There’s been a lot of hubbub lately about optimistic science fiction. You’re got Lightspeed Magazine, edited by the inimitable John Joseph Adams. You’ve got the Shine anthology (as well as Outshine, of course). There are all sorts of traditional science fiction outlets looking for positive views of the future.

But I’m not feeling very positive right now.

I’m back from my news fast, to find a world in which BP has created the worst oil disaster in U.S. history, several states are trying to follow Arizona’s racist lead, Israel has made some very bad choices, and… well, let’s just say not very much good news seems to have happened over May.

My thoughts, in no particular order:

  • The ongoing oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is astonishing and horrific. There are no words.
  • Israel made a terrible, monstrous mistake when it raided the Gaza-bound flotilla of humanitarian aid. The Israeli government needs to make amends, and quickly, lest it alienate a world that by and large supports it.
  • Speaking of Israel, I’m very tired of right-wing lunatics telling me I’m anti-Semitic when I don’t support the government of Israel. Those teabagging nutcases don’t get to accuse other people of racism when they continue attacking President Obama’s legitimacy with racism thinly veiled as claims of a foreign birth. And accusations of anti-Semitism are particularly hilarious coming from a crowd that supports segregationists like Rand Paul. If they don’t understand — or choose not to — that it’s possible to be critical of a government’s policies without giving two shits about the religious beliefs or ethnic makeup of that government’s members, then I don’t see any reason to talk to them.
  • I’m boycotting anything made in Arizona.

So… I’m back from my news fast, but feeling a bit pessimistic about the state of the world. I’d like to write some positive science fiction, so feel free to counter my pessimism with some positive news stories I may have missed over the month of May.