And which countries are in the European Union will be different?’” Palmer said. Of course attitudes toward gender will be different. “A historian who knows how recent and fleeting those developments are looks at the future and says, ‘Well, of course, the family unit will be different. Palmer, on the other hand, recognizes that with the passage of time comes change. It instead maintains our current lives-for example, the nuclear family or the average number of working hours-and places them in the context of space and advanced technology. For example, Star Trek imagines a future that doesn’t reimagine how our social and political norms might develop further. Palmer’s historical expertise adds a layer to her storytelling that is sometimes missing in popular sci-fi tales. Held in a different city every year, the upcoming Worldcon will take place September in Chicago as Chicon 8. ( Too Like the Lightning was also a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2017.) The prizes are awarded annually at Worldcon, the World Science Fiction Convention. The quartet of novels is a finalist for a Hugo Award in the category of “Best Series,” joining five other series. Set in the year 2454, the books follow the events that lead the world to war for the first time after three centuries of peace after the end of the nation-state. The Terra Ignota series consists of Too Like the Lightning (2016), Seven Surrenders (2017), The Will to Battle (2019) and Perhaps the Stars (2021).

And so it gives you the tools for thinking through a really deep and detailed world.” “Being a historian teaches you how to think about change over time. It's a long period of time in which societies change and disruptive technologies appear and political groups shift. (But) there's nothing more like the future than the past. “Some people find it funny for a historian to be writing science fiction, and they say the future is the opposite of the past. “When you're reading it, the history comes through on every single page, and readers constantly comment, ‘You can really feel this is being written by a historian,’” said Palmer, a University of Chicago associate professor of Early Modern European History. This careful eye toward both past and future is likely one of the reasons her Terra Ignota series is a finalist for a Hugo Award-the highest literary award in science fiction and fantasy publishing. Instead, the past is a useful roadmap as she designs the worlds and stories in her books. When Ada Palmer steers into the future in her novels, she doesn’t keep history in her rearview mirror.

Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer