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posts about #ya more →
"It Causes Me Pain To Classify My Post-Apocalyptic YA Romance As Science Fiction"
Japanese Scifi Smackdown! Power-Armor Warriors Vs. Alien Dirt-Eaters
The Brits Win the Space Race in "Empress of Mars"
In "Zoë's Tale," It's Hard to Be a Teenage Messiah
Are Adults More Ignored Than Children In SF Lit?

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Lassus
08/21/09

In reply to "It Causes Me Pain To Classify My Post-Apocalyptic YA Romance As Science Fiction"
These people should worry about writing well as opposed to whether or not they can classify their works in a way to get an agent.

I may be naive, but talent - not PR - wins out.
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haseoreo
08/21/09

In reply to "It Causes Me Pain To Classify My Post-Apocalyptic YA Romance As Science Fiction"
I don't think it's that hard to categorize a novel, honestly. I often think of things in broad terms like fantasy, science fiction, fiction, or non fiction. Anything can fit in those categories.

Could I get more specific? Yes. However, a good fiction author should not limit his or herself to one genre. Is Neil Gaiman ONLY writing about dark fantasy? Of course not! He has plenty of social commentary, a bit of horror, perhaps some dabbling with science fiction, etc. And every author has *some* degree of autobiography in his of her work. To flail helplessly in the mire of indecision makes me question the resolution of some of these authors. Pick a genre, and people will either expect more than that broad generalization or be pleasantly surprised upon reading the book.
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Faustroll
08/20/09

In reply to "It Causes Me Pain To Classify My Post-Apocalyptic YA Romance As Science Fiction"
I'm writing a "steampunk" novel that would classify as alternate history and near future, plus it has robots and kaiju.

My first book is a gothic fairy tale/mico-pastoral fanatsy (the world devoured by mushrooms!)

And the book that comes out in 2 weeks is a near future "literary" deconstruction of the rocket age with magical hobos, the ghost of Yuri Gagarin and the chinese landing on the Moon.

Yeah, genre's a bitch and classifying it isn't easy.

Did I mention that in my day job, I'm a catalog librarian?
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RandomFrequentFlierDent
08/20/09

@Faustroll: I feel like I'm missing something, how can it be both alternate history and near future? I'm not trying to pick apart your book, I genuinely want to know :)
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Grey_Area
08/20/09

@RandomFrequentFlierDent: Just set story ahead 50 years from now but in a timeline where Obama lost, Hitler won, or Erasmus Darwin built the first rocketship.

I have a fondness for a series by Thomas Harlan, not great but I like 'em. He's got a space opera with an Imperial Earth founded by the Aztec who met up with a very off course ship from Japan that had samurai and horses. Together they mop up the Americas and set sail for Europe way before Columbus is even a twinkle in poppa's eye.

Chris Roberson has something similar.
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RandomFrequentFlierDent
08/20/09

@Grey_Area: Ah, I get it now. Thanks.
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Faustroll
08/20/09

@RandomFrequentFlierDent: It takes place circa 2020 but their are several points of historical divergence going back 400 years. (discovery that kraken are real in 18th century, Babbage completed his difference engine in 1849 and robots were invented in the 1930s. Oh and America became a monarchy in 1900).
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ManchuCandidate
08/20/09

In reply to "It Causes Me Pain To Classify My Post-Apocalyptic YA Romance As Science Fiction"
Nothing worse that lit snobs pretending to write genre as lit.

This might explain why there seems to be more than a few SF authors who don't get skienze.

On a personal note, all two of my manuscripts can be classified as:
1) Technothriller (crap)
2) Technothriller (semi-crap)

One person is writing a steampunk novel and isn't sure if that's historical fiction or SF

*Shakes head*
Don't know much about history.
Don't know much about technology...
Don't know much about anything.
What a wonderful book it won't be.
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Edited by ManchuCandidate at 08/20/09 4:37 PM ManchuCandidate was starred ManchuCandidate was unstarred

Bill-Lee
08/20/09

In reply to "It Causes Me Pain To Classify My Post-Apocalyptic YA Romance As Science Fiction"
In my college writing courses, my instructors pointed out that classifying your work by genre can help keep you focused. Many novels, stories, comics, and films may have elements of several genres in them but what are they primarily? Writers who focus on what genre their story primarily fits into usually turn out better work than those who refuse to do so.
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Charlie Jane Anders
08/20/09

@Bill-Lee: I actually agree -- which is what I was sort of getting at in my post a while back about how you should make your novel live up to your "elevator pitch."
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crashedpc - Haifisch
08/20/09

In reply to "It Causes Me Pain To Classify My Post-Apocalyptic YA Romance As Science Fiction"
"Fiction."

There, see? So easy!
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Rasselas
08/20/09

In reply to "It Causes Me Pain To Classify My Post-Apocalyptic YA Romance As Science Fiction"
Nothing good can come of "other." E.g.:

"Is this gun for hunting, home protection, or 'other'?"

"Other."
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Grey_Area
08/20/09

@Rasselas: "So is this a pet or food?"

"Other."
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Edited by Grey_Area at 08/20/09 3:35 PM Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred

Janglesatwest
08/20/09

@Grey_Area: "Is that a man or a woman?"

"Other."

"Well, I'm buying it a drink anyway."
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Grey_Area
08/20/09

In reply to "It Causes Me Pain To Classify My Post-Apocalyptic YA Romance As Science Fiction"
It's a cookbook!
THEY'RE ALL COOKBOOKS!!
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crashedpc - Haifisch
08/20/09

@Grey_Area: Soylent Green is PEOPLE!

