Review of Olga Kolesnikova, “The Silent Decades,” Luna Station Quarterly 47 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
One of my favorite genres of speculative fiction is what we might call speculative nonfiction, that is, a fictional nonfiction/research paper or book. Kolesnikova’s story is set around a century and a half in the future, and is series of tootnotes to a historical/analytical report of the “the silent decades” in the middle of the 21st century, complete with numerous references to secondary reading. It’s really hard to make up plausible non-fiction — especially when you need to make up the sources you’re citing! — and I thought Kolesnikova did a marvelous job.