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Is there room for frum sci-fi/dystopian fiction?



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byisrael




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Feb 23 2019, 2:15 pm
So I have this idea rolling in my brain (really just basic plot) and I was wondering if there is a point in trying to develop the idea and write it....

So do you think such a book would fly by frum publishers and readers?

I was thinking that there is a hashkafic concern because as frum people we always look towards the future exepecting geulah/mashiach and this is looking towards the future with an extreme negative spin on the negative attributes we already have in society.

What do you think?
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Feb 23 2019, 2:44 pm
Give it a good morale and it's good! or just make it clean Wink
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cinnamon




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Feb 23 2019, 3:56 pm
I think it would be hard to sell but I would totally read it.

There was a kids serial in hebrew mishpacha once that had time travle in it. When they travled to the future there was a disclaimer saying something about mashiach coming soon and this being only fiction.
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Ravenclaw




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Feb 23 2019, 9:35 pm
Is there?
I don’t know.
Should there be?
Totally.

If I were you I would go for it. As mentioned above, people are afraid of it because they think it isn’t in line with waiting for mashiach. But it’s fiction. It’s usuall a satirical look at society, not a prediction of us actually assuming that this dystopian world will come to be.
Maybe give it such a name, like call it a mashal or something instead of dystopian sci-fi. I think people will accept it better that way.
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rachel6543




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Feb 23 2019, 11:05 pm
I think it would be interesting to read a Jewish frum sci fi book!!

Like how would space travel and Shabbat work? Or if you lived on another planet how would kosher work, observing Shabbat & yom tov? What if you met an alien species that had their own form of the Torah?

Or a time travel book where a character could go back in time and meet Moshe, Noah, Abraham, Rivka, Sarah, Esther, Rachel... etc. What were they really like? Or a time travel story where a person goes to the future and meets Moshiach. Or someone is able to go to an alternate universe where Moshiach has already come.

Or an alternative universe where the Holocaust never happened, what would the Jewish community look like today? Would there be a modern day Israel?

There is the potential for so many interesting ideas.
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amother
Chocolate


 

Post Sat, Feb 23 2019, 11:46 pm
I'll be honest. I enjoy a lot of sci fi and dystopian books, (love Connie Willis, Jo Walton, The Hunger Games, etc) but the idea of using frum setting/characters just seems silly....
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rofa




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Feb 24 2019, 12:24 am
As long as it has a hopeful ending- I think it could work. And that doesn't necessarily have to kill the story. Think "The Giver".

There was a dystopian short story published in one of the frum publications a long time ago. I think it was called "The Society" maybe by Yael Mermelstein? I remember it being very powerful and haunting.
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Rappel




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Feb 24 2019, 12:27 am
You just reminded me of a plot outline that I sketched a few years ago, but never wrote. Now you're making me want to do it. Smile

Let's kick off a genre! Even if it doesn't fly off the Jewish presses, if we all start with the same publisher then word will get around.
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levlongnprosper




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 03 2019, 2:04 pm
I would love to see a scifi/dystopian novel about moshiach coming written from either from the perspective of a non-Jew or a Jew who converted to another religion who then had to figure out what it means for his nonjewish family.

I know this probably sounds awful but my reason for this is that humans aren't great with change and sometimes react negatively even to really good changes and I think it would be really interesting to delve into that side of human nature AND make for an interesting researched component to the book
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amother
Chocolate


 

Post Sun, Mar 03 2019, 2:32 pm
Didn't the Rambam or Ramban say you are not supposed to speculate overly much about what will happen during times of mashiach? Just one reason why I don't think dystopian frum lit would work....
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Zehava




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 03 2019, 2:45 pm
amother wrote:
Didn't the Rambam or Ramban say you are not supposed to speculate overly much about what will happen during times of mashiach? Just one reason why I don't think dystopian frum lit would work....

