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San Francisco, 4:55 PM
Sat Dec 5
18 posts in the last 24 hours
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10/14/09
So, I don't think the SF genre will die, even if more hybrid books are written.
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10/14/09
I agree.
While the Science Fiction section at the local Barnes & Nobel will still get my attention, there will be stuff outside of that section that I consider in my purview as a reader, and stuff shelved in that section that I will ignore.
And the "people who bought X also bought Y" Wisdom-of-the-Crowds function on Amazon.com will frequently be a better indicator of what I will personally label "Science Fiction", without the retailer having to do it for me.
Of course there are also always the editors and commenters in forums like IO9. As the wise Evil Tortie's Mom might say: It doesn't have to be science fiction to be fannish. Witness the coverage here of House M.D.
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10/14/09
As far as I know, the only rule for science fiction is that it involves an attempt at science rather than magic. That's it. No other rules. General assumptions and stereotyping need not apply.
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10/14/09
He's got that sense of wonder when he talks, and I've got that sense of wonder why he's talking. The 'walls' that define speculative fiction are hardly walls at all. They are endless green pastures, acres of dark forests and miles of hellish alien lava fields.
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10/14/09
Meanwhile, the fantasy fans, who never forgot where they came from, will still be enjoying stories with fight scenes and the sense of wonder. They'll never seen one of their books win the Booker Prize, but they'll have a strangely satisfied look on their collective face, as if they're getting something out of their kiddie books that real, adult readers of post-sf know can't possibly be there. How nice it must be, the post-sf crowd will say, to be so easily amused. And then they'll go back to reading books that, like all true books should, studiously resist any effort on the part of the reader to enjoy them or find them fun in any way.
10/14/09
10/14/09
Exhibit A: Discworld
Exhibit B: Harry Potter
10/14/09
The point I was trying to make is simply this--the "walls" they're talking about are the resistance mass audiences supposedly feel when confronted with material they find geeky or otherwise outside their comfort zone. Breaking down those walls means getting rid of everything I like about genre fiction. But then, I'm a huge geek, so maybe I'm just scared they're going to take away my playhouse and put up a shopping mall.
Then there's the argument that the current influx of sf tropes into literary fiction is just a fad, and that when it ends (in a generation at most--you have to grow up on Star Wars to get Star Wars references), we'll be back in the ghetto with nothing left.
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10/14/09
This year? An open, fair and in some places ongoing discussion of it took place.
It's still going to take years but writers like Mieville and Grimwood (Who are as SF and fantasy as they come by the way, Mieville's Looking For Jake anthology contains is an incredible book, and every single story is horror, fantasy or SF.) and Chabon on the other side of the 'fence' are bringing everything about genre fiction that works to a wider audience. Who are loving it, looking for more and in a lot of cases finding it.
This isn't us losing, this is us winning.
10/14/09
True.
Considering "they" coined PoMo. Let's hope that PoSF doesn't take hold or actually stand for Piece Of Shitty science Fluff
10/14/09
I'm hoping that it is, and not assimilation.
Resistance to Lit Twittery is futile!
10/14/09
Turns out you can write WHAT THE BLUE HELL IS SHE TALKING ABOUT?!!!!!!!!! really, REALLY tall in a decent notebook:)
Only took what was basically a three year training montage to figure out what she meant...
09/26/09
Inclusion of other genres does not have to be at the exclusion of sci-fi.
09/26/09
Apparently he only read comic books, but his parents were just so grateful he was reading at all that they encouraged it. That's the key for non-geek moms and dads: just be grateful your kid reads, never mind complaining about his choice of genre.
09/25/09
Every year we read one play by Shakespeare, along with one or two other books. On year it was To Kill A Mockingbird and Oliver Twist, and another year it was Wuthering Heights. One year it was even Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde back to back.
But what I remember most was the year we were asked to read 1984 and Brave New World.
We spent that whole year talking about conformity and Utopian & Dystopian societies, and the language of persuasion and deception.
The first Gulf War was going on at the time, and we examined some of the language the newspaper journalists were using. American troops were called "Our boys" and "G.I.'s" and that sort of thing, while Iraqi soldiers were called "Angry hordes of death," and things like that.
