Four speculative fiction ideas I like
I don’t have time to write novels. One of the things I like to do, from time to time, is to publish ideas I've had. As always, feel free to steal them if you like.
A) A short story or novel about a guy accused of murder in a futuristic society. A physicist who has an emotional bond with the case -he is friends with both of the suspects (A & B) and the accused- is looking into the case while conducting physical research. Eventually he realizes, through his physics work, that reality is branching not just forwards but backwards. In some of the realities that converged into ours, A was guilty, and in others, B was guilty. The story becomes a legal and ethical thriller about how to understand this sort of case. There are conceptual issues with executing this story- e.g. I’m not sure how I’d deal with all the details (e.g. the memory of each of the two suspects) as the second law of thermodynamics makes converging pasts harder than diverging futures.
B) A legal drama set at the judgement day, inspired by similar medieval conceits, in which the lead is Zadkiel, angel of mercy. Zadkiel is working with one particular model sinner they are planning to use in impact litigation to get all of humanity off the hook. Their opposing counsel on this very special case? The accuser, the lord of lies, the adversary- Satan. Zadkiel must convince a jury made up of a junior angel, a very senior devil, an abstract concept, a being once regarded as a God, an innocent child, a guilty old man, a prophet, a heresiarch and others that his client is, for want of a better word worthy. The panel of judges- a voice speaking through an earthquake, a voice speaking through a fire, and a still small voice- that may or may not be the almighty. Of course, when you’re going up against the lord of lies, there’s bound to be dirty tricks….
C) A story set in a future in which AI can reason better than a human but is still incapable of moving around and conducting itself in the world. I’ve got no idea what the plot would be beyond that, but I thought it could be fun to destabilize the common intuition that mathematics/philosophy/physics/biology/literature surely must be harder than basic orientation to interaction with the world.
D) A ridiculously over the top, very, very NSFW soap opera set in a post scarcity utopia which continues my Romance of Quantum Archaeology (a setting in which everyone who has ever died has been digitally reconstructed). An exploration of the struggle for authenticity under these conditions. The petty griefs. The catty games. The artful escalation of lust, joy and wistful longing for something that can’t quite be expressed.
