SF author's rant on the current state of science fiction (1 Viewer)

[Jason Seaver]

a bit more seriously though are there any sci-fi books/films/shows... that don't have science misused in some way? If everything turned out all dandy then the work wouldn't be too interesting would it? All the sci-fi works I can think of have science being used for evil (some times not on purpose). Films/books 2001, blade runner, gattaca all have science being used for bad purposes (intentionally or unintentionally).

I'm not saying sf should always portray science and technology as infallible and a panacea, but lately, especially in the works built to appeal to a mass audience, it seems like the attitude is always "there are some things man was not meant to know", or that science is presented exclusively as the problem and not a solution. Sure, cautionary tales are nice, but they've become a little too predictible. When did an episode of the recent Twilight Zone or Outer Limits revivals not end with a downer ending (which in itself became expected)?

Part of what I loved about science fiction when I was growing up, with TOS and Asimov and Heinlein and the like, was that humanity could achieve great things if they make the effort, and I just don't see that message much any more. The world may have become more dangerous in some ways, but the world's new wonders made up for it.

 

[Allen_Appel]

"He never saw Molly again."

Kevin, what's that quote from?

 

[Walter Kittel]

The line ( Kevin may correct me if I'm mistaken ) is from William Gibson's Neuromancer. The He being Case. Easily one of my favorite SF novels, primarily for Gibson's dense baroque style.

- Walter.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I am of the old school too, and haven't read much lately. I do see that it is easier to get a sci-fi 'fix' by watching an episode of Star Trek, or any other sci-fi show that may be on with cable TV.

No, I don't want to state that sci-fi has been reduced to those levels, but...

Consider that if anyone wrote a book that slammed just about anything on this plant, they're going to get slammed back. This would almost make it a requirement for all sci-fi books to have to be politically correct. Unfortunately, this limits a lot of choices, and I think this is why the good vrs. evil has become predominant.

Fantasy is so far out there that it would be subject to fewer restrictions on the P.C. level, and so is a little easier to write.

Also, I think that unlike the choices available years ago, gadgets that only existed in sci-fi books once are popping up in movies like Bond and MI. This is outside of all of the gadgets that have been invented in the last 50 years. It wouldn't be fiction anymore.

True, a great writer should be able to come up with new ideas, but it is sad that any book reviewer might give it a bad review just because it 'didn't fit in' to this world we're living in now.

Glenn

 

[Andy Sheets]

I'm not saying sf should always portray science and technology as infallible and a panacea, but lately, especially in the works built to appeal to a mass audience, it seems like the attitude is always "there are some things man was not meant to know", or that science is presented exclusively as the problem and not a solution.

I don't consider myself a science fiction fan but this is one the things I like about Neal Stephenson's writing (I really enjoyed Snowcrash and I'm reading The Diamond Age): that he really doesn't take an openly judgmental view of the settings he creates. For every negative aspect of technology he comes up with, there's also at least one thing that sounds really cool. So his stories still work as escapism even when they're being speculative.

 

[Woo Jae]

Well, I myself haven't read too much due to dvds and console video gaming, but I oftern turn to some favorite authors and am again entranced by the unique vistas that Scifi provides.

One such author who, IMHO, is a great SF writer is Ursula K. LeGuin. Two of my favorite works by here are The Disposessed and The Left Hand of Darkness. Fascinating reads about a societies completely alien yet distinctively human as well.

Another author mentioned earlier is Orson Scott Card, who has written many books - and not just in the sci-fi genre. One highly recommended read is his award winning Ender's Game.

Try those, and you can try many older authors for some great reads....

 

[Max Leung]

Holadem, I didn't count The Matrix as a great SF film, because I consider it a great "action fantasy and philosophy 101" film.

Yep, it's a hell of a fun film - but come on - harnessing the power of the human body? They could use cows, hamsters, sheep, bacteria, algae, etc. as alternate power sources (the latter two being orders of magnitude more efficient)! It would have been more plausible if they just said "we have humans stuck into the Matrix because we are PURE EVIL INCARNATE!"

Matrix is a great film. But it is not a great SF film.

 

[Max Leung]

At a recent SF convention, there was a short story panel, and it was noted by the panelists that SF still has a strong short story presence. The short story format seems very well suited to one cool SF idea. They can have more of an impact that a 1,000 page opus that stretches the one idea so thin that you fall asleep after the first few chapters. With a short story, you don't have to prop up your characters with absurd detail to keep the reader interested, because you can concentrate much more on the central idea.

The panelists agreed that SF movies and TV shows are a perfect match for the short story format - look at The Outer Limits, Star Trek: TOS, movies like AI and Minority Report, the Animatrix, etc. where one idea can take center stage for an hour or two.

SF novels, on the other hand, are quite a different beast. It does get tiring to read series after series after series - with a few good ideas drawn stupidly thin to the point of repetition. To compensate, a few authors go way overboard and literally throw in "and then the protagonist changes everything". Ugh! How can you maintain the semblance of awe and feeling of insignificance when faced by the infinite wonders of the universe, when the main character can change its nature with the push of a button? (damn you Star Trek for doing this a billion times!)

 

[Woo Jae]

Ender's Game was a Short Story before being adapted into a novel format.

 

[Zen Butler]

I agree with Jack on one point:

Those few readers who haven't defected to Tolkienesque fantasy cling only to Star Trek, Star Wars, and other Sci Fi franchises.

I just don't know if I can agree with this statement %100. Most science fiction fans I know very rarely just drift to the fantasy genre. Better yet, haven't completely defected because lack of titles available.

