Whither SF?

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Except that there are no wizards in Star Wars.

Originally Posted by kennyc

What the heck do you think Obi Wan was?

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Or Yoda, for that matter.

Even if you do not see the Jedi as wizards, and the Sith as sorcerers, many do. So if I was the publisher, I would want the "wizard" tag there to pick up searches from people like KennyC, Apk and JGasier.

That's is neither here nor there, my point is that the old catagory way of sorting books does not work anymore. Trying to pigeon hole a story like Star Wars in to any one box just does not work. Tags, like most e-stores use, seem to be the best way to handle this. At least that is what I think.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by ApK

Uncle Owen even refers to him explicitly as such:

Spoiler:

Luke: Well, I stumbled across a recording while I was cleaning him. He says that he belongs to someone named Obi-Wan Kenobi. I thought he might have meant old Ben. Do you know what he's talking about?

Uncle Owen: Uh-uh.

Luke: I wonder if he's related to Ben.

Uncle Owen: That wizard is just a crazy old man. Now, tomorrow I want you to take that R2 unit to Anchorhead and have its memory erased. That'll be the end of it. It belongs to us now.

Though I suspect he meant the "old wise man" sense of the word.

ApK

Several times the force is called magic. Hana Solo makes fun of it, I think he called it hocus pocus, and Darth Vader chokes someone at one point for doing something similar. Have not seen the movies in many many years, so do not recall all the references....

[BeccaPrice]

The problem is, some publishers put every tag they can think of in the tag list, so that the list is so broad and general that it really doesn't tell you anything. I've had books with a dozen or more tags listed.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

The problem is, some publishers put every tag they can think of in the tag list, so that the list is so broad and general that it really doesn't tell you anything. I've had books with a dozen or more tags listed.

Yeah, no matter what system we come up with people will exploit it. All you can do is put some limit and controls on it, and clean it from time to time. Also - tags work in some stores so I could say "I want futuristic books with space ships and aliens but NO magic or stinking elves!" Which gives the publishers an incentive to get the tags right.

[DiapDealer]

They tried to "science-ify" the magic of The Force with all the extremely silly midi-chlorian hoo-hah in the later movies/books, but it never really took. It was magic (in a science-fiction setting).

By the way, I hate "tagging." Any system that allows anybody to add tags becomes so polluted with duplicates—not to mention the sheer numbers of obscure, barely related (if not downright irrelevant) topics—that every title starts getting included in every search. It all starts to become relevant to everything. Which in my eyes, is no different than being relevant to nothing. I especially despise it when my ebooks come pre-tagged (in their metadata)... how presumptuous.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Several times the force is called magic. Hana Solo makes fun of it, I think he called it hocus pocus, and Darth Vader chokes someone at one point for doing something similar. Have not seen the movies in many many years, so do not recall all the references....

Han calls it a "hokey religion."

Vader choked the guy who said:

"Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebel's hidden fortress...urp!"

He was calling it magic sarcastically.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

They tried to "science-ify" the magic of The Force with all the extremely silly midi-chlorian hoo-hah in the later movies/books, but it never really took. It was magic (in a science-fiction setting).

I prefer to see it as a chi or ki - like force.

Of course it would seem like magic or sorcery to the uninitiated.
As for the midi-chlorians, I prefer to prentend I never hear of them. Or Jar Jar.

ApK

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by ApK

Han calls it a "hokey religion."

Vader choked the guy who said:

"Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebel's hidden fortress...urp!"

Ah, I was close.

Originally Posted by ApK

As for the midi-chlorians, I prefer to prentend I never hear of them.
ApK

Yeah, over all really enjoyed the movies, but they should have left that part on the cutting room floor. Added nothing to the story, and felt like a cheap after thought as a attempt to lose the fantasy label the series picked up.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

By the way, I hate "tagging." Any system that allows anybody to add tags becomes so polluted with duplicates—not to mention the sheer numbers of obscure, barely related (if not downright irrelevant) topics—that every title starts getting included in every search. It all starts to become relevant to everything. Which in my eyes, is no different than being relevant to nothing. I especially despise it when my ebooks come pre-tagged (in their metadata)... how presumptuous.

Ideally there would be two sets of tags...

1) By the "book expert(s)" at the seller where they pick a handful of good tags for the book. Kind of like B&N picking what shelf to put the book on.
2) One open ended one for readers to pick what they want.

If you could limit your search to one or both of them, that would I think be so many lightyears ahead of the outdated category based system that it would be worth any hassle it took to get it.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

It's like I'm hearing two conversations at opposite sides of my head...

Um... so... uh, Lucas retconned the "wizardly" force into being a science. Not cool, but hey, they're his movies...

and... uh, I know what you mean about tags gone wild, and I think the "science" of tagging is still in its infancy, which causes a lot of these issues. Hopefully it will get a lot tighter soon, and we'll get better control and searchability out of it. I'm constantly trying to refine my book tags to improve their accessibility, but it seems like a never-ending task.