Quote:
Originally Posted by Randolphlalonde
After writing several novels set in the distant future and quietly drifting from one side of this topic to the other, I'm finally asking science fiction fans: How common will alcohol be in the distant future when alternatives are becoming more and more common?
Right now there are several companies working on everything from alcohol substitutes that don't give you a hangover, to synthetic recreational substances that are designed to just barely pass FDA approval. Other interest groups are trying to legalize marijuana and still more are trying to de-popularize the use of alcohol as well as its consumption on television and film. It seems to me that within my lifetime there may be other legal recreational options, so why not in the distant future?
Battlestar Galactica call their booze Ambrosia, while Star Trek the Next Generation came up with the hangover free Synth-Ale. The reboot takes things back to basics, going as far as to use brand names like Budweiser. I'm a little surprised science fiction hasn't already diversified to be honest.
The question I ask on my web page boils down to this:
So, what do you think of social consumption of mood altering substances (besides alcohol) in science fiction?
Please add your two cents one way or the other. Your thoughts may help shape a science fiction universe once and for all on this topic.
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Heck, just go with fermented cannabis beverages instead and piss off some of both sides of the fence...even hear of bhang?
You can buy it from street vendors all over India who make the stuff in nasty dirty old jars, 5-gallon water bottles or anything they can grab as a fermenting vessle. I have little doubt it will be one of the first retail products once MJ is finally legal and we can focus on real problems in the world or even just here in the US.
And if you are writing to appease political groups then your works are, well, nothing I would ever respect. Write what YOU believe in not what you are told to write...I mean if you keep up the pandering where will your work end up? Pure milk-toast/pablum w/o any substance. That is because you can never make the "Nancy Reagan's" of the world happy and they always want more...but it's up to you and what you can live with...Spider Robinson put a vile section in his Callahan's Legacy from his otherwise wonderful Callahan series. Still it did not stop me from enjoying the rest of his works. In fact I respect he took a risk, one I feel was wrong, but he did what he felt was important for whatever his reasons.
I don't remember the novels, but I believe is was in the old John Grimes series where they talked about smoking some sort of "panty droppers" and "leg open uppers" or some wording to that effect, at a beach party. I wish I could remember the series/author because I don't feel I am remembering correctly just know it was in some OLD title I read when I was somewhere between 12-16.
Plus something controversial will only add to the discussions of your works. And as someone once said "....there is no such thing as bad publicity..."
Weird, my first post here in months...but it's a great topic.