Does the Genre Tag Matter?
I recently came upon an article featuring Michael Chabon and Jeffrey Ford in which both authors gave some reasons as to why tagging fiction with certain genre tags isn’t really that important. Chabon states that, “the people it matters the least to are the ones who are doing it. In so many other artistic mediums, it’s not weird at all.” This got me thinking about whether or not tagging novels within certain genres really matters and I’ll send the question in the direction of the reader as well. To me it seems like this is a difficult question to answer. To a certain extent the genre tags are important. They help book stores figure out where to put things and are great for categorizing in libraries and online. I think the question applies, however, to the growing number of works that don’t really sit into any one genre. Take Zoran Zivkovic’s work. His work is highly literary, in my opinion, but there is a lot of that “fantastic” element within each story, some more so than others. It would be somewhat difficult to pin Zivkovic’s work into any particular genre. I would call his work “magical realism”, but at the same time it is a bunch of other things. You just can’t pin his work down. However, there are other writers who are easier to pin down (and I don’t mean this in a negative manner). Tobias S. Buckell’s novels Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin are rather easy to define. Well, at least the latter is. The first reads very much like a steampunk/fantasy novel, with SF stuff towards the end, and the latter is very much an SF work. I will concede that there is obviously little need for genre tags for novels that are just too difficult to pin down. After all, I think it is something unfair to stick something into the fantasy section that is also literary, since people who read literary fiction might not read fantasy and therefore wouldn’t find that novel. But I think that the genre tag is more important than Ford and Chabon seem to think. I think writers do have a certain level of interest in how their books are categorized. If you wrote a science fiction novel and they put it in the westerns section, you might be a little miffed about it. After all, you worked hard to write a science fiction novel and now all the people who would be interested in your work won’t find it. Folks who write very specifically within certain genres probably care a lot more than people who don’t necessarily write in a genre. Then what about the reader? I don’t read a lot of literary fiction, except what I have to read for school. I just don’t like literary fiction. It bores me and quite honestly I read to be entertained. Reading shouldn’t feel like a chore to me. So, I don’t go into the regular fiction section or the literary fiction section when I’m at the book store. I have no reason to. I spend my time wandering the scifi/fantasy section, and occasionally I’ll go to the literary criticism section to see if they have anything interesting in relation to SF/F, or into the science section, or something similar. I’m not the only one that does this. There are a hell of a lot of readers who do the same thing. Why? Because many of us simply don’t like anything else. We like space ships and swords and the like. All fiction is escapist. For me, escaping means actually escaping, not pretending that real life is the same thing as an escape. I live real life and quite honestly, I don’t want to read about it. That’s me. If you took away the genre tag I would be extremely irritated. It already takes me an hour at least to go through the science fiction and fantasy sections at Borders or at Logo’s (this awesome used bookstore downtown). What would happen if you suddenly got rid of all the tags? Well, a lot of new SF/F authors might find themselves in a bit of a pickle. The great thing about the SF/F section is that I can find new authors whose work is of interest. If you take away the tag all the authors will simply be put into a giant fiction section. There’s a good chance I’d never find a new author into the field because of this. There is a huge market for SF/F and if there are works that clearly belong in those genres that aren’t labeled that way it can be a big problem for that industry. I think there is a lot of value in having genre tags, particularly for the fantasy market, which has sales through the roof and is showing no signs of stopping. If everything that was fantasy suddenly became nothing, people would actually have to pull every book off the shelf to see the cover to make sure it is what they’d like to read.Keep the tags. They’re useful.
