| Stories that lead by example showing how the world could be a better place in the future -- for one example, Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, where the main characters' and their primary worlds show a place better than our own, socially and technologically, and one that we could imagine actually coming true. At the time, the diversity of the crew was inspirational -- women in positions of command, the first televised multiracial kiss, etc. etc. -- and inspirational technology that we actually tried to create because we saw it, such as cellphones, tablets, bluetooth earpieces, computers you could talk to as digital assistants, and technology people are still trying to create, such as medical tricorders, warp drive, and so on. This category is about stories that show positive futures and excite the reader to want to help create that world. This is necessarily a subset of Science Fiction, but, no dystopias, not apocalyptic / post-apocalyptic, not magic-based (i.e., plausibly science based; and not "inspirational" in the religious sense). Clearly there has to be conflict to make a good story, but Roddenberry achieved that in many ways. This category is not about Star Trek clone universes; Star Trek is just a quick example to explain this category. It's about any positive future setting that inspires us to create a better world, illustrates the ideas and ideals we'd like to see, and tells a great story. Alternate histories set in a better version of our own world are also acceptable. This is an experimental category...let's see where it goes! |