Quote:
Originally Posted by calvin-c
Strange-the terms *I* remember used to belittle the stories I enjoyed 50 years ago were 'trash', 'escapist', and 'science fiction'. I don't recall hearing SciFi used at all until the 80's, when science fiction started becoming popular. (That's when all us long-time readers started turning into pretentious snobs because we'd recognized the worth of thinking about the future years before.)
|
Whether you heard the term SciFi being used depended upon who you talked to.
The term was actually coined by the late Forrest J. Ackerman, a long time SF fan, editor, and agent, as a contraction of Scientifiction, the term Hugo Gernsbach used to describe what he published in Amazing and Thrilling Wonder Stories. SF fans had profoundly mixed feelings and some never quite forgave Forry for it, because the term as used by folks who
weren't SF fans connoted all the things they thought made SF at best second rate literature.
These days, SciFi is the common term, and I'm philosophical, as it's no longer seen as a denigration. It's become popular in the broader market, and there are films and TV as well as books that fall under the genre.
I just tell folks "I
watch SciFi. I
read SF."
______
Dennis