July 2010

SF/F Commentary

Irrelevant Debates About Science Fiction: The Academy

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One of the oldest debates in the science fiction community is that surrounding the academy–i.e. the university and its literary academia. We’ve heard the arguments before: some institution somewhere views science fiction literature as a pointless literary endeavor, so much so that to discuss it or apply its features to more acceptable forms of literature is tantamount to literary blasphemy. But is pointing this out relevant anymore, or has the “academics hate science fiction” debate mostly over with? Being an academic with a focus in science fiction, I have often had the feeling that I am the outsider. There were few courses on science fiction at my undergraduate institution (University of California, Santa Cruz) and my first year was spent trying to figure out where I could go to study what I cared about most–which led me primarily to institutions in England, such as the University of Liverpool. During my time at UC Santa Cruz (and some of my time at the University of Florida, where I’m still located), I made several arguments about the literary academia’s prejudice against science fiction (or things related to it), many of them rehashes of arguments that had already occurred months and even decades before by others with considerably more clout. But when I moved to Florida to acquire my M.A. at the University of Florida, my opinion on this subject changed. In the last year I have attended three academic conferences, two specifically on popular culture (broadly defined) and one on a more rigid subject (21st century writing in English). Science fiction has played a prominent role in each of these conferences. But, even more important, these conferences and my schooling at the University of Florida have made it clearer than ever that science fiction is not only becoming acceptable publicly, but also acceptable for study. Universities are quickly opening up their curriculum to science fiction, if not explicitly via the introduction of science fiction classes, then at least silently by more frequently introducing science fiction texts into academic discourse (both in the classroom and in academic journals). In fact, I think the last year or so have proven that the divide between the “literary people” and the “science fiction people” is so fuzzy as to be almost meaningless. And the more this becomes clear (and it will as more and more academics and “literary” writers delve into the depths of science fiction), the more the discussion of the evil Academy and their anti-science fiction ways will become utterly irrelevant–if it isn’t already. We’re at a point now where the dialogue between these two worlds is becoming increasingly detailed and cordial. Look at people like Adam Roberts, Paul Kincaid, Samuel R. Delany, Fredric Jameson, and, dare I say, even Farah Mendelsohn, all of whom have been active in the critical scholarship on science fiction and who have successfully driven mainstream SF into the hands of those who, at some magical point in the past, had refused to consider popular literary forms as worthy of discussion. Or, look at the kinds of authors getting attention from “literary” folks: Iain Banks (with or without the M), Kazuo Ishiguro, China Mieville, Haruki Murikami, Salman Rushdie, all the major classic SF authors, and dozens of others who are now receiving the attention they damn well deserve. The fact of the matter is: we’ve won. Will institutions still exist that are anti-science fiction? Of course, just as there are still institutions that don’t have comparative literature programs or Marxist tracks. But they’ll become increasingly less relevant to the discussion of literature and, possibly, disappear from the literary map. but that means that there really isn’t much point in crying about feeling left out of the academic discussion, because we’re not. The past is now over. We can move on and press the literary academia to become more invested in our science fiction world, and, in the process, take some cues from them (because, hey, they do know what they’re talking about…sometimes). For now, let’s take solace in the fact that we’ve won the war that we thought would wage on and on forever.