More than any other subject, all the English teachers I had really made me think. I only wish I'd paid more attention.
09/25/09
We spent that whole year talking about conformity and Utopian & Dystopian societies, and the language of persuasion and deception."
Hopefully my class this year will be like that, we are reading 1984.
09/25/09
09/25/09
I suggest comics: "Oh, I want them to actually READ something SUBSTANTIAL and worthwhile.." (Cuz Bone isn't substantial apparently.)
I suggest a comic book for a girl: "Oh, but she's a little girl. She won't like a comic book..."
I suggest fantasy titles: "Oh... he reads that junk all the time., I want him to read something better."
It goes on all levels of the spectrum. When I show them the Hannah Montana novels: "Oh... that's such trash. I don't want them to read trash."
It's all just snobbery. I'm not one to espouse the old "it doesn't matter what they read as long as they READ" because I don't think that's true. But I just don't like people imposing the belief of something being "better" no matter what. If a kid wants to read nothing but Hannah Montana books- let them. If they're only interested in books with dragons: let them. And dear lord if they like comics bring them to the store every Wednesday. Stop trying to force these things.
When I was 11 my mom yelled at me for just reading Babysitters Club books. But when I was threw with the newest one I'd usually hunt around the back porch through my older sisters books and would find new and interesting things. I remember reading "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" in one day and loving it. I also read "Jurassic Park" at that age. Kids will find these books on their own. Just let them loose in the library every now and then and don't push too hard. And check the book snobbery at the door. Hell, if your teen loves Twilight- just let them have it. They'll come to their own realizations on their own.
09/25/09
Really, it _doesn't_ matter, as long as they read. If they read, it's excersizing the brain in ways that not-reading doesn't. If they read, they'll keep looking for stuff that interests them (and those interests will probably change). Mostly though, if they read, it has to be something that interests them or they will stop reading. And once they've gone that route, it will be very hard to get them back. Best I ever heard in that respect was that the kid who got cast to play Harry Potter _hated_ to read books...until he decided that he should probably research the character that he was contracted to portray for several movies.
On a more personal note, shortly before her death I found out that my grandmother was still reading romance novels into her 80's. They're beneath contempt as far as I'm concerned, but it kept her mind active so she died a rather quick death from a disected aorta instead of a long lingering slide into oblivion from Alzheimer's. And considering she spent at least 15 years living alone as a widow, that's something worth noting.
09/25/09
And, yeah, I guess you're right thinking about it more carefully. I think especially with the very young and the very old. With the very young it's about the basic teaching of reading and if getting them a Transformers reader or Star Wars chapter book will keep them actively engaged in the plot to help them learn the mechanics of reading than who gives if it's a Transformers book or Star Wars book.
09/25/09
Nonetheless, the discussions bellow remind me of my English teacher in fifth grade who made us do a book report every two weeks, but had some dumbass puritanical view on what books us kids should be reading.
She was particularly upset that I was reading 'adult-level' novels and would ban me from bringing them into class or doing my projects on them even though it's what I was interested in reading and contained more content and vocabulary than the other shit people in my class were reading.
Fucking fat-ass moron.
She was also the most horribly reverse-racist person I ever met.
09/25/09
Well, when the class started he grabbed the book out off my desk and held it up to the whole class and went on a rant about how these books were "too juvenile" and that at 15 you should be "above them." All sorts of snobbish crap that I, now as an adult, reject. (Because I think there's tons of value in YA and children's lit) Looking back now I see he was just being a jackass but still. It just seems so unnecessary to do.
And to be fair- this is a teacher that espoused the "amazing" virtues of Catcher int he Rye. So take that as it will.
09/25/09
I had the opposite experience in kindergarten. My teacher actually sent me home with the larger teacher's edition at some point because she wanted to encourage my reading. Seems I had a problem keeping track of where the class was at when it was my time to read out loud because I would just shut them all out of my little world and burn through the stories in a fraction of the time. And once I got into 1st grade, I'd get pulled from class every day to go to reading group with the next grade...where I still had problems keeping track of how far the rest of the group had gotten in the story for the exact same reason.
Now, my mom _did_ discourage my reading habits, but only to the extent that I was burning through batteries in the emergency flashlight when I was supposed to be getting a good night's sleep.