20/20 was an awesome Frum sci fi about moshiach. Really detailed and well-developed plot. I loved it as a kid.
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amother
Forestgreen


 

Post Sun, Mar 03 2019, 2:47 pm
Pitspopany publishers put out a few Jewish sci-fi books (geared to younger kids, but still). Off the top of my head, "Secret of the Space Scrolls".
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byisrael




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 03 2019, 2:50 pm
By definition dystopian fiction would have to be pre mashiach - otherwise it would be utopia Wink

My concept is post apocolypse the central goverment is conducting genetic experiments to create the ultimate solider. The testing can only be done on children between ages 6- 10. There is a nation wide quota but anti- semitism is now legal and the jewish quota is triple the non - jewish one. The goverment has created a central office of jewish affairs where the rich bribe the officials to save there own children and the poor must meet the quota. My protagonist is a teen who struggles believing in G-d in the face of such misery and corruption but ends up[ meeting a bunch of different figures who help him develop real emunah and the courage to join the movement overthrow the Office of jewish affairs and eventually the central goverment.

The plot is a bit lame but the power of the story really lies in the emotions, doubts, pain, and stuggles of the different characters.....
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amother
Chocolate


 

Post Sun, Mar 03 2019, 2:54 pm
I haven't liked any frum sci-fi that I've ever read. Just could never suspend belief enough to get into the story. And I actually am a fairly big fan of secular sci- fi books.
Good point about the post mashiach dystopia vs utopia, btw:)
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amother
Red


 

Post Sun, Mar 03 2019, 4:15 pm
A part of me says, how can we write about a future without Moshiach?
I still read frum sci fi though.
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levlongnprosper




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 04 2019, 8:11 am
byisrael wrote:
By definition dystopian fiction would have to be pre mashiach - otherwise it would be utopia Wink

My concept is post apocolypse the central goverment is conducting genetic experiments to create the ultimate solider. The testing can only be done on children between ages 6- 10. There is a nation wide quota but anti- semitism is now legal and the jewish quota is triple the non - jewish one. The goverment has created a central office of jewish affairs where the rich bribe the officials to save there own children and the poor must meet the quota. My protagonist is a teen who struggles believing in G-d in the face of such misery and corruption but ends up[ meeting a bunch of different figures who help him develop real emunah and the courage to join the movement overthrow the Office of jewish affairs and eventually the central goverment.

The plot is a bit lame but the power of the story really lies in the emotions, doubts, pain, and stuggles of the different characters.....


There's elements of a lot of dystopian ya in there so I wouldn't call the idea lame. I'd read that.
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urban gypsy




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 04 2019, 9:45 am
byisrael wrote:
By definition dystopian fiction would have to be pre mashiach - otherwise it would be utopia Wink

My concept is post apocolypse the central goverment is conducting genetic experiments to create the ultimate solider. The testing can only be done on children between ages 6- 10. There is a nation wide quota but anti- semitism is now legal and the jewish quota is triple the non - jewish one. The goverment has created a central office of jewish affairs where the rich bribe the officials to save there own children and the poor must meet the quota. My protagonist is a teen who struggles believing in G-d in the face of such misery and corruption but ends up[ meeting a bunch of different figures who help him develop real emunah and the courage to join the movement overthrow the Office of jewish affairs and eventually the central goverment.

The plot is a bit lame but the power of the story really lies in the emotions, doubts, pain, and stuggles of the different characters.....


This is pretty cool, like Hunger Games meets Universal Soldier... exactly my taste!
Who are the children fighting against? If your protagonist has been brought up this way their whole lives, what woke them up?
Please please make your protagonist a girl!
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cbsp




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Mar 04 2019, 10:08 pm
I would love to read it.

And yes, I think it was Yael Mermelstein who wrote several short stories of that nature. I don't think any of the characters were overtly frum or even Jewish...

Am I remembering correctly that Etka Gittel wrote about Jewish teen girls going to a mall somewhere in space and needing to contend with safety pins for their skirts during 0 gravity? (don't fully remember the author or the story)

And then there was the kids story in Aim? Mishpacha Jr.? taking place on some space colony somewhere?
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