Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
It will sell...to mystery readers.
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And to SF readers who enjoy Mystery, and to Mystery readers who have an SF penchant/interest, and to people who liked the cover/description--what's the point? Readers (even
genre readers) don't fit into neat little boxes any more than genre definitions do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
Not to the core SF market. The reviews will make sure of that. Because SF readers aren't loking for a detective mystery in SF-trappings but rather the real thing.
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The "core" SF market you're referring to is small--and getting smaller all the time. If they were big enough to affect the market, then the successful "Not-SF SF" that they poo-poo wouldn't be successful. But it is, and their resentment/dismissal of it is mostly immaterial (except, once again, in their their own little corner of the world where their voices might carry a smidgen of weight). And the "never-ending debates over SF vs SciFi" are tempests in a teacup, too. People who have time for such silliness aren't reading nearly enough.
SF is, quite simply, what
sells as SF (same as with any genre). Not what a small group of dwindling purists bless with their "Real SF" label (or insert "Real Romance" or any "Real" genre label you like). As always; perception is reality. A genre label doesn't pigeonhole the content or its aficionados. It's an aisle marker at the supermarket--and the black-bean hummus with mango-corn salsa topping has to be shelved
somewhere.
Science Fiction (the genre) is only definitively--rigidly--defined in the minds of people who's opinions on the subject aren't very relevant to the vast amount of people buying/reading what's being sold under the SF label (by the bucketfull).