What happens when the science fiction worldview goes universal?

The title of American author Thomas Wolfe’s famous posthumous novel might be You Can’t Go Home Again, but most authors do go home over and over during their lifetimes. When I visit relatives in my home state of Alabama I am always asked how my writing career is going, where my upcoming stories will be published, and what new stories I’m working on.

But while my relatives are thrilled at my literary success, the funny thing is few of them actually read my stories.

One relative even told me she can’t read science fiction stories. While she reads lots of fiction and particularly enjoys the mystery genre, science fiction doesn’t make sense to her. She can’t read SF stories because she literally doesn’t understand the world creation and themes and ideas which support the genre.

When my relative first told me this, I couldn’t believe it. After all, science fiction is everywhere in today’s world, from TV to films to video games. Even technology fashions such as smartphones and tablets and wearable tech are influenced by science fiction. How could someone not understand the underlying themes and motifs of the SF genre?

But then I read an essay by genre author and critic Shaun Duke and understood why my aunt doesn’t read SF. In this essay Shaun suggested people consider science fiction as one of the “supergenres” alongside realistic fiction and anti-realistic fiction, underneath of which would then exist the traditional genres of historical novels, crime stories, romances, fantasies, mysteries, and so on.

As Shaun said, “These supergenres would not necessarily define the genres beneath them, but they would suggest a relationship between genres that moves beyond narrative practice, but never quite leaves it behind. A fantasy novel might be as much historical as it is anti-realist; the former is a narrative practice, while the latter is a conceptual ‘game.’“

Shaun makes some fascinating points in his essay. However, I wonder if Shaun didn’t take his thought experiment far enough. Perhaps instead of even speaking of science fiction as a genre or supergenre, we should instead speak of SF and other established genres as viewpoints toward seeing the world.

After all, fiction itself is a worldview, a way of saying that certain types of stories have not truly happened and likely will never happen. The “fiction” worldview allows people to approach fictional stories with a different frame of mind than the viewpoints we have when approaching historical texts, or memoirs, or poetry, or even real life. And within the viewpoint of fiction rest more individualized views of what fiction can accomplish. These individualized viewpoints—our traditional genres like fantasy, horror, romance and so on—essential set up people to understand what they’re about to experience.

Just as the human mind must learn to interpret the sensory inputs we receive from our eyes and ears—allowing us to know that this image we’re seeing is a tree and that buzzing sound a bee—so too must people learn to understand the fictional stories they experience. Hence the existence of genres, which help people understand the fictional motifs and themes and beliefs they're about to encounter.

Now before people attack this theory of mine, let me state that I also understand there’s more to genre than merely worldview—in our current 21st century world there’s also a marketing aspect to genres which publishers and authors use to sell books, along with social communities of readers connected with each genre. However, I think this worldview theory is still a useful way to understand part of why genres exist.

And if it’s true that genre should in part be understood as a literary viewpoint, this would also help explain why my relative is unable to read science fiction. Her worldview—the way she sees the universe and her place in it—does not encompass a science fiction spin on reality. To her, SF is literally outside the realm of things she’s willing to accept as being part of existence.

The good news for the science fiction worldview is that growing numbers of people are both accepting it and seeing the world through SF eyes. We live in a time of vast technological and societal change, where humanity’s old assumptions and cultural norms are being forced to adapt to new circumstances at a dizzying speed. It’s no wonder science fiction films and TV shows and video games and manga are so popular.

But this also raises the question of what happens to the SF literary genre when the science fiction worldview becomes so ubiquitous.

Most people approach SF these days through mediums other than the written word. And while science fiction may be popular in visual mediums like films, fewer people than ever are actually reading SF literature, meaning that those who still read SF are trending older and older. This is the exact opposite of other literary genres like fantasy and horror.

At a recent convention I asked a well-known author why he thought written fantasy had eclipsed the science fiction genre in recent years. This author (whom I can’t name because it was a private conversation) said that “Unlike with the fantasy genre, science fiction is still trying to discover what it wants to say.”

But what if the problem with SF isn’t that it doesn’t know what to say to 21st century audiences, although I believe that is part of the problem. What if the worldview of science fiction, centered around technological change and futurism and humanity’s place in the universe, no longer strikes many people as being unique to the genre because this worldview has become common among a sizable portion of humanity.

In short, what if SF’s worldview is now the defacto worldview of so many people that the literary genre itself seems rather tame and boring?

I don’t know if this is true, but it’s what I’m contemplating these days as I write my stories. But if there’s any truth in this, for science fiction literature to again become relevant then how our genre views the world—and our genre’s place in our fictional understandings of life—must change.


Note: This essay was originally published as one of my monthly columns in the Czech SF/F magazine XB-1.

