Raise your hand if you've committed novelized genocide

[jeriendhal]

So, in this post the ever erudite james_nicoll ponders the nature of the Singularity as portrayed in recent books, and how it compares to the earlier "eugenics" novel where Humanity is taken out by its techno-hubris and replaced with Homo Superior.

It just got me to thinking, how many of us here who have written sci-fi stories have ever destroyed more than a billion people, either as part of the plot or as the story's background? I'll admit I'm guilty of it myself, stating in my fanfic The Lucky Country that the Varn invasion killed about 3 and half billion people (Peta OTOH has managed to avoid mentioning what the actual canon casualty figures are).

Just wondering.

Comments

[wolfstormdancer.livejournal.com]

I have not written that much fiction. However having seen first hand the grizzly cost of any conflict I am generally reluctant to "kill off" large numbers of people. Genocide is a gruesome idea and while it may move the story line forward I would like to think that I would avoid it.