Saturday, July 28, 2007





Here's a thoroughly wrong-headed editorial that attempts to convince readers that science fiction is dead. (Which is surprisingly easy to do when you get to use Michael Crichton as a straw man.)
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9 comments:

Garth said...

I do kinda get the 'sci-fi is dead' thang - I used to read sci-fi exclusively in the 90's feeling that it was the only sort of fiction that was relevant, that had anything to say about the world. I now feel that much of it has been usurped by the present - we live in a science fiction world.

1:59 AM
mister ecks said...

that is an incredibly inane article

2:08 AM
Mac said...

Yeah, but you could just as easily argue that the entire 20th century was an SF world. SF is an incredibly potent conceptual vehicle. It's not going anywhere soon.

2:16 AM
Anonymous said...

I haven't seen very many new sci fi ideas lately. To me, the greatest sci fi writer was Kurt Vonnegut. So it goes.

Stan

8:50 PM
Anonymous said...

And hi ho, also. Hell, the article is just one person's opinion. Like assholes, everyone's got one. Don't mean it's true, natcherly.

SF will never die. UFO research will never die. There may be periods of slack and quiescence, but the pendulum always swings back into activity and resurgence, either way.

This is just the quiet before the new and recurrent storms of creativity from the current and next generation who will redefine and resurrect that which has never really gone away.

New forms of communication, like the internet in particular, and new technologies are already providing the means to a rebirth of both SF and UFO research. Come join us in the charge into the future! 8^}

10:02 PM
Chris said...

Wow. After reading the SF is Dead piece I read a bunch of those Blinded by Science editorials by the same writer and they all read like venemous screeds. The author has some unresolved issues, and apparently, very little knowledge of the genre.

8:02 PM
Anonymous said...

Purple hair and white lipstick -- Could this start a trend? I don't think sci-fi's dead by a long shot either, although honestly, I haven't read any for a great while (your story on Flurb being a notable recent exception) although I used to be a huge fan. I'm not sure why this is.

BTW, if it isn't obvious, Mac, I love your old sci-fi covers. I especially like the sidebar of the woman yanking the sheet off the body of the man and kind of sneaking a peek sideways there -- or so it looks like to me. One thing you have to say about the censorious '50's -- people found a lot of extremely clever ways to get around the repression.

--WMB as Anon

10:37 PM
Mac said...

WMB-

I collect books of pulp SF covers. I've got a few gems!

And you're right -- SF got away with a lot because it was "just" SF and nobody was paying attention. It's always been the foremost form of transgressive literature.

11:22 PM
Mac said...

I forgot to mention that I've actually read "World Without Men." Cover art notwithstanding, it's a thoughtful novel and I enjoyed it.

11:23 PM

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