SF/F Links: April Roundup (First Half)
By the way, this is going to be long since I’m pulling links off my desktop and my laptop. So, get ready for a long list of SF/F related links! Universe Today Want to know what happens when two black holes collide? What about three? Sound like science fiction? Yeah, they asked the same question too. It’s not. Intel, being the cool company that they are, have begun devising ways to protect microchips from cosmic rays. Basically, the chips are going to be smart enough to go “hey, that’s not right” and magically fix themselves–in theory. Want to read more about how all life on Earth is from outer space? So do I. Screw E.T. We’re more interesting (well, not really, humanity is somewhat boring to me now). New images of an actual dust avalanche on Mars! Now all we need are skiers. And just to add to this I think a cute picture is needed: the little blue planet and its moon from Mars. I love this planet. We’re so cool. Apparently Saturn’s moon, Rhea, has rings. Who knew? I always thought their relationship was strictly professional. Hubble, being the great piece of machinery that it is, has turned up evidence for organic molecules around an exoplanet! It just keeps getting better and better. Salt deposits discovered on Mars might be a good place to look for evidence of life (fossilized, but still, life is life). I’m skeptical, but enthusiastic. Even if we find microbial life, it’s good. New evidence has been discovered to suggest that Titan has a liquid ocean underneath its crust! Good news? Yes, actually. This has some interesting implications about the possibilities for life on other planets. Did the asteroid impact for Sodom and Gomorrah happen? It’s quite possible. A clay tablet that has been puzzling scientists is believed to describe an asteroid impact a long long time ago on this very planet. So maybe it really happen, eh? Futurismic First flights from Boeing to use fuel-cells! Yeah! Now we are getting closer to the answer to my question: When oil runs out, what happens to airline flights? The lovely folks in the Netherlands have a low-tech way of converting salt water into something drinkable. To add to the frightening change in our cyber-culture, there are now reports of high-tech heart monitors being hacked into. Scary? I think so. Apparently British waters are a great place to get mostly clean energy. Read about it here. Stem cell research shows it can help deal with Parkinson’s. Babies killed to figure that out? Zero. Good job everyone! In a serious note, this is great news for me because I’d like to see Michael J. Fox come back to to TV. We’re one step closer to suspended-animation, since we can now almost completely do it with mice. Yeah, this is good news because now I don’t have to completely BS this stuff. Afghanistan is smart. Now with food prices on the rice it seems that all those lovely opium fields are being converted to wheat fields. Yay democracy, or whatever prompted them to do that. Listverse Top 10 Sciencific Frauds and Hoaxes. A bonus is you get a nice anti-evolution hoax in there. Fun! 10 More Unsolved Mysteries. I’m particularly fond of 5 and 3. Top 10 Bizarre Genetically Modified Organisms. Michael Jackson isn’t on this list by the way. Top 10 Evil Human Experiments. Because we humans tend to be a little screwed up. Top 12 Things You Need to Be a Mad Scientist. Oh yes, now I have a mission in life! Top 12 Dystopian Novels. Also known as the list of really awesome books. Top 15 SF Book Series! Another good list! 8 Atrocities Committed in the Name of Religion. Not a particularly powerful list (missing a few things that need to be there), but certainly one I will give a thumbs up to. Top 10 Interesting Abandoned Places! I love these kinds of lists! io9 This is fascinating. Apparently studies show that dyslexics are able to work comfortable when working in a language other than the one they first learned. So someone who speaks English might not have much problems working in Chinese. The article also talks about why such people are great at computer programming. Need a 20% decrease in fuel consumption on those oil-guzzling transport ships? Well, attach a sail to it. This might be just the thing we need to stick it to them damned oil companies. Apparently some scientists think we might not be that different from aliens after all. Genetic manipulation might be used for good: stopping HIV in its tracks. Yup. New studies show that we are born with a gene that could combat the virus, but that it is turned off. So, should we turn it on at birth? (Note, the gene is present in people infected with HIV) Detailed military specs on how to stop a giant monster in your home town. Yeah, someone has a lot of time on their hands. The survival guide to bad SF movies. Great list indeed! Want to see something scary? The science vs. scientology timeline! Yeah, apparently the Thetans are inside us all. Apparently this lizard can drink through its foot. That has to suck. Google, being so awesome, is teaming up with MIT to design the first satellite that can actually detect small Earth-like planets around other stars. I love you, Google. Apparently this is the new bacteria that will cause the next pandemic. I’m skeptical. It looks like a wimp to me. Menopause sucks (or so I hear). But guess what? You need men even more now because studies show that you can use testosterone to counter the bad effects of menopause! Yeah! Scientists have found a mirror galaxy to ours. Don’t get your hopes up. It’s not exactly like ours, but it shares similarities. Heathrow Airport will now have a new form of transportation from the parking structures to the airport. And it’s unmanned! Awesome!
