sci-fi fantasy lit column!

[rm]

So I'm going to be doing a column for Gather on the world of sci-fi and fantasy literature. My introductory piece is going on be on the ascendancy of this genre and why it's not what the people who aren't immersed in it generally denigrate it as. If any of you want to talk to me about why you enjoy this work and what it means to you and how the reception your interest in it as a consumer has evolved over the years, please leave comments and let me know if I can quote you if you provide this info in your comments. I am excited about this!

But, they want a catchy title to help brand it. What the hell should I call it?

Also exciting: a big check for some writing I did will be here exactly when I need it.

Comments

[dien.livejournal.com]

(...continuing)

In contrast, some of the best science fiction/fantasy I've read often deals with racism, gender issues, social issues, religion, politics, sexuality, philosophy, etc, etc, within what is simply the context of an SF/fantasy world. Only in the lowest-end SF/fantasy is the story about the magical sword or the spaceship or the aliens; what the outsider generally deems the "hallmarks" of SF/fantasy, in the same way that the Love Scene/Declaration of Love is the hallmark of the romance, or the Solving Of The Case the hallmark of the detective thriller. SF/fantasy treats its accoutrements not as the point of the story, even if those accoutrements happen to play a large part in the plot, but as merely a starting point from which to tell any type of story.

(Arguably there are other examples of (non SF/fantasy) genre fiction in which the story is not "about the hallmarks" as I phrase it; they may well exist, but I haven't encountered them.)

This is part of the reason I sometimes have issues with sf/fantasy being called 'genre fiction'-- because it's far more flexible and adaptable than that label implies. Nobody who's a fan of Lord of the Rings thinks it's about the Ring; nobody who's a fan of Firefly thinks the story is about the spaceship; yet those who are not immersed in these types of literature are perfectly content to judge it by the words "magic ring" or "spaceship".


Um. I'm trying to think if I had an actual argument with this or if I was just babbling. Probably the latter. *skritches head* Hopefully I actually answered a question somewhere in there.

You're more than welcome to quote if any of it catches your eye; is dien all you need for quote-y purposes, or d'you want real names?