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jo walton

How Much Science Do You Need To Know To Write Science Fiction?

Farthing and Tooth And Claw author Jo Walton is widely regarded as one of the best writers of fantasy right now, and she won the John W. Campbell award for the best new writer of speculative fiction. So why does she feel she can't write science fiction? Because, she explains on her journal, she knows too much science to write utter nonsense, and not enough science to get SF stories absolutely right. It makes me wonder if science fiction is scaring away some of its best potential writers. More »

2:53 PM on Mon Jun 16 2008
By Charlie Jane Anders
2,106 views, 37 comments

Latest by n/a: I'd say this a matter of world building more than level of detail. So you have three planets (I'm calling the moon a planet for simplicity). Step away from the actual writing a bit and define how those planets are more »

michael chabon

The Grad Students Who Mocked Michael Chabon's Science Fiction

In an alternate universe, Michael Chabon has a long track record of writing space opera. When the Yiddish Policemen's Union author was a young writer in UC Irvine's MFA program, he wrote some science fiction stories and brought them to his peers. He was met with "if not hostility, then incomprehension," and so he switched to writing literary fiction. We went to a Chabon reading and Q&A on Tuesday and he asked him about anti-SF prejudice among the literati. His full response, after the jump. More »

12:47 PM on Fri May 16 2008
By Charlie Jane Anders
4,726 views, 38 comments

Latest by n/a: @Lizfu: If you're posting here, then it probably wasn't inspired by The English Patient. Going Solo (Roald Dahl's 2nd autobiography) might be an interesting source for you more »

poll

What Genre Should Science Fiction Steal From Next?

Science fiction has a long and honorable tradition of straying over the lines, from the noir of Neuromancer to the space-western of Firefly. But there are still a few genres that science fiction hasn't lifted from, in both the book and movie/TV worlds. Vote for the territory that SF should be invading next. More »

1:40 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Charlie Jane Anders
24,988 views, 86 comments

Chabon's "Policemen" Busts Genre Divisions Michael Chabon continues to crush genre boundaries like John Barth on steroids. His alternate-history detective novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union is the first novel ever to get Best Novel nominations from both the Edgar Awards (for mysteries) and the Nebula Awards (for science fiction). [GalleyCat, via SFAwardsWatch]

20 comments

poll

Is Lost Fantasy Or Science Fiction?

Lost doesn't just defy comprehension, it defies genres as well. We've been hotly debating among ourselves whether it's a science fiction show, or whether everything that happens is just magic. Like the spooky Jacob's Cabin, not to mention Locke's spine. But then there's the Dharma Initiative, and hints that something sciencey is going on as well. Obviously, we won't know until the final episode whether everything will turn out to have (pseudo)science behind it. But we can still speculate. Click through to vote on whether Lost is bringing the magic or the science. More »

2:30 PM on Thu Feb 14 2008
By Charlie Jane Anders
3,299 views, 47 comments

Latest by n/a: I didn't vote because the catagory: Both sf and F was not there. Lost is clearly a hybrid, combining elements of technology, fantasty-magical realism. I really does demand that you not try to explain each aspect of the story with more »

writers

Doris Lessing Deserves A Nobel For Her Contributions To Sci-Fi

Doris Lessing was one of the first literary authors to venture into science fiction. She wrote about aliens and space wars at a time when the genre was still shedding its embarrassing pulp tatters. And while most literary authors have just lifted well-worn plot devices from science fiction, Lessing actually innovated within the genre. So it's especially awesome that she's the first science fiction author to win a Nobel Prize. More »

6:10 PM on Thu Oct 11 2007
By charliejane
100 views, Comment