Monday, June 05, 2006

Nitpickery Is Killing Science Fiction

No links; I bet you folks will know what I'm reacting to. And, if not, I want to make vast sweeping generalizations anyway, so being tied down to specifics will only hurt the cause.

There are now a number of communities and groups -- I belong to several of them myself -- which seem to exist for the sole purpose of tearing apart any new SF work. No matter what it is, there's sure to be something wrong with it.

If there's the slightest bit of detail that possibly contradicts any relatively accepted scientific model, the science-nerds will sneer and point.

If all of the characters are indistinguishable from contemporary white Americans, the diversity geeks will titter into their hands.

If some of the characters are clearly not contemporary white Americans, but the author is, those same diversity geeks will reach for their long knives. (And also start babbling in post-Lacanian doubletalk; I can't say which is worse.)

If any aspect of the political, economic, or social set-up of the world does not fit with the confirmed irrational prejudices of the reader (who can be anything from a frothing libertarian to a bomb-tossing Marxist), long screeds will be written and distributed.

If the plot has the slightest bit of ambiguity to it, or if the author shows any signs of having read mainstream fiction more modern than Dumas (pere), the mouth-breathing I'm-just-spending-my-beer-money contingent will hoot about how incomprehensible and "lit'rary" it is.

No matter what the work is, there's going to be something desperately, horribly wrong with it, and the group that thinks so will scream their anger to the skies. And so we all get the feeling that SF is in the doldrums, that there's nothing good being done, and that nothing good can be done. We even begin to feel a bit Spinradish, as if SF either died long ago or needs to be shot in the head immediately for our own good.

If you're one of the people doing this, you are helping to kill SF. Cut it the hell out. If you really think everything sucks, get out of my genre and go piss on mysteries or romances for a while.

I'm serious. Don't make me come back there....
Your Hornswoggler is Andrew Wheeler Released into the wild 6/05/2006 02:04:00 PM
Recurring Motifs: ,

11 comments:

Linda said...

I'm not sure myself why I don't enjoy SF as much as I used to, though I read more fantasy than ever, along with (gasp) chick lit and literary novels. I did, however, enjoy your rant. I couldn't agree more. It might be that part of SF's problem is that it has become, in its own science-fictiony way, a bit too politically correct and self-conscious.

Mon Jun 05, 03:25:00 PM 2006
Farah said...

How is any of this different to the letter columns of the sf magazines since 1926? As I remember, the ones in Amazing were headed "Brickbats and Bouquets" but were mostly brickbats. They didn't manage to kill off sf, so I can't see how bloggers will either

Mon Jun 05, 06:17:00 PM 2006
Anonymous said...

I agree that people should maybe lighten up sometimes, perhaps. But talking about stuff is part of the joy of reading stuff, and complaining about stuff is part of the joy of talking about stuff.

And I don't see any evidence that sf is dying.

Mon Jun 05, 07:52:00 PM 2006
Andrew Wheeler said...

You know, it's no help when I'm over here ranting away and you folks come along trying to be all reasonable and logical about things -- this is the Internet! You're supposed to call me nasty names, talk about unlikely anatomical configurations, and impugn the chastity of my mother.

Tue Jun 06, 08:45:00 AM 2006
Anonymous said...

"You're supposed to call me nasty names, talk about unlikely anatomical configurations, and impugn the chastity of my mother."

Far be it from me not to live down to expectations.

Sir, I note that your mother had at least one child and therefore could not accurately be said to be virginal.

Unless...

Does anyone here have two long boards and a hammer and nails I can borrow?

"Farah said...

How is any of this different to the letter columns of the sf magazines since 1926?"

Ah, the letter pages in ANALOG after Bova replaced Campbell. ISTR some extremely negative reactions to the series of Joe Haldeman stories that later became THE FOREVER WAR.

I missed the New Wave wars, although when I discovered the magazines a decade later, people were _still_ complaining about it.

"Linda said...

It might be that part of SF's problem is that it has become, in its own science-fictiony way, a bit too politically correct and self-conscious."

I don't think any genre it's commercially viable to publish a book whose central premise is that the Waffen SS is a maligned organization is in terrible danger of being crushed beneath the perfumed slippers of political correctness.

Tue Jun 06, 11:54:00 AM 2006
Anonymous said...

You are 100% correct! The funny thing is that this trend is prevalent in books, but not with film and video games. The visual medium still tends toward science fantasy and space opera—two forms that don’t require an advanced degree to either write or enjoy. Thus, from Star Wars to Halo, consumers sop up every morsel of this brand of SF, making the genre tops for highest grossing films and video games. Yet, in the book world, if there is the slightest notion of technical improbability, then there’s a problem.

I think the real issue is that SF readership is down (and continuing to slide) while the genre tends to thrive in other forms. Authors and publishers should take note of this and break from the seeming obsession with Hard SF, and focus some efforts on science fantasy and space opera, along with offering YA titles of the same sort. We may in the end start cultivating fans instead of driving people away.

Thanks for the post!

Tue Jun 06, 12:14:00 PM 2006
Anonymous said...

I absolutey agree.

It's astonishing how critical readers are of the things that are not in the book.

When I go to a movie like Slither I don't walk out of the theatre and hit on it for not being The Exorcist. If a movie like Slither delivers a B movie gross-out fest then it's a grade A, B horror movie gross-out fest. I would be offended if the director didn't try to introduce some gratuitous nudity as well. Judge a thing by what it is.

Tue Jun 06, 12:46:00 PM 2006
Anonymous said...

Is it true that science fiction readership is down? I've seen this asserted but I have not seen numbers. I do remember that a few years ago Patrick Nielsen Hayden was saying that readership was up a whole lot (naturally I don't have those numbers to hand). If readership is down from that it's not necessarily meaningful.

One difficulty in assessing this is that themes, plot devices, settings, and other bits that might have once been restricted to sf genres are now more often incorporated into other genres, which means that the identification of an sf readership is fuzzier than ever.

In any case, I really don't think people caring about the social, cultural, and political implications of what they read, and arguing about those things in public, makes them read less -- I actually kind of think it makes them read more, often as not, because they go looking for support for their arguments.

Wed Jun 07, 01:23:00 PM 2006
Andrew Wheeler said...

There's no good way to judge SF readership (as in the universe of people who sometimes or regularly read SF), but the sales of SF books is down a bit -- particularly in the context of the sales of all books.

SF got hurt particularly strongly by the consolidation of mass-market channels and the subsequent re-focusing of much of the mass-market business on only the top bestsellers.

And it's more of a perception issue I'm complaining about to begin with -- the feeling that SF is "tired" and "old-fashioned," that "real life has outstripped SF," that "there are no new ideas left," and that thus we need to shut out the lights in the SF edifice and go live somewhere else.

Wed Jun 07, 03:56:00 PM 2006
Meril said...

I've seen this in romance fandom, too, so it's not easily escaped. It's what happens when people start thinking their personal likes and dislikes should be universal. It's not that "there's not enough hard sf out there;" it's that "why doesn't everyone like hard sf? I like it, so what's wrong with them?"

Thu Jun 08, 12:29:00 AM 2006
Anonymous said...

"And it's more of a perception issue I'm complaining about to begin with -- the feeling that SF is "tired" and "old-fashioned," that "real life has outstripped SF," that "there are no new ideas left," and that thus we need to shut out the lights in the SF edifice and go live somewhere else."

At the risk of ruining my reputation, I think that there's a place in SF for variations on established themes. A 21st century reply to classic ideas )not in the form of "How stupid people were in the 1940s to have any hope that [idea] could work.") might be interesting.

Sat Jun 10, 01:07:00 PM 2006

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