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Finally, A YA Book That's A Gateway Drug To Hard Science Fiction

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corpore-metal
11/24/08

In reply to Finally, A YA Book That's A Gateway Drug To Hard Science Fiction
Hm, perhaps it wasn't intended that way but I kinda got the impression from this post that Charlie has a low opinion of hard science fiction.

Who says hard SF can't have decent characterization and actually explore ideas with depth?
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Charlie Jane Anders
11/24/08

@corpore-metal: That wasn't my intention at all... just that this is the rare YA SF book that focuses on hard (or hardER) SF themes, instead of just being a journey of self-discovery in a post-apocalyptic world. It also happens to be pretty devoid of characterization. I probably should have been clearer in my write-up, but I don't think that's true of all hard SF at all. I've read enough great hard SF books, with terrific characterization, to know otherwise.
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Charlie Jane Anders
11/24/08

@Charlie Jane Anders: PS: Sorry if I gave the wrong impression. I can see how you'd read this write-up that way, but it wasn't my intention at all.
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richardmayhew
11/24/08

In reply to Finally, A YA Book That's A Gateway Drug To Hard Science Fiction
There's good YA sci-fi out there, I personally vote for Ben Jeapes work, especially his alt history stuff, as well as a future noir book I'm blanking on the name of. Don't celebrate drivel in any genre, please.
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Charlie Jane Anders
11/24/08

@richardmayhew: I don't think this book was drivel... I actually liked it, in spite of the cheesy writing. It's true that lots of other YA books are much better written, but this one had lots of brio and fun explorations of the impacts of killer robots on society and stuff. I would have totally dug it when I was 11.
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Ghede
11/24/08

In reply to Finally, A YA Book That's A Gateway Drug To Hard Science Fiction
So... it's the modernized version of the old pulps? Sounds interesting.
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