the same old science-fiction tropes? We use light-speed, wormhole travel, and mine asteroid, AI, androids without ever getting into the details of how and when we talk about how it works it’s the same old reasons they were using decades ago. But the world is changing, new ideas have a right to show up in science fiction and it would be greatly pleasing to us editors to see them more often.

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Did you know for example, that this year they discovered a way to harvest electricity from oranges? Not just chump change, but they could use oranges to power 73,000 homes. How might a space-faring ship use it’s own produce to give it power? Would an alien civilization have taken this concept and turned it into something more innovative? A writer should find out and send us a story about it. Take also the discovery that bacteria can be used to improve people’s mental health. How might a future psychologist use these treatments? There are vertical floating farms, underground ‘line’ cities, ocean cooling technologies, and time crystals. 

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The potential for stories on any one of these subjects is limitless. It would make me a very happy editor to see more works that explore and expand on these kinds of subjects. For now, we have an excellent line up of original stories and poems for your enjoyment. Thank you all for being a part of this journey with us to a brighter, more hopeful world. I leave you all with our usual refrain. Let us go onward, ever onward. Onward through the impossible!

 

Sincerely,

Tristan Evarts

Editor-in-chief, Utopia Science Fiction Magazine