Why do we taste so good to aliens and ourselves?
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Atomictao
08/20/09

@Grey_Area: You, sir, just gave me my laugh for the day. Thanks.
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Grey_Area
08/20/09

@AtomicTao: You're welcome.
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HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.
08/20/09

@crashedpc : ゴキブリ and 蟑螂 division: I blame the high-fat diet.
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ManchuCandidate
08/20/09

@Grey_Area:
Wait till you try the Human Chili. You can't tell it's "Long Pig."
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Rocketknight
07/23/09

In reply to Japanese Scifi Smackdown! Power-Armor Warriors Vs. Alien Dirt-Eaters
It bother the hell out of me that the novel is called "All You Need is Kill". That makes no god damn sense. How about "All You Need is the Kill" or "All You Need is a Kill"?

I know I shouldn't care as much as I do, but... gbyvh nybtvvtbgfhgvybjnum

I might buy the book because the plot sounds sort of interesting, but the title is just retarded.
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Edited by Rocketknight at 07/23/09 12:43 PM Rocketknight was starred Rocketknight was unstarred

MrTim
07/23/09

@VergessenHeld: "It bother the hell out of me that the novel is called "All You Need is Kill""

Setting aside the irony of your own typo, I suspect that is the untranslated title. There's a sort of "Engrish aesthetic" in Japan at times that may be rearing its head here. Either they didn't realize it was bad grammar or thought it sounded cooler to the Japanese ear. When the book was translated, they decided to leave the title alone.
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Grey_Area
07/23/09

@MrTim: I'm suspecting it might be a play on the Beatles song. Rest assured, the actual text of both books has been excellently translated with an ear for English conversation and idioms.
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Edited by Grey_Area at 07/23/09 3:03 PM Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred

Rocketknight
07/23/09

@Grey_Area: I'm not a big fan of the Beatles, so that may have been why it slipped by me. Glad to hear the book itself is well-translated.

@MrTim: *looks at the article, then his own post* ... *headdesks repeatedly*
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unigon
07/23/09

In reply to Japanese Scifi Smackdown! Power-Armor Warriors Vs. Alien Dirt-Eaters
Yoshitoshi Abe didn't really do the character design for the anime...he just drew the cover for the original novel. If you compare Misaki from the novel cover and from the TV anime there character designs are sort of different.
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Grey_Area
07/23/09

@unigon: Thanks! I'll amend that.
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Grey_Area
07/23/09

In reply to Japanese Scifi Smackdown! Power-Armor Warriors Vs. Alien Dirt-Eaters
In other Non-English language SF news: the July issue of Locus has some articles about the state of the genre in Columbia and China. There is also a review of Javier Calvo's Wonderful World and two anthologies from the Phillipines. Okay, the speak English in the Phillipines, but you get the idea. Pinoy...in space! Mabuhay!
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Grey_Area
07/23/09

@Grey_Area: I also just found this new site via Jay Lake's Blog. It's a SF site from Japan in English. Looks very well done and not at all a manga/anime site.

http://www.26to50.com/en/index.html
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pheersum
07/23/09

@Grey_Area: I certainly wish VIZ good luck with the Haikasoru line, and I intend to read The Lord of the Sands of Time. I can't help but wonder if this will be another flash in the pan for SF in translation. Tor's Orson Scott Card presents started off so well with the translation of Andreas Eschbach's novel The Carpetmakers, but then nothing. DAW used to publish a bit of German and French SF. And MacMillan had a series of Soviet bloc SF. I was told by an editor that the cost of translation is prohibitive when it comes to publishing and promoting an author with no track record in the world of English speaking SF. The lack of any continuous program is a cause for concern, but if VIZ can pull this off then maybe there's hope for more European SF in translation as well.
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Grey_Area
07/24/09

@pheersum: Fingers crossed. I'd love to see some of the East German stuff from the 80's translated and am wondering what the rest of the world is up to SpecFic-wise. I'm too damn lazy to learn new languages but am still curious. Here's hoping.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
05/13/09

In reply to The Brits Win the Space Race in "Empress of Mars"
BTW, "the odds are good, but the goods are odd" is not anyone in particular's invention -- it's just one of those phrases that have been around forever.

For some reason, it gets used a lot by fannish women ;) and I first heard it as a girl in engineering school.
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Grey_Area
05/14/09

@Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: What an astonishing surprise.
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goldfarb
05/13/09

In reply to The Brits Win the Space Race in "Empress of Mars"
sonds interesting....thanks Grey!

oh and those two pictures in the middle are very very ugly book covers...
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crashedpc - Haifisch
05/13/09

In reply to The Brits Win the Space Race in "Empress of Mars"
The Larch.

The. Larch.

The. Larch.
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AmishJohn
05/13/09

@crashedpc : ゴキブリ and 蟑螂 division: Don't forget the Mighty Scotch Pine.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
05/13/09

In reply to The Brits Win the Space Race in "Empress of Mars"
I liked the story in "New Space Opera" about the Martian truckers, so more of this looks good.

Also, I want to be a New Celt. Sounds like I'd fit right in. "Beast slavery" FTW -- some animals is tasty, some produce tasty things, and some are cute and fuzzy companions. I'm keeping my wine, my bacon, and my kittehs.
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