Sean Fenian<p>New post up on the <a href="https://seanfenian.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Fenian Blog</a>: <b>Why We Write</b><span><br><br></span><a href="https://plasmatrap.com/tags/Authors" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Authors</a> are often advised not to read reviews of their own books. While I’m aware of this, I still like to keep a finger on the pulse of my readership, and reviews and reader comments are really the only way I have to do that. (Except for those of you who have taken up the invitation in my books to <a href="https://fenianhouse.com/discord/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">come and join the discussion</a><span>.)<br><br>This morning I was checking the ratings on some of my books, and happened to notice a review on </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DHYRSK72" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">A Line In The Stars</a> that <i>complained</i> about the fact that the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CVQJTPS2" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Stardock Trilogy</a><span> contains commentary embedded in its story that has bearing upon current events and sociocultural issues.<br><br>Well, yes. </span><b>Of course</b><span> it does.<br><br></span><b>You don’t actually understand WHY we write, do you?</b><span><br><br>Look, </span><i>any</i> fool can write trite, vapid fluff entertainment that you can read or watch with your higher critical faculties switched off and not miss anything. Just a glance at probably about half the total volume of TV and movies ever generated by Hollywood should show you that. But that’s not what drives a lot of us. We don’t <i>want</i><span> to generate more empty fluff. The world has more than enough of that. Present-day mass entertainment, on the whole, is bread and circuses writ large.<br><br>The late Iain M. Banks, for whom I hold an </span><i>incredible</i> degree of respect, once said that science fiction is the only genre of fiction that actually <i>matters</i>, because it is the only genre of fiction that tries to predict and anticipate the potential problems in our future and devise solutions for them, or approaches to solving them, <i>before we actually encounter them</i>. Elizabeth Bear (<a href="https://raggedfeathers.com/@matociquala" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@matociquala@raggedfeathers.com</a>), another writer for whom I have <i>immense</i> respect, has sociocultural issues deeply embedded throughout her magnificent <a href="https://www.amazon.com/White-Space/dp/B082LSQFD7/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">White Space</a> trilogy, centered in large part upon <i>what separates civilization from the howling barbarians outside</i>. Because these issues <i>need</i> to be talked about. They <i>need</i><span> to be understood.<br><br></span><b>This is why we write.</b> Not just to <i>entertain</i> you, our readers — but <b>to make you think</b>, or at least to give you things to think about. That is the <i>true purpose</i> of literature. <b>To make you think.</b><span><br><br>If we </span><i>do not</i> make you think, or at the very least <i>give you important things to think about</i><span>, we have failed in our responsibilities.<br><br>If we put those important issues in front of you </span><i>and you refuse to think about them</i>, you have failed in yours.</p>