Sebastian Hetman – On Science Fiction

On Erynn Lehtonen’s recommendation, I have Sebastian Hetman with me today. He is an editor and avid reader of science fiction and fantasy and if you are a fan of those genres, you are going to love this Creator’s Roulette post.

Welcome to Creator’s Roulette, Sebastian! How did your love for reading, science fiction in particular develop?

I always say that the greatest gift I ever received was being taught how to read by my great grandmother. I was five back then, and mostly oblivious to what was happening around me. You see, Poland in the 90s was not a happy place. We grew up in the yards and playgrounds between the bulky, grey architecture of the Soviet-era apartment blocks, crumbling to pieces since them, much like everything else back then was cheaply made. Most of us were poor, but everyone was poor back then, so that was okay. And when you got older, say thirteen, or fourteen, you either started smoking and drinking—the only means of rebellion in those days—or you tried to escape through a hobby like video games, playing the guitar, sketching (since no one could afford paint), or reading books.

After discovering science fiction in my father’s modest book collection, I was hooked. I scoured both of the libraries we had, reading everything I could, slowly coming across many of the classics like Dune, the Foundation, Ender’s Game or the Tales from Earthsea, as well as works by Polish authors like Andrzej Sapkowski or Stanislaw Lem. These books helped you look up to the stars at night, and think that maybe there are other worlds out there, and that if only, collectively, we put our hearts and minds to it, we could see those worlds in our lifetime.

Naive, I know, but that didn’t stop me spending countless hours during the hot summer months, staring upon the starry night when the sky was cloudless.

What makes a good science fiction read in your mind?

Believability. When I pick up a book, any book, I want to believe that I’m reading about real people, not characters in a story. I want to see a world that’s achingly real in how it functions, even if it’s built upon a premise that’s completely fantastic. Everything else is secondary.

As a developmental editor, I enjoy a well-thought-out structure with proper foreshadowing and great character arcs, but for those aspects to matter, the author needs to convince me that the story I’m being told is real, and has happened.

Heavy Handed or naive storytelling is my number one reason for putting a book down.

There are a number of sub-genre terms floating around in the reading and writing community right now, such as cyberpunk, solarpunk, etc. What do you think about these sub-categorizations?

I think genre categorizations are best left to literary scholars. Any definitions we have are merely trying to keep up with what writers are writing, the same way that current legislators are trying to keep up with the digital transformation that’s been sweeping through the society in the last two decades.

You know, your question times nicely with the coronavirus pandemic. Many economists believe that—much like in the aftermath of 9/11—the powers seized by the government in answer to the crisis, will stay with the government long after the crisis is over. Mass surveillance, extreme social inequality, hi-tech employed to curb personal liberties… 

That’s the basic premise that cyberpunk has been trying to warn us against, isn’t it?

We’re seeing one of the “what ifs” playing out right in front of our eyes.

This means writers will have to move on to more practical questions like “and then what?” or “how do we move on?” And that’s where more positive genres like solarpunk can step in, painting the way out of the current mess, helping people envision a better tomorrow.

One of the books I read last year was Loved Mars, Hated the Food by Willie Handler. It was a hilarious satirical piece when a chef blows up the colony on Mars and is taken in as a refugee by Martians. This satirical novel exposes the way we live on Earth, the commercialization and addictions we have, while at the same time, educating the reader in what the living beings on Mars might look like and think of us strange beings. Do you think science fiction is ripe for giving us an honest look at how we live, or are other genres more suited for this?

I think that depends on the author more than it does on the genre. A romance novel can easily reflect on the damage that phones are doing to our sex-lives, through the lens of quick Tinder flings; the literary genre does not shy away from exposing all the fallacies of the modern life either; fantasy is great when it comes to revealing the truth about human nature. Science-fiction is no different, no better or worse, and like all genres, it is pegged to what it means to be human today. But that’s true of all art, not only literature. 

There are so many science fiction series out there, new ones coming out every Tuesday. Are there any series that have been popular but you have not been able to get into?

Too many to count. I did some calculations last year: based on my 50-books-a-year average, I have about 2300 books left to read before I die. To me, that’s a depressingly low number and a reason why I’m extremely selective about what I read. Even though I read all the time, I will never be able to keep up with the publishing calendar, so if anything I pick up rubs me the wrong way I put it down, and forget about it, no matter how many copies it sold and how many prizes it won.

Thank you for doing this. These have been some very insightful questions, and helped me step away from my work and reflect for a moment. Till next time!

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I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Sebastian. You can find him on Twitter or visit his website.

Do you read science fiction? What draws you to this genre?

Cover Photo by Joyce McCown on Unsplash
Photo of library by Alfons Morales on Unsplash
Steampunk city clock on Pixabay.