SF/F Links: March/April Roundup
A little delayed, but finally I have some links for you all. There are loads more, so I think I’m going to have to go with a weekly schedule so it doesn’t pile up like it is doing now. In any case, here are the links: io9 Things you can do to help create artificial intelligences! You’d be surprised what simple things there are that can help in that field. Stuff you might already do regularly. Post-apocalyptic scenes made out of food! I had a link similar to this from Listverse a long while back. This is in the same vein and amazing. Anyone wanting some advice on map-making should start looking at vector maps of things on other planets and moons in our solar system. Seriously, go to this vector map of a methane sea on Titan and see how cool extraterrestrial maps are! Six earth cities that will give us ideas on how to colonize Mars. This is pretty cool actually. Rather interesting when you look at it from a realistic perspective. The Navy announces a five-year plan to build laser blasters. We’ve gotta keep up with those Chinese guys somehow right? Yeah. Good idea, but I wonder who is paying for it. Got a bum kidney? Well apparently there is a new way to get rid of them: give birth to it. Yeah, I don’t quite understand it either, but give it a look. New medical practices are revolutionizing how we do things these days. Nano-wire shirt that generates electricity while you move, but burns out if you sweat on it. Good idea, needs rethinking. A new biomedical gel that can fix your severed spine. Works on mice, should work on us. Paralysis might not be a problem of the future! Listverse Top 10 Ways to Fly Under the Radar. Yup, for all you ex-cons out there, or anyone writing about ex-cons. 10 Great Inventions That Should Be Invented! Interstellar travel here we come! Universe Today Quantum communications might be viable in the near future if we get on top of it like this article suggests. Astrium, from good old Europe, is ramping up plans to mass produce space planes. Yup, good stuff indeed. Cassini picks up hints of organic chemicals shooting off from Saturn’s Enceladus! Cool stuff indeed! 13.73 Billion Years. That’s the current measurement of how old the Universe is. Find out about it here. Hawaiin hippy files lawsuit against the Large Hadron Collider. Go away and stop fooling with complex science that you don’t understand! New research suggests that galaxies with quasars in the middle are not so good for planet formation. Yup, not good at all. I found this online somewhere (if I got it from you, please let me know). This is a look at the differences of opinion between the U.S. and England. It’s amazing how different we are. They are, by and large, far more progressive than we are. This image of these concept designs of future robotic police forces are amazing. Check out the gallery too. Simply stunning image. Michio Kaku on things we’ll probably never see. Sadly, he’s likely right. Ten sci-fi movie survival tips. Screaming is good, though. Scifi reading list with the subject “not quite human”. Lots of goodies in there. (Courtesy of SF Signal, I think) New Scientist Scientists have found the answer to the origins of two mysterious meteorites found in Antarctica. Find out here! Find ISS in this picture and you win nothing, because I have nothing to give. This is amazing though: a picture of the International Space Station over the Sun! Chrononautic Log has a video of a bizarre insect-like robot. Check it out. L. E. Modesitt, Jr. talks about SF’s ability to predict the future. Good stuff as usual. One of the coolest things that has ever been desired by Kung Fu fans since Bruce Lee died is now about to happen: Jackie Chan and Jet Li are getting together to make a movie! Yes, look at the trailer now! MentalFloss has 5 reasons why we’ll miss Arthur C. Clarke. *sniff* (By the way, some of these aren’t related to literature, just so you know) Mike Brotherton has a hard SF writer’s bookshelf. Good stuff, check it out if you are even marginally interested in writing SF. Dave Walton’s page of writing advice. There is a whole lot of stuff here. Seriously. A LOT. Like two books worth. Space.com has this cool article about alien sociology. So, are the aliens going to come and kill us? Hmm? Cyber-cops are getting organized. Watch out hackers! CERN, the most complicated thing humans have built thus far! The Thinking Blog profiles it. Want to know how bad the economy really is? Look at these poor folks. Yeah, Mr. Bush, this is what you’ve done to this country. Congrats.
