Preview of The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Today I write a short preview forThe Ministry for the Future. There are a number of science fiction authors of which I read every single novel published. Alastair Reynolds, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Charles Stross and of course Kim Stanley Robinson. Just as with the others I have read every entry in his bibliography. In fact, these days I make it a habit of picking up at least 3 novels from authors I do not know well for every single one that I do. Just to broaden my horizon. But if there is one author who has his own unique way of doing that it is Kim Stanley Robinson.

I first started reading his oeuvre with the Mars trilogy, published from 1992 to 1996 as Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars. The trilogy is set on Mars and depicts the harsh but also wonderous journey of its colonization. The trilogy is known as hard-sf, the author depicts the science behind the achievement in no small detail – not unlike Andy Weir’s The Martian. However, Kim Stanley Robinson also looks as the sociological consequences and even the psychology of its the stories characters.

As you can read I have a hard time shutting up about the wonderful writing of Kim Stanley Robinson. You can read reviews of his last two novel Aurora and Red Moon by following the links. On October 6th his next novel will be released entitled The Ministry for the Future. My first impressions were a time travel story. Which would be uncharacteristic for the author as his fictional work is often well grounded in science. Alas that does not seem to be the case. The reference is towards our near-future and the consequences of climate change in our world. Below is a synopsis published by Orbit Books.

Synopsis to The Ministry for the Future

“From the visionary New York Times bestselling author of New York 2140 comes a near-future novel that is a gripping exploration of climate change, technology, politics, and the human behaviors that drive these forces.“

As you can read Kim Stanley Robinson takes a high-level look at climate change and its consequences on politics and society. However, the story would not be interesting if the characters did not try to remedy the situation. Reading about their struggles is the journey that the author sets us on. At the back of my head I cannot help but wonder if the poison politics of the last decade will feature largely in the story. Social media disinformation was already featured in his novel Red Moon from 2018. But it is up to the author whether or not the near-future will remain fictional. Or whether people such as President Trump and others will be featured or at least mentioned. I hope so.

If you are interested in obtaining an idea what the novel might be about then I suggest you read the authors blog. So, if there won’t be any delay due to Corona-virus epidemic then The Ministry for the Future will be released on October 6th. Check out SciFiEmpire.net for the review. If you do not want to miss any posts then fill out the ‘subscribe’ widget on the right.