Thread: Is SF dying?
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Old 02-05-2015, 07:38 AM   #187
fjtorres
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer View Post
In your (and some like-minded others) non-authoritative opinion only.

What you're describing is what you consider to be your kind of SF.
.
Actually, I'm quoting.

The likes of Asimov, Heinlein, Anderson, Silverberg, Ellison, VanVogt...
Card, Farland, others...
The folks who made SF what it is.

So yeah, it's just my opinion--it's the open internet out there--but I'm not making that opinion out of whole cloth. It's not even just observation.

I don't just read SF, I study it.

Been doing it for... well, years...
How it works and why, where the (elastic) borders can be found and how far the stretch, the difference between what the book is *about* and how it's dressed up. (This last helps distinguish advicacy from cautionary tales, which *can* be tricky in determining whether the author is a racist or misogynist or just commenting on society.) I've also read (and study) just enough of other genres (romance, mystery, fantasy, technothrillers, YA) to see what defines them, which is actually easier than SF.

Books, essays, interviews, columns like this:

http://www.davidfarland.com/writing_tips/?a=470
(Good ongoing course on writing there.)

Now, if we *must* bring in back up for our opinions, well, this is (part of) my backup team:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...cience_Fiction

http://www.amazon.com/Science-Fictio.../dp/0451466764

http://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Scie.../dp/158297103X

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I try to go a big beyond when I make my chain rattling pronouncements.
Last edited by fjtorres; 02-05-2015 at 07:53 AM.
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