The Fittest

The survival of the fittest does not necessarily mean the survival of the strongest or most violent or most beautiful. The fittest may be instead the most clever, or the lucky, or the bright or the one who has a peculiar insight. Even still, without the ability to endure and to struggle, an innovative human would not live to pass on his genes. And this is the spirit at the center of evolution ficiton. It showcases the desire to succeed, and the desire to never die no matter the circumstance.

Evolution fiction dramatizes the lives of people and of groups who, though they may be in over their heads, and in situations they cannot escape from, do not give in. Nor do they accept that they cannot succeed. Evolution fiction is the account of regular and frightened women and men who create innovations under the direst of circumstance that help both they and their families to survive and to thrive.

Evolution Fiction and the Prehistoric Romance Novel

The idea behind evolution fiction is to first strip all elements of the romance genre out of fiction about the prehistoric past. This is not to say that love, affection and attraction are removed from the genre, but in evolution fiction you won't find any blond haired blue eyed gods tramping around in bearskins with horse bones as clubs.

Evolution fiction deals with the drama of people's lives under great pressure. In such a setting a romance would be possible, but it will not adhere to the romance genre. In other words, there will be no blond male models on the book cover, wrapped in skins.

Evolution Fiction shares more with a graphic novel like The Watchmen. The story lines are gritty, full of violence and fear, but are often resolved in the end, and if not are continued into the next volume. In cinema evolution fiction would be like Apocalypto. In novels, the genre is like Lord of the Flies, for its comment on society, or like the original Tarzan, about a feral child, or Blood Meridian though more comprehensible.

The genre is not an attempt to realign a genre but to create a new genre targeted at a younger, male audience. The audience loves the idea of the dark history of man but has nowhere to get it in ficiton at the moment as the period is fully covered by romance novelists.

Why Evolution Fiction?

It has always been important for human beings to explore their forgotten history through fiction. This is one of the ways that we come to understand our world, we look at our histories and realize how we have come to be. But there is a blank spot in our study of history because for ages our species was not able to record what was happening in any descriptive way. Of course much can be derived from the painting in Lascaux and in fossil remains, tools, and weapons. But none of these are sufficient to fill in the blanks that the lack of a written record leaves. This is where fiction must come in. Fiction can help to flesh out the sketch of the dark past and by doing so, help us to understand our own lives today.

The reason why we rename the genre and insist on terms like Evolution Fiction rather than continuing with the old genre is simple. The imagining of the prehistoric past in commercial fiction has a history that begins shortly after Charles Darwin and continues up through Clan of the Cave Bear. At every step of the way the genre itself has evolved, and yet there are certain tropes, characterizations, and themes that recur enough to become stereotypical. Because of this, Evolution Fiction is a revitalization of the genre. More importantly, Evolution Fiction animates our unwritten human history in a way that today's readers appreciate.

Chris Moore
chris@crmooreauthor.com
Author of TOTEM and the forthcoming MIGRATION

La Guerre du Feu is an example of early pre-historic fiction although the book seems marred by a Eurocentric view point. Evolution Fiction on the hand seeks to distance itself from Eurocentrism while continuing to plumb the depths of past events that shaped human existence.

Evolution Fiction V. Prehistoric Fiction

The idea and driving force behind evolution fiction is to strip back the romantic varnish that so many treatments of prehistory get. In many ways the version of prehistory that gets told is often, especially recently, a Disney or Network version of man's dark past. Evolution fiction is an attempt through narrative to explore the psychology of man.