I was at the bookstore today, in the SF/Fantasy section as usual, looking at the anthologies that are lined up between "New Books" and the A's. They were all science fiction.
As I thought about that, it occurred to me that almost all the sf/f short story anthologies I'd seen were science fiction rather than fantasy. Fantasy, on the other hand, seems to have all the super-long Jordan/Goodkind epics.
Why is that? Is it just a quirk of publishing history- i.e. if Jordan had been an SF writer, we'd have a lot of encyclopedia-length science fiction imitators? Or is there something in the vaguely-defined difference between the two that selects for story length?
Showing posts with label science fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science fiction. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Future, Systematically Presented
A Comprehensive Map of All Possible Human Futures.
Yikes! But it does have a sort of rough-hewn, Darwinian get-right-to-the-point kind of plausibility about it.
Yikes! But it does have a sort of rough-hewn, Darwinian get-right-to-the-point kind of plausibility about it.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Mundanity in Science Fiction
Courtesy of Bruce Sterling's blog, we have Geoff Ryman's Mundane SF Manifesto:
- That interstellar travel remains unlikely; that Warp drives, worm holes, and other forms of faster-than-light travel are wish fulfillment fantasies rather than serious speculation about a possible future.
- That unfounded speculation about interstellar travel can lead to an illusion of a universe abundant with worlds as hospitable to life as this Earth. This is also viewed as unlikely.
- That this dream of abundance can encourage a wasteful attitude to the abundance that is here on Earth.
- That there is no evidence whatsoever of intelligences elsewhere in the universe.
- That absence of evidence is not evidence of absence -- however, it is considered unlikely that alien intelligences will overcome the physical constraints on interstellar travel any better than we can.
- That interstellar trade (and colonization, war, federations, etc.) is therefore highly unlikely.
- That communication with alien intelligences over such vast distances will be vexed by: the enormous time lag in exchange of messages and the likelihood of enormous and probably currently unimaginable differences between us and aliens.
- That there is no present evidence whatsoever that quantum uncertainty has any effect at the macro level and that therefore it is highly unlikely that there are whole alternative universes to be visited.
- That therefore our most likely future is on this planet and within this solar system, and that it is highly unlikely that intelligent life survives elsewhere in this solar system. Any contact with aliens is likely to be tenuous, and unprofitable.
- That the most likely future is one in which we only have ourselves and this planet.
I have mixed feelings.
First of all, I rather like it when artists- whether writers, painters, filmmakers or whatever- develop a code that guides their work. When such codes are designed intelligently, they can lend useful structure and a kind of context to art.
But I love me some space opera. Star Trek, Star Wars, Iain M. Banks, you name it. I know that the first two are goofy science fantasy, and the latter tries to compensate for the lost wonder of space by going for Really Big Effects; but still, I love it. It's the closest thing to a real sense-of-wonder effect that I'm likely to see in SF.
The tone doesn't help much either- it's basically a concession that sf is escapism, but that they will be different. They will be serious, responsible, and relevant. They will address serious causes, not just in their explicit writing, but in the subtle psychological effects of their writing.
I'm not sure that this can possibly work. But i have to give them credit for trying.
- That interstellar travel remains unlikely; that Warp drives, worm holes, and other forms of faster-than-light travel are wish fulfillment fantasies rather than serious speculation about a possible future.
- That unfounded speculation about interstellar travel can lead to an illusion of a universe abundant with worlds as hospitable to life as this Earth. This is also viewed as unlikely.
- That this dream of abundance can encourage a wasteful attitude to the abundance that is here on Earth.
- That there is no evidence whatsoever of intelligences elsewhere in the universe.
- That absence of evidence is not evidence of absence -- however, it is considered unlikely that alien intelligences will overcome the physical constraints on interstellar travel any better than we can.
- That interstellar trade (and colonization, war, federations, etc.) is therefore highly unlikely.
- That communication with alien intelligences over such vast distances will be vexed by: the enormous time lag in exchange of messages and the likelihood of enormous and probably currently unimaginable differences between us and aliens.
- That there is no present evidence whatsoever that quantum uncertainty has any effect at the macro level and that therefore it is highly unlikely that there are whole alternative universes to be visited.
- That therefore our most likely future is on this planet and within this solar system, and that it is highly unlikely that intelligent life survives elsewhere in this solar system. Any contact with aliens is likely to be tenuous, and unprofitable.
- That the most likely future is one in which we only have ourselves and this planet.
I have mixed feelings.
First of all, I rather like it when artists- whether writers, painters, filmmakers or whatever- develop a code that guides their work. When such codes are designed intelligently, they can lend useful structure and a kind of context to art.
But I love me some space opera. Star Trek, Star Wars, Iain M. Banks, you name it. I know that the first two are goofy science fantasy, and the latter tries to compensate for the lost wonder of space by going for Really Big Effects; but still, I love it. It's the closest thing to a real sense-of-wonder effect that I'm likely to see in SF.
The tone doesn't help much either- it's basically a concession that sf is escapism, but that they will be different. They will be serious, responsible, and relevant. They will address serious causes, not just in their explicit writing, but in the subtle psychological effects of their writing.
I'm not sure that this can possibly work. But i have to give them credit for trying.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Masterpieces
I’m working my way through Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Twentieth Century. It’s an excellent collection of short stories.
It’s not necessarily easy to review, though, since it’s a collection of short stories from different authors on different themes from different decades. I may just have to do different posts on every story; or, at least, on the ones that seem to require several paragraphs of thought.
It’s not necessarily easy to review, though, since it’s a collection of short stories from different authors on different themes from different decades. I may just have to do different posts on every story; or, at least, on the ones that seem to require several paragraphs of thought.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
The Belated Berserkers
Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series- a space opera about ancient, automated warships that relentlessly seek to destroy all life- would make a lot more sense if its characters didn't have faster-than-light travel. The death machines are 50,000 years old; they range around the galaxy at FTL speed; they've never been stopped.
They should have found us a long time ago. After all, they have automated factories making new Berserkers, so it's not like their numbers are limited. It really shouldn't take that many centuries to survey the entire galaxy, especially since some stars are much better life-targets than others.
By the time they discover humanity, we haven't just achieved spaceflight, we've spread out so far that there are entire space kingdoms and empires. I guess this is possible- the galaxy is a really, really big place- but it would be a lot more plausible if there were no FTL travel, and it took thousands of years to cross space.
It's not like hyperdrive is necessary to the plot- quite the contrary, most of the stories involve an isolated world or colony facing the Berserker threat. I can't think of a single reason to use it. Except, I suppose, the fact that it's an sf staple; and those things are hard to get rid of.
They should have found us a long time ago. After all, they have automated factories making new Berserkers, so it's not like their numbers are limited. It really shouldn't take that many centuries to survey the entire galaxy, especially since some stars are much better life-targets than others.
By the time they discover humanity, we haven't just achieved spaceflight, we've spread out so far that there are entire space kingdoms and empires. I guess this is possible- the galaxy is a really, really big place- but it would be a lot more plausible if there were no FTL travel, and it took thousands of years to cross space.
It's not like hyperdrive is necessary to the plot- quite the contrary, most of the stories involve an isolated world or colony facing the Berserker threat. I can't think of a single reason to use it. Except, I suppose, the fact that it's an sf staple; and those things are hard to get rid of.
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