Oh Sweet NASA
NASA does it right. Okay, maybe not, but for those of you interested in how space travel really looks right now you should watch this video of spaceflight STS-122 doing a pitch maneuver. The interesting thing about this is that space travel isn’t all flying around and shooting off like we see in the movies. You remember Armageddon? The Bruce Willis flick that attempted to do what Deep Impact did right, but was more successful because it gave us a more flashy, exciting picture with oddball characters (albeit an unrealistic picture).Well, in that film we saw the two ships, which aren’t that much different from what we see in the space shuttles today, take off at wild speeds, swooshing and zipping around as if they were in the air. While it was certainly beautiful to watch (who doesn’t want to see spaceships going back and forth like we’d expect to see on Earth?) it was entirely unrealistic and, well, ridiculous. The space shuttles we have today are actually very cautious and there’s no such thing as a simple maneuver. Sure, that maneuver in the video looks simple, but it’s precisely calculated because if you screw up you spin more than you really want to, and then you either have to do it all over again or you really screw yourself and crash. Maneuvers are calculated pretty much down to the wire on purpose so that there aren’t any accidents (yes, we do see accidents, but they are exceedingly rare).There’s just something to be said about being realistic over being completely unrealistic. Certainly in the far future we can expect space travel to be a little more, well, interesting, but as it stands right now, it’s not very interesting to folk that aren’t necessarily interested in what NASA is up to anyway. I might find that little maneuver rather fascinating, but it’s not the most thrilling video. There are no aliens, no flashy moves, no blasting of engines. It’s just a simple pitch maneuver in space using nothing more than a little momentum. Exciting? Is to me. I like it. Granted I wouldn’t watch it all the time, but it’s worth a peek. That’s the point, though, and perhaps the public is a little misled to think that space travel is, right at the moment, super flashy and all Star Wars/Star Trek-ish. It’s not folks. In fact, as space debris gets more and more of an issue, space travel might become even more dangerous.So, think on that for a while. Give it a few hundred years and maybe we’ll fly ships around in space like we see in the movies. But don’t count on it. There’s no gravity or air pressure up there. Talk about a blank slate, eh?
Anonymous and Cyber-terrorism: The Good and the Bad
I’ve been meaning to blog about this very subject for quite a while. The links have been sitting in my “Discuss” folder and I think it’s about time it was brought up. I think this will work in two stages. The first stage is to talk about the group Anonymous and their war against Scientology (as it currently stands) and the second stage is to talk about cyber-terrorism in general, since it is an issue we are facing in the real world and will face to a greater extent in the future. For those of you a little out of the loop, Anonymous is a, well, anonymous group of people all around that world that have essentially declared war against the Church of Scientology. They (the people behind it, some of which do have names since there’s really no way to keep yourself hidden entirely) believe that the Church of Scientology not only is limiting free speech in acts of legal battering, among other acts, but is a dangerous, violent cult that is quite similar to a totalitarian regime in religious format. Given the length of controversy over the Church of Scientology there has to be a certain amount of skepticism in their position. Are we to assume that the entire Church is evil? Well, Anonymous would argue yes, and to some extent I would have to agree. Whether or not Scientology is a “religion” that can help people is put out of view in comparison to how the Church has acted in the past and in the present towards its members and towards dissenters and critics. The Church has silenced many people, threatened legal action against protesters, passed out defamatory leaflets and sought to ruin the lives of people that have spoke out against the Church. And there is no small amount of criticism on Scientology’s history (you might not know this, but L. Ron Hubbard was actually banned from the country of England–banned, not just deported, but banned from touching English soil). I think if you look at all the links I’m going to give you’ll get an idea of what Anonymous stands for. There are the two videos released by Anonymous here, here, and here that talk