SF/F Commentary

The Masterworks Meme: Science Fiction

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Time for another meme! I found this one at The Speculative Scotsman. It contains all the science fiction books from the Gollanz Masterworks of SFF collection. How it works: Bold the stuff you’ve read, italicize the stuff you own, but haven’t read, and leave normal everything else. Feel free to join in! (The Speculative Scotsman notes that “some of the SF Masterworks were released in a line of special hardcovers – denoted by roman numerals – as well as the paperbacks we all own a few of, so there are a few duplicates in the list.” This will account for some repeats on the list.) Here goes: I – Dune – Frank HerbertII – The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. Le GuinIII – The Man in the High Castle – Philip K. DickIV – The Stars My Destination – Alfred BesterV – A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M. Miller, Jr.VI – Childhood’s End – Arthur C. ClarkeVII – The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress – Robert A. HeinleinVIII – Ringworld – Larry NivenIX – The Forever War – Joe HaldemanX – The Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham 1 – The Forever War – Joe Haldeman2 – I Am Legend – Richard Matheson3 – Cities in Flight – James Blish4 – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick5 – The Stars My Destination – Alfred Bester6 – Babel-17 – Samuel R. Delany7 – Lord of Light – Roger Zelazny8 – The Fifth Head of Cerberus – Gene Wolfe9 – Gateway – Frederik Pohl10 – The Rediscovery of Man – Cordwainer Smith 11 – Last and First Men – Olaf Stapledon12 – Earth Abides – George R. Stewart13 – Martian Time-Slip – Philip K. Dick14 – The Demolished Man – Alfred Bester15 – Stand on Zanzibar – John Brunner16 – The Dispossessed – Ursula K. Le Guin17 – The Drowned World – J. G. Ballard18 – The Sirens of Titan – Kurt Vonnegut19 – Emphyrio – Jack Vance20 – A Scanner Darkly – Philip K. Dick 21 – Star Maker – Olaf Stapledon22 – Behold the Man – Michael Moorcock23 – The Book of Skulls – Robert Silverberg24 – The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds – H. G. Wells25 – Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes26 – Ubik – Philip K. Dick27 – Timescape – Gregory Benford28 – More Than Human – Theodore Sturgeon29 – Man Plus – Frederik Pohl30 – A Case of Conscience – James Blish 31 – The Centauri Device – M. John Harrison32 – Dr. Bloodmoney – Philip K. Dick33 – Non-Stop – Brian Aldiss34 – The Fountains of Paradise – Arthur C. Clarke35 – Pavane – Keith Roberts36 – Now Wait for Last Year – Philip K. Dick37 – Nova – Samuel R. Delany38 – The First Men in the Moon – H. G. Wells39 – The City and the Stars – Arthur C. Clarke40 – Blood Music – Greg Bear 41 – Jem – Frederik Pohl42 – Bring the Jubilee – Ward Moore43 – VALIS – Philip K. Dick44 – The Lathe of Heaven – Ursula K. Le Guin45 – The Complete Roderick – John Sladek46 – Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said – Philip K. Dick47 – The Invisible Man – H. G. Wells48 – Grass – Sheri S. Tepper49 – A Fall of Moondust – Arthur C. Clarke50 – Eon – Greg Bear 51 – The Shrinking Man – Richard Matheson52 – The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch – Philip K. Dick53 – The Dancers at the End of Time – Michael Moorcock54 – The Space Merchants – Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth55 – Time Out of Joint – Philip K. Dick56 – Downward to the Earth – Robert Silverberg57 – The Simulacra – Philip K. Dick58 – The Penultimate Truth – Philip K. Dick59 – Dying Inside – Robert Silverberg60 – Ringworld – Larry Niven 61 – The Child Garden – Geoff Ryman62 – Mission of Gravity – Hal Clement63 – A Maze of Death – Philip K. Dick64 – Tau Zero – Poul Anderson65 – Rendezvous with Rama – Arthur C. Clarke66 – Life During Wartime – Lucius Shepard67 – Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang – Kate Wilhelm68 – Roadside Picnic – Arkady and Boris Strugatsky69 – Dark Benediction – Walter M. Miller, Jr.70 – Mockingbird – Walter Tevis 71 – Dune – Frank Herbert72 – The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress – Robert A. Heinlein73 – The Man in the High Castle – Philip K. Dick74 – Inverted World – Christopher Priest75 – Kurt Vonnegut – Cat’s Cradle76 – H.G. Wells – The Island of Dr. Moreau77 – Arthur C. Clarke – Childhood’s End78 – H.G. Wells – The Time Machine79 – Samuel R. Delany – Dhalgren (July 2010)80 – Brian Aldiss – Helliconia (August 2010) 81 – H.G. Wells – Food of the Gods (Sept. 2010)82 – Jack Finney – The Body Snatchers (Oct. 2010)83 – Joanna Russ – The Female Man (Nov. 2010)84 – M.J. Engh – Arslan (Dec. 2010) So, of the 80+ books above, I have read 9 and own around 40 (minus the repeats). That’s pretty pathetic. I am officially ashamed of myself. The only excuse I have is that I have been predominately focused on contemporary SF literature, and the books above, despite the dates in parenthesis, are mostly older books. I am happy to have read some Philip K. Dick, though. Not a lot of folks can say that! Feel free to steal the meme and do it yourself. Leave a link in the comments!

