Max Leung
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2000
- Messages
- 4,611
Forward, into the past:
Why are our imaginations retreating from science and space, and into fantasy? asks SPIDER ROBINSON.
Why are our imaginations retreating from science and space, and into fantasy? asks SPIDER ROBINSON.
My genre has always had its ups and downs, but this is by far its worst, longest downswing. Sales are down, magazines are languishing, our stars are aging and not being replaced. And the reason is depressingly clear: Those few readers who haven't defected to Tolkienesque fantasy cling only to Star Trek, Star Wars, and other Sci Fi franchises.
Incredibly, young people no longer find the real future exciting. They no longer find science admirable. They no longer instinctively lust to go to space.Y'know...I think he is right. Sure, I can name current SF writers who are on the cutting edge of SF, but unfortunately I can't think of any new writers from the last 5 years.
Vernor Vinge, Stephen Baxter, Greg Egan, Peter F. Hamilton, Iain M. Banks, and many more have been writing SF for 20 years or more...but where are the new guys?
New authors like China Mieville, while excellent and bold, maybe even visionary, really write fantasy and not SF. Sure, he and others borrow SF themes - but all pretenses to SF credibility are thrown out the window once you throw in dragons and magic!
(This is a chance for Jack Briggs to tell us how he REALLY feels. )