about their mission (not to mention their criticisms of the Church and the media). You can find a transcript of the first of those videos here. If you really want to get into who they are you can go to their main page and read all about where they come from, who they are, what they are doing, etc.Anonymous is not just playing around either. In fact, they are pretty damn serious about this. There are, according to their reports, 7,500 people protesting right now in cities all over the world (find that info here) as of TODAY. There were reports by news agencies a while back about the first protests, but what’s interesting is that they are still protesting and in rather large numbers when you think about it. Now, this sounds all well and good, but you might be asking what this has to do with cyber-terrorism. Not long ago there were reports about cyber-attacks by people claiming to be from Anonymous on Church of Scientology websites. Now, whether or not these folks were actually members of Anonymous and were told “yeah, do that” is entirely up to speculation, which of course the lovely Church will do into order to continue it’s long spew of legal silliness. Anonymous has never called themselves hackers, as you’ll see, in fact they simply call themselves “Anonymous” or “Legion” and make it very clear that they are doctors, teachers, construction workers, etc. They are just people, not a bunch of Internet hackers with nothing to do. The protests have very clearly shown this. (By the way, you should probably do a good look around Youtube to see just what all the hubbub is about the Church–there are some really interesting videos about what Church personal do about people who are just standing across the street with a camera, or even what Church people say to those who actually are quite peaceful.) Whoever hacked into the Church websites clearly has done something that is wrong. That can’t be avoided, but I don’t see Anonymous taking credit for it. One thing I find most fascinating about all this is that the Church is not taking efforts to deny that things happened (i.e. that there are some people that have died, which you can find a lot about here). In fact, they seem to almost ignore it. The cyber-war has, it seems, been remarkably successful in presenting the information and it is a wonder why the Church doesn’t play the nice card and try to solve the problems. Surely the death of Church members is bad right? Cyber-terrorism is not isolated to such silly things as bringing down Church of Scientology websites (which I find to be bad, but at the same time I don’t think it’s religious persecution, since the Church is not necessarily a religion, though it calls itself that. This is a point Anonymous is trying to make). Cyber-attacks are not at all isolated to website hacking, which has been around for probably more than a decade now. In fact, we’re seeing the dawn of a whole new era of cyber-attacks. The CIA reported a while back that: We have information, from multiple regions outside the United States, of cyber intrusions into utilities, followed by extortion demands. We suspect, but cannot confirm, that some of these attackers had the benefit of inside knowledge. We have information that cyberattacks have been used to disrupt power equipment in several regions outside the United States. In at least one case, the disruption caused a power outage affecting multiple cities. We do not know who executed these attacks or why, but all involved intrusions through the Internet. The scary part of this is that while it has not affected the U.S. to public knowledge as
SF/F Links: March Roundup Part One
This is a little later than usual, but so be it. There will be a roundup at the start of April, most likely, rather than two roundups for March, although I’ll still call it a March Roundup. I got behind due to finals. In any case, here are a load of links that might be of interest to you all (more to come): Universe Today Galileo returns to the Vatican. Yup, they’re putting up a statue for him. About damn time. On the subject of Galileo, New Scientist had a controversial question about whether or not scientists should exhume his body to do DNA tests to figure out if the person buried with him, presumably his daughter, is actually his daughter. Quite honestly I really don’t care. This is the same as arguing that Shakespeare didn’t write his plays. Who cares? Venus’ south pole has some weird weather patterns and it’s sort of stumped scientists. Imagine when you pull the plug out of a drain and watch the water go down. Yeah, something like that. Apparently scientists are thinking about putting an “Ark” on the Moon. What does that mean? Basically a