I loved the early-80's cyber punk sub-genre(I'm sure another argument). The wonderment I possessed as a young boy is still evident. I just may reread several titles avoiding lesser titles. Many of my science fiction friends are much older than I. They of course have enough classic suggestions to carry me 20 years into the future.

 

[Max Leung]

Ender's Game was a Short Story before being adapted into a novel format

And to Orson Scott Card's credit, his followup novels were quite different from each other. They could almost be completely self-contained and un-related stories, but of course they shared some of the same characters.

I did find his "Shadow of the..." Ender prequels a bit weak. But to be fair, they almost seemed to belong in the young adult SF genre. Uh...assuming there is such a thing.

 

[JayV]

Yep, it's a hell of a fun film - but come on - harnessing the power of the human body? They could use cows, hamsters, sheep, bacteria, algae, etc. as alternate power sources (the latter two being orders of magnitude more efficient)!

Max, it's always possible that this is a lie and humans decided to build and put themselves in the Matrix because they thought it would solve overpopulation problems or soemthing. Just a thought. We'll have to wait and see.

OT, I know. Sorry.

-j

 

[DaveGTP]

that ignorance will become unfashionable again one day

I think this is a lot of the problem. I feel that modern American encourages non-intelligence. There's a reason that so many people are coming from other countries for jobs here as doctors, engineers, etc. I graduated High school in '97. These days, to be smart is to be picked on and derided by the dumb-jock types and everyone else. A friend of my fiancee's said once "I don't read, it makes you dumber". "I hate reading, it makes me sleepy" I hear a lot as well. These attitudes feed the problem.

Actually, I noticed that my fantasy books now suck up about 70% of my space, with Scifi being about 29%. It used to be more half-and-half. My scifi consists of older stuff - A lot of Asimov (foundation, robot novels, short story collections), Heinlein, etc. The only newer scifi I have bought was Stephen Baxter - The Light of Other Days (and that was a hardcover clearance for $4) and Orson Scott Card's newer Shadow books.

 

[Dana Fillhart]

Stolen from Link Removed.

 

[Chris]

It is sad but true.. my brother received a notice he has a work under consideration at Analog (a SciFi publication) and we celebrated..

But that would be a much bigger deal forty years ago then it is today :frowning:

I always dreamed some of the 60s paperbacks I read when I was little would become movies.. like "Planet Buyer" or "Re-Assembled Man" and so on.. but never happened.. "The High Crusade" did get made into a movie overseas (which was done on a shoestring budget, and doesn't quite follow the book)...

It's too bad that humor, fun, and imagination that drives scifi is lacking in the current generation of potential writers. There is less desire in the unique.. "To Boldy Go Where No One has Gone Before" rather.. there is an intent to: "To Boldy Go Where No One has Gone Before"(TM)(StarTrek Story follows) ...

 

[Max Leung]

I think this is a lot of the problem. I feel that modern American encourages non-intelligence.

It's spreading to Canada too. Clearly, it's better to be seen as attractive than to be seen as smart - and I think it always has been.

 

[Andy Sheets]

Say, where is the Matrix franchise of "SF" novels anyways? If there is a series of books set in the Matrix universe, there is a good opportunity to prop up the science. I notice that there is a *giggle* "The Science of Harry Potter" book and a "science of the X-files" book...where's the Matrix one?

There aren't any books that I know of, but when the first movie came out, they put some comics and short stories on the website. One of my favorites was a Neil Gaiman short story in which he completely ignored the whole "human battery" idea and used the idea that the machines were keeping humans in the Matrix because they seemingly wanted the capacity for invention that humans possessed

 

[SteveGon]

Great thread!

This subject has bothered me for some time (I stopped reading sf regularly when this trend toward infusing it with fantasy started). Another thing that turned me off were the unnecessary sequels (the Rama, 2001, and Ringworld follow-ups come to mind) and the "series mentality" (seemed like every new book was part of a series). I also agree with what several posters have said already: that portraying science and scientists in a negative light has come to typify the genre. Fortunately there are exceptions both in the genre's literary and (more rarely) cinematic forms: the old Quatermass films portray their titular hero in a positive light (shameless plug: see my review of Quatermass Conclusion in the Expanding Horizons thread in Movies). I've been lax in keeping up with literary sf of late; what are some good reads?

 

[Jason Seaver]

The last SF book I read was Kiln People by David Brin, and I enjoyed it immensely. It got a little too big toward the end, as Brin is wont to do, but it's packed with neat ideas, wit, and suspense as he pretty much exhaustively mines his high concept (disposable clones).

And if you haven't read Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon The Deep yet... Um, do. A new brain-melting idea on every other page, galactic-scale high adventure, rather alien aliens... Good stuff.

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

What ticks me off are the Hollywood bait-and-switches we're getting so much of lately. Remember all the excitement around here when a film version of Rendezvous With Rama was announced? What the hell happened to that? And Antonio Banderas was slated to play Emilio Sandoz in the film version of Mary Doria Russell's brilliant debut The Sparrow, but that's long vanished.

If the success of the Lord of the Rings movies shows anything, it shows that movie audiences can and will go to see long, challenging, high-concept speculative cinema if it's good enough (and if it's promoted well). It seems to me that SF should be taking advantage of that. People who see the movie frequently read the book, and they sometimes read other books as a result.

The proliferation of screen-theatre (movies and TV) has changed the way all other arts work in our society, and it's about time writers and live performers (of which I am both) stopped complaining about their lost share in the collective consciousness and started adapting to it.