From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] 2021 In Science Fiction
Date: Sun,  3 Jan 2021 11:37:19 -0500 (EST)

Here's a list of SF set this year:  https://youtu.be/TqlCgQxfguM

TL;DW:  Their list consists of the following:

Super Force: Hank's Back (1991 TV episode)
The Voices (1955 TV movie)
Superman 2020: Deadly New Year 2021 (1982 comic book)
Superman 2021: Kidnappers in the Sky (1982 comic book)
Johnny Mnemonic (1995 movie)
D/Generation (1991 video game)
A.I. Revolution (1993 manga)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968 novel by Philip K. Dick)
The Twilight Zone: On Thursday We Leave for Home (1963 TV episode)
The Outer Limits: The Invisible Enemy (1964 TV episode)
Moon Zero Two (1969 movie)
The Sisterhood (1988 movie)
Scorcher (1992 video game)
Oz (1989-92 manga, 1992 anime, 1993 radio play)
The Children of Men (1992 novel by P.D. James)
Macrolife (1979 novel by George Zebrowski)

Of the 16 entries, only 3 are novels, and none are short stories.

That YouTube video shows that some of the action in _The Children of
Men_ occurs on Friday, January 1st.  It doesn't mention that some of
the action in _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep_ occurs *today*:

  He sighed, defeated by her threat.  "I'll dial what's on my schedule
  for today."  Examining the schedule for January 3, 2021, he saw that
  a businesslike professional attitude was called for.  "If I dial by
  schedule," he said warily, "will you agree to also?"  He waited,
  canny enough not to commit himself until his wife had agreed to
  follow suit.

  "My schedule for today lists a six-hour self-accusatory depression,"
  Iran said.

The YouTube video missed what I think is the best of all SF works
set this year:  John Birmingham's "Axis of Time" trilogy (_Weapons of
Choice_, _Designated Targets_, and _Final Impact_, published in 2004,
2005, and 2007).  Strictly speaking, only the beginning is set this
year, on board a well-armed UN fleet.  They are unexpectedly sent back
in time to 1942, where they decide to participate in WWII.

It's a really fun trilogy.  "Final Countdown" done *right*.  Including
discussion of hundreds of Hollywood movies from the '40s, '50s, '60s,
'70s, '80s, '90s, '00s, and '10s all being released at once in 1942,
and the copyright questions that raises.  Should actors be paid for
movies they would have acted in decades later?  What about the
studios?  Does it matter whether the studio exists yet?

Half the fun is reading between the lines and imagining what the
characters are thinking and how they'd react.

Since some ships fall into enemy hands, everybody has pretty much all
information that's in Wikipedia and in history books, and then some.
In particular, it busts nearly every spy ring wide open.  Hitler and
Stalin both have major purges of people who would have denounced them
or turned on them.  Hitler promotes a few people for having said pro-
Nazi things as their last words before being hanged at Nuremberg.

Let that be a lesson to you:  Be careful who you denounce, since that
information could go back through time and be used against you earlier.