giant computer run complex that holds seeds and genetic info and what not in case we all blow ourselves to pieces. Not necessarily news, but scientists believe that all the little bits that formed together and created life might have been brought here by meteorites. This is apparently due to having found meteorites with rich concentrations of amino acids, which are rather important after all. I wrote about germs becoming three times more likely to spread disease a while back, but Universe Today has an article on it which is quite interesting here. There’s a lot more talk about what this means for long space missions too. We might be able to find small, terrestrial planets around Alpha Centauri, which is every SF fan’s wet dream. All we need is five years a a moderately sized telescope. I’m in. More reasons why Pluto is so much better than Venus and Mercury, who are still planets (I feel sorry for Pluto…this is nothing short of racism): Pluto has two more moons, Nix and Hydra. Eat that Venus! Kessler Syndrome: the idea that space travel will become impossible without hitting something. Yeah, this is a problem we may be facing pretty soon. We need a giant garbage machine to go up there and eat up all that stuff and turn the material into convenient little metallic bobble-heads. That would be cool. Write, Pam, Write! has an awesome list of seven writing tips. Check it out! Strange Horizons has part one of an awesome article on the realities of space warfare! (Courtesy of SF Signal) The Devil Frog! That’s right, scientists have uncovered information about a giant frog that lived a long time ago when dinosaurs still roamed. Sixteen inches doesn’t sound like a very large frog, but that’s pretty freaking huge in the frog world! There’s a bit more about it here. Star Wars Toys that will never be made. Hilarity ensues. (Courtesy of SF Signal, I think) A supersaturated view of the moon. That translates to a really freaking cool looking rendition! Don’t know where I found this, but how about a list of nine of the most baffling theme parks around the world? Yeah, coolness! 25 ways to break your procrastination habit. Yeah, I need to pay attention. 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Milky Way Galaxy. Too bad one of them isn’t “cause it’s freaking awesome”. (Courtesy of SF Signal) The only reason Bungie, the company that made the Halo games, is any good. One of the Mars Orbiters discovered an ancient Mars lake that might have been inhabitable once. (No, there wasn’t any water) New Scientist has an article that suggests that hardy bacteria could survive in Lunar soil (not in the vacuum though). That’s pretty cool. Listverse Top 10 Badass Swords. Poke! Top 10 Most Overlooked Mysteries in History. This one is youtyreally freaking cool! By the way, I want to see this Voynich manuscript! io9 A wristband your boss can use to track your emotions. Yeah, cause we need people to have MORE control of our lives. Sand Dollars (you know, those really interesting shelled critters with the cool shells?) apparently clone themselves when in danger, which is fascinating to think about. Imagine if you could clone yourself on command. These are hilarious. Pictures of scifi things that look like things in real life! 8 Unstoppable Rules For Writing Killer Short Stories! Yes! There’s been a breakthrough in how digits are grown, meaning that we might be able to “naturally” grow replacement digits. Now that’s cool right? We once figured that sleep patterns were primarily controlled by changes in light, well new studies suggest that TVs can also have an effect. I’m screwed, since a computer screen isn’t that much different. Crap. Would you inject your breasts with nanoparticles if they could be used to detect cancer? If I had breasts I would, but since I don’t…regardless, nanotech is the wave of the future. This is interesting: plants develop new reproductive systems in cities. They go from being dispersing systems (the seeds fly to some other spot) to nondispersing (they just lend next to the parent) because it’s more efficient. That’s neat! Evolution for the win AGAIN! Eat it creationists! 20 SF Novels That Will Change Your Life. Self explanatory right? Nanocrystals that absorb carbon dioxide. Cool? Yes, I think so. Robots are going to fight our wars for us. There’s some good and some bad about this. I might have to rant later. Scientists have found krill living as deep as 9,800 feet in the ocean below Antarctica. That’s good news for those of us hoping to find little aliens on Europa and what not. Rule 34: No exceptions. Yes, this picture is hilarious! Futurismic Immune system in a jar. That’s the title I’m going with. So, a virologist basically says