Brian Garrison

What is a "Science Fiction Tree" story?

In many computer simulation games, there is a "tech tree" for development of technologies over time. For instance, finding foreigners leads to discovering the advantages of both trade-roads and defensive-structures. From practice with such things, basics of engineering can be learned, and from that comes the discovery of how to build reliable bridges, over large rivers.

A "science fiction tech tree" is the same thing, extended into the future. Today we are learning about how ball-lighting might be a tangled, magnetic field that contains plasma. What if lessons from ball-lighting are the key discovery to containing fusion-plasma? Like the revolution caused by going from steam trains to diesel trucks, there might be a revolution from changing chemical rockets into fusion rockets, and so forth.

My Science Fiction Tree stories are based on the idea of far-future technologies developing from near-future ones. Maybe genetic engineering will prove to be the cure for cancer, and then everyone hurt by cancer will outweigh everyone afraid of the new technology. Once genetic tech is proven, perhaps we won't terra-form Mars to suit us, but instead, "mars-form" people to suit Mars. How will such a far-future tech affect our far-far-future approach to colonizing a new star system?

I try to make my stories connected. So a story about a far-future might inspire me to tell a near-future story about how that far-future tech was discovered. Or, vice versa. This is different from sequel stories, where you have to buy 3 (or 30) to find out what happens to the hero. Each of my stories (generally) is complete in itself. Maybe someday I'll write a sequel, or maybe not, but the story will be complete without having to buy later volumes. And yet, the stories are connected with a thread of technology change.

That's what I mean by a "Science Fiction Tree" story.

Find more Brian Garrison on FaceBook at www.facebook.com/bgsifi/