Kim Stanley Robinson Holds Out Hope

There’s something about stories. We cherish them. Teach them. Pass them down to the next generation. Stories create a sacred space that humans have always respected. And science fiction takes us one step further. It gives us the space to imagine what we could be, could do, could make. And sometimes these stories give us an all too real vision of what may yet come to be in our own world. They are a warning.

In his new novel, The Ministry for the Future, Kim Stanley Robinson paints a picture of a global temperature that’s been allowed to keep rising unchecked, and the harsh results of humanity’s inaction. The novel “is about the next three decades,” says Robinson. The venerable author has written more than 20 books, including the bestselling Mars trilogy. He’s won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards, and is known for his unflinching deep dives into science, economics, and politics—and for envisioning scientists as heroes. He strives for scientific veracity, he says, because “the drama and reality of my novels is strengthened by the more accurate I am.”