SF/F Commentary

Video Found: Let Me In (Film Trailer)

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I have my reservations about Let Me In, the American remake of the amazing Swedish film Let the Right One In. Most of that has to do with my general disinterest in Hollywood’s remake industry, which tries to re-apply every foreign film to the American market, often poorly. I also have problems with the fact that the original Swedish film is barely two years old; it seems too soon to start remaking things. But the trailer below does look fantastic. Whether it will be a good movie is hard to say, but it does seem like they’ve worked hard to maintain the atmosphere. Maybe this will be one of those good remakes. Who knows? Here’s the trailer (below the fold):

SF/F Commentary

New Poll: Would you read an ebook?

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I’ll announce the name for my fern this weekend, but for now, I have a new poll! So, if you’ll come on to the site and cast your vote on the poll to the left, that would be awesome. The question is: Would you read an ebook? The choices are “yes,” “no,” and “maybe.” Simple enough. If you want to leave a more detailed response, feel free to do so in the comments for this post. Happy voting!

SF/F Commentary

National Identity in British science fiction

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When I was asked to provide a guest post on British Sci Fi, I immediately called upon The Speculators, Leicester’s foremost group of short sci-fi writers, each of whom is a font of bizarre, random and extensive knowledge on the subject. At short notice I was joined by Catherine Digman, Will Ellwood and Daniel Ribot, so with huge thanks to them, I offer you some thoughts on British Sci Fi. I wanted to know what defines British Sci fi and makes it different from the US in content and tone.While any given work has its own style and mood, what general distinctions do people perceive between the UK & US? American SF heads into space with wide-eyed optimism and no-expense-spared military hardware, while here in the UK we are shaking our heads, convinced we are bringing about our own destruction on minimum wage. Even the science fiction magazines in the States demonstrated this sense of wonder, with titles like Amazing Stories & Astounding Science Fiction. It is perhaps telling of wider national attitudes, the Americans are often first to into any fray or exploration, with Britain pulled along in their wake (often tutting loudly). Not such a surprise then that our SF tends to be empire driven or inwards facing while the US is dashing off into outer space for shoot outs and show downs. Are the new imperialists now Britain’s empire has crumbled, or are they simply following on with that frontier spirit? Of course British SF isn’t all about gloom, it’s merely the side effect of stories that seek to provide social or political commentary without the shackles of real world situations. There is a subversive tension rarely found in the more apolitical American writing. Amongst those cited for this are HG Wells (socialist), Michael Moorcock (described as a radical anarchist) and Iain Banks who was part of a movement to have Tony Blair impeached for his part in the Iraq war. This is not just a British phenomenon, European writers take a similar approach. Polish author Stanislaw Lem (Solaris, His Master’s Voice, The Cyberiad), explored such themes as “speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind’s place in the universe” (wikipedia) There is a lighter side to British Sci Fi. This is thanks to likes of Douglas Adams. Toby Frost’s excellent Space Captain Smith series is not only only gleefully camp and silly, but also continues a grand tradition of the British sending themselves up. Certainly it should be included in our fiction legacy, offsetting the political gloom with a sense of humour. The difference is that rather than focussing on the larger scale issues of alien invasion and dying worlds, the lighter British SF tends to focus on the people, the relationships, while everything else simply forms an entertaining back drop. This suggests two strains of British SF. One reflects on large scale events, using characters to guide us through them, the second focusses on the personal melodrama of characters that could be anyone, anywhere… It’s just more fun to do it in space. A quick tweet asking ‘what do you think of when I say British SF?’ prompted more people to reply with TV shows – Red Dwarf, Blakes 7, Quartermass – alongside novelists such as Wyndham,. British SF in the worldwide twitter consciousness is largely visual. I had to specify books to get a few more suggestions. This is particularly interesting given my twitter stream is made up largely of authors, reviewers and avid readers, many of them in genre fiction. I would suggest this is because TV series and films are so immediately identifiable by their nation of origin, while books are selected and enjoyed and a casual reader is often not aware of the nationality of the writer. It’s not something I consider about a book. I may buy a book because I’ve come across the author on twitter and am entertained by them, or because I like the shiny cover, or the back blurb sounds interesting, but I do not enter a shop with the thought ‘today I want to buy dystopian sci fi by a british writer’ or ‘I absolutely must have American space opera’. It was only when I started considering this post I realised how few authors, particularly in sci fi, I could attribute a nationality to. I enjoy the tropes and a mix of approaches in my reading, so I read a mixture of styles, authors and nationalities, (Japan has produced some superb Sci Fi with it’s own distinctive style). I am more conscious of it now and will be looking for the patterns, for the tells in British writing that indicate the political and social concerns of the day, the passion for exploration from the US. Of course above all, what I shall be looking for is a good story. When all is said and done that’s what brings us all to the shelves in the end.

