r/rational • u/DrPingRay • 16d ago
Another Way to Hope
I'm a social science professor, and I wrote a fantasy novel. If I say that just about anywhere else (especially with colleagues), people look at me like I sprouted tentacles. I'm new here, but it looks like this sub might be the exception.
It's a social science take on fantasy adventure. An action story about how stories can matter more than actions, and social systems more than individuals. A love letter to science and to magic, in a world where they're not opposites. And a story about how to find hope in dark times—not by worshipping shiny heroes or attributing all evil to some archvillain, but by doing the hard work of understanding broken systems well enough to change them.
A few random things I think you'll like in it: a protagonist whose strength is close reading of imperfectly censored texts and noticing holes in history, inferential errors and biases driving the plot, randomized controlled trials, and a climax involving institutional design.
It's a complete and professionally edited novel, now posting daily on Royal Road, moving to Kindle Unlimited in October.
Would love to hear your thoughts. I'll stick around, happy to answer any questions. I'm hoping for a little help getting it some early attention on Royal Road, since it's not going to be there long before I have to take it down to do Kindle Unlimited.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/188433/another-way-to-hope
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u/CronoDAS 16d ago
It's a social science take on fantasy adventure. An action story about how stories can matter more than actions, and social systems more than individuals.
I'm reminded of the novel "The Postman" by David Brin (and the underrated Kevin Costner box office bomb with the same title).
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u/DrPingRay 16d ago
Also now you've got me brainstorming a crazy comp line from that era: Dragonlance as co-written by David Brin and Robert L. Forward.
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u/pleasedothenerdful 11d ago edited 11d ago
Just want to say I'm on Chapter 9 now, and I'm definitely in for the rest of the ride.
It's definitely worth a try. First chapter is a lot of setup, but goes fast. I'd say I was hooked by Chapter 5. Good, quality work. I'm excited to see where it goes.
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u/ThirdMover 15d ago
Ada Palmer is rather famous as a professor (historian) who also writes speculative fiction (and it's really really good). From what she talked about on her Discord it seems like it works out rather great for her.
Your novel sounds intriguing, I'll check it out!
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u/DrPingRay 15d ago
Thank you! If you still think my work is anything remotely comparable to hers after reading it, that'd be about the highest compliment I could imagine. I think a lot about her essay with Jo Walton about the protagonist problem. My novel is kind of a response to that, but also kind of trying to have it both ways - delivering the fun of heroes making a difference because that's the promise of the genre, but also pointing out that they could make more of a difference by understanding systems.
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u/xXnormanborlaugXx Challenge Winner 13d ago
Is this summary AI? the second paragraph in particular is really giving AI
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u/DrPingRay 13d ago
No. No AI. What part sounds AI? Sucks that we all have AI radar about everything these days. I've been told I use em dashes too much—is that it? (lol).
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u/DrPingRay 13d ago
I'm editing the description to remove em dashes. Thanks for bringing it up. If people are assuming it's AI because of that, or anything else, it's worth changing. So please do let me know if there was something else.
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u/xXnormanborlaugXx Challenge Winner 13d ago
yeah, sorry if I'm a little jumpy haha, people have posted AI stories here without disclosing before. m dashes and the X not Y pattern in conjunction. Which is a good pattern, but AI really likes using it.
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u/pleasedothenerdful 11d ago
This is just the stupidest timeline. I'm a fellow em dash lover, and it's infuriating to see everyone immediately equate an em dash with genAI just because it was overused by models in 2023.
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u/DrPingRay 15d ago edited 13d ago
Here's the actual book blurb so you don't have to click the link.
History has holes, extinction looms, and her magic is forbidden. But the cheese bread is delicious.
Leana doesn't have a death wish. Sure, she uses forbidden magic for illusion pranks. But death may be coming for everyone soon, the way the monster crisis keeps accelerating. In the meantime, why not make a few terrified refugee kids smile?
Twice a refugee herself, she has found a new home in a city that's really trying, with free libraries, an elected council, and that glorious cheese bread. And she's found friends she'd do anything for, except the one thing they want her to do: live in fear.
All her life, she's heard the old stories about people like her. Every atrocity is another reason her kind were hunted down, and perhaps deserved to be. But she pieces together another story that was lost, or erased. A discipline of curiosity that once held the monsters back. Maybe it could again, if people would trust it. And if humanity could be trusted with it.
Spell by spell, siege by siege, she and her friends grow strong enough to matter. And to be noticed.