Trope-ing the Light Fantastic: The Science Behind the Fiction

"A must-have for every science-fiction writer. Edward M. Lerner has produced the best-ever guide to putting the science in science fiction, and he's done it with clarity, wit, and panache. A terrific book -- I'm recommending it to all my colleagues, and to all those who hope someday to be professional SF writers."-- Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Quantum Night

"I am entertained and enlightened."--Larry Niven, author of Ringworld

"A great source book for SF writers."--Bud Sparhawk, author of Distant Seas

"This is a book which covers a huge number of topics well and provides great scientific and science fictional stimulation."--Dave Truesdale, Tangent Online

" ... Worth your time, your money, and your consideration, whether you're interested in accessible science, looking to understand trends in science fiction, or--optimally--both." -- Trevor Quachri, editor of Analog Science Fiction and Fact (excerpted from his guest foreword to the book)

Men have walked on the Moon. Siri and Alexa manage--at least often enough to be helpful--to make sense of the things we say. Biologists have decoded DNA, and doctors have begun to tailor treatments to suit our individual genetic make-ups. In short: science and tech happen.

But faster-than-light travel? Time travel? Telepathy? A six million dollar--as adjusted, of course, for inflation--man? Starfaring aliens? Super-intelligent computers? Those, surely, are mere fodder for storytelling. Or wild extrapolations. Just so many "sci fi" tropes.

Sometimes, yes. But not necessarily.

In Trope-ing the Light Fantastic, physicist, computer engineer, science popularizer, and award-winning science-fiction author Edward M. Lerner entertainingly examines these and many other SF tropes. The science behind the fiction.

Each chapter, along with its eminently accessible scientific discussion, surveys science-fiction--foundational and modern, in short and long written form, on TV and the big screen--that illustrates a particular trope. The good, the bad, and occasionally the cringe-worthy. All imparted with wit (and ample references to learn more).

So forget what the Wizard of Oz advised. Let's pull back the curtain...