A Love Letter: Addendum

There is always more to say.

I hope you had a great Valentine’s Day!

I don’t want to make a habit of sending multiple emails in a week, but I realized I left out something important from my love letter to KSR yesterday. One of the most interesting parts of Kim Stanley Robinson books is that he focuses more on leisure and recreation than any fiction writer I have read. His futures feel bright in part because there is always room for characters to pursue activities simply for their own enjoyment or betterment.

Off the top of my head, these are some of the activities from various KSR books. Most of these are things characters do because they want to, but I will indicate which activities were done as part of a survival situation.

Mars books:

• Low g baseball

• Ultra marathons

• Sail boat races

• Hiking

• Wingsuits

• Distance swimming

• Sky diving

• Poetry

• Festivals

• Blimp racing

Icehenge

• Methane body surfing on an asteroid (very cool)

• Hiking

• Orbital golf

Aurora

• Sailing/fishing (The first scene is a fishing boat aboard a massive space ship…)

• Surfing

Antarctica

• Hiking

• Rock/ice climbing (Recreation and Survival)

• Eco tourism

• Sledding/Ice cave waterslides

• Dancing

• Poetry

Golden Coast

• Zip lines

• Hiking

• Peddle powered flying bikes

Years of Rice and Salt

• Lacrosse

• Sailing

The Memory of Whiteness

• Musical performance

• Dancing

• Raves

New York 2140

• Sledding

• Boating

• Underwater wrestling

• Dancing

Ministry for the Future

• Hiking

• Kayaking (Survival)

• Swimming

• Rock Climbing (Survival)

Shaman

• Dancing

Red Moon

• 1/6 g ballet

• Rock climbing (Survival)

Ok, so Stanley likes extreme sports (especially hiking), so what?

By creating stories with time and space for the activities that people choose to do, I have always felt that Stanley makes books that feel fuller and warmer than his contemporaries. Its well and good to write books about interesting people in interesting situations, but sometimes I want to know what characters would like to be doing on their off day with friends just as much as I want to see them save the world. To KSR, recreation is an essential part of humanist futures and to exclude art, sport, and joy would lessen his message.

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What’s next?

Who knows, maybe I will send more Kim Stanley Robinson thoughts soon. I will try not to.