Go ahead and mess with Mr. In-Beween though

New essay out today! Uncanny has published The Roots of Hope: Toward an Optimistic Near-Future SF in a Pandemic.

I'm trying to practice what I preach in the above with the story I'm working on. I don't think that optimistic near-future SF is the only thing that's valuable right now, but I think it's a thing that's valuable right now, if you can manage it. So I'm trying to manage it. And the above essay is a practical look at how.