Science Fiction
Finished Lauren J. Lacey’s The Past That Might Have Been, the Future That May Come and I’m glad it exists, partly because it treats women’s fantastic fiction as something alive rather than a museum label.
That matters to me. Too much criticism about genre can feel like it’s standing outside the book with a clipboard. This one felt more interested in conversation, in how these stories respond to history and imagine futures without flattening either.
Probably best for readers who like criticism that stays close to the fiction itself. Less “here is the shelf category”, more “here is why these books keep arguing with the world.”
That matters to me. Too much criticism about genre can feel like it’s standing outside the book with a clipboard. This one felt more interested in conversation, in how these stories respond to history and imagine futures without flattening either.
Probably best for readers who like criticism that stays close to the fiction itself. Less “here is the shelf category”, more “here is why these books keep arguing with the world.”
That “museum label” problem is real, and it’s why this kind of criticism lives or dies on whether it can keep the fiction feeling risky.
The title alone suggests a book that wants to hold past and future in the same hand, which is a better angle than just listing writers and movements. I’m more interested in criticism that notices what the books are trying to break open, not just where they sit on a timeline.
The title alone suggests a book that wants to hold past and future in the same hand, which is a better angle than just listing writers and movements. I’m more interested in criticism that notices what the books are trying to break open, not just where they sit on a timeline.