SF/F Commentary

Haul of Books 2010: Stuff For Me v.14

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I have received two really amazing gifts from authors in the last few weeks. I’m not going to tell you what the other one is just yet, because there is a really cool story that goes along with it (involving some of my “fiction,” as it were), but I will tell you about this gift from one of my favorite young adult writers…ever. The following image contains an audiobook that author Susan Beth Pfeffer gave away some time ago, but it also contains some stuff that I didn’t ask for and that makes me giddy inside. Here’s the image (after the fold):And here are the descriptions of what’s in the image, from left to right (taken from Amazon or made up by me): 1. Audiobook Wrapper (in the form of an edited manuscript page from one of Ms. Pfeffer’s post-apocalyptic novels from the same series as the audiobook–page 119, to be exact) There isn’t much I can say about this that the title doesn’t already give away. I initially thought that it was nothing more than random paper used to wrap the audiobook, but when I saw that it was actually a page from one of her books, it made me feel like those Harry Potter fans feel when they get an autograph in an HP book. 2. The Year Without Michael by Susan Beth Pfeffer (signed and personalized) Bad things aren’t supposed to happen to good people. But somewhere between home and the softball field, 16-year-old Jody Chapman’s younger brother disappeared, and now the family is falling apart. Her parents hardly speak to each other, her younger sister is angry and bitter, and Jody’s friends, always so important to her, are slowly slipping away. It seems that all anyone can do is wait. Wait—for Michael to walk in the door. Wait—to stop missing him. Wait—to stop waiting. When a private detective can’t uncover a single clue about Michael’s disappearance, Jody’s urgent need to find him drives her to make a last desperate attempt to hold her family together. 3. This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer (audiobook) It’s been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth’s climate. For Miranda Evans, life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbors are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce.The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda’s father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomers is Alex Morales, and as Miranda’s complicated feelings for him turn to love, his plans for his future thwart their relationship. Then a devastating tornado hits the town of Howell, and Miranda makes a decision that will change their lives forever. How cool is that, eh? Have you discovered anything in bookstores or what not recently? Let me know about them in the comments!

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