Quote:
Originally Posted by pegasi&prefects
I understand how you feel, in a way, fjtorres. I was raised on hard SF. I also remember what felt like to do a search for fantasy on my library ebook catalogue and for the first time get nothing but paranormal romance. But I agree with DiapDealer.
A genre isn't about core values and rules; there has to be room for change, for expansion, even for meaning drift. The common sense meaning of SF, away from hard core fandom, certainly has room for multigenre works with emphases other than the tech and world building. If it's set in the future, well, then, it goes on the SF shelf, and that's okay.
And, you know, in comparison to the books I read as a teenager, there's actually a chance of well developed female characters who seem like actual women and not fantasies from a man locked in a closet all his life, these days. And characters of colour, and ones who aren't cishet. There is definitely a very bright side to the Pink SF that Day's commenters deride (while talking up their own "unashamedly White Nationalist" soon-to-be blockbuster Blue SF.)
Variety is good. It might make it a little harder to find what you want, but this isn't a zero sum game.
|
There were always women writing sci-fi and some very good stuff at that. Elizabeth Moon comes to mind as one I read when I was young. David Webber was writing the Honor Harrington series with a clever female lead since way back when. Sure, there are dominant male names, but the type of fiction one prefers has always been hard to find. I even read sci/fi romance when I was growing up--it was out there. It just wasn't as common as the Harlequin standards. With the internet, it's easier to find the kind of books you like.