My World Fantasy Convention schedule and info

I'm attending the World Fantasy Convention from October 27 to 30 in Columbus, Ohio. I'm both covering the convention for the media like I did at Worldcon (follow me at @jasonsanford to see my coverage) and taking part in two panels.

I'll also be giving away signed limited edition copies of my novelette "Blood Grains Speak Through Memories," published earlier this year by Beneath Ceaseless Skies. If you see me feel free to ask for one.

My panels:

Friday at 1 pm, DELAWARE CD
Fantasy Emerging from Crisis. Are there trends in fiction that can be tied to global crises? E.g., certain kinds of fantasy emerged from the instability that led up to WWI. The Lord of the Rings is a clear response to the Great War. Are there directions we can anticipate with near-future environmental conflicts (water wars), destabilizing natural disasters, rising seas, income inequality issues, etc. perhaps leading to more political works (especially considering the popularity of Game of Thrones)? 9/11 produced Lavie Tidhar’s World Fantasy Award winning Osama and also inspired stories by Lucius Shepard, Richard Bowes, Jack Ketchum, and others. Fantasy inevitably arises from the zeitgeist. It can also come right out of the headlines. Chris Phillips, Jason Sanford (m), Gary K. Wolfe, Chrisopher Husberg, Caroline Yoachim

Saturday at 9 pm, DELAWARE CD
Strange Drugs. Opium and the like have always had a romantic allure. How about imaginary drugs? Alice in Wonderland? Clark Ashton Smith? How does the fantasy pharmacopeia differ from the real thing? What kind of drug do you take to see into the future or enter another world? Brady McReynolds, Jason Sanford, Anya Martin, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, E.J. Stevens (m)

I considered not attending this year's con because of all the controversy surrounding World Fantasy. However, the con is local to me and I already had a ticket. More importantly, the convention also responded to criticism by vastly improving their program. And, as always, the main attraction of any con is seeing all the people I like and admire in the genre community.

So we'll see how the con goes. And I'm definitely looking forward to seeing everyone.

Disturbed by Lovecraft, whose racism and hate weren't merely a product of his times

Note: I write a monthly column for the Czech SF/F magazine XB-1. The magazine's October 2016 issue is a special horror-themed edition and I was asked to write about the problematic heritage of H. P. Lovecraft. Which I did. The column caused a bit of controversy when it was published, with a few readers saying Lovecraft wasn't racist or was merely a product of his racist times. Below is the English version of the column in this month's XB-1 along with a follow-up response I wrote, which was published on the magazine's website.
 

Disturbed by Lovecraft

In the “foreweird” to the acclaimed anthology The Weird, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, Michael Moorcock writes “the appeal of the weird story is precisely that it is designed to disturb.”

Perhaps no 20th century writer has disturbed more people than H.P. Lovecraft. While Lovecraft was relatively unknown when he passed away in 1937, his body of work — including the stories which formed the basis of the "Cthulhu Mythos" — lived on, as did the works of the Lovecraft Circle, a group of writers published in the seminal magazine Weird Tales with whom Lovecraft regularly exchanged letters. These writers used aspects of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu stories in their own works, keeping Lovecraft’s themes and ideas going.

One of these authors, August Derleth, even founded the publisher Arkham House expressly to keep Lovecraft in print. Derleth also wrote many stories in Lovecraft’s universe, even — controversially — using Lovecraft’s notes to create new stories, which Derleth then listed as being co-authored by himself and Lovecraft.

But more on other authors writing Lovecraftian fiction in a moment.

You may have noticed I’m not bringing up the themes and elements of Lovecraft’s fiction. The reason for this is there’s little need. Not only have far better writers than myself examined and critiqued Lovecraft’s fiction, the mythos behind his stories have arguably become more famous than his fiction itself. The entire world has embraced Lovecraft’s view of “cosmic horror” complete with tentacled elder gods and powerless humans and the wrath of an evil universe. These themes have become so well-known they’re almost cliches.

As Ann and Jeff VanderMeer wrote about Lovecraft in The Weird, he “believed that life is ultimately incomprehensible to human beings and the universe is a cold, hostile place.” This Lovecraftian worldview has permeated far and wide into the greater culture, just as the paranoid worldview of another famous genre author — Philip K. Dick — has likewise spread far and wide.

People who haven’t read Dick’s stories still know his worldview, even if they don’t know his name. The same with Lovecraft.

And Lovecraft’s reputation is intimately bound with stories created by other writers. As I mentioned, fellow Weird Tales authors wrote stories using Lovecraft’s tropes and mythos, a trend continued by even more writers after his death. Today the list of authors who both write Lovecraftian stories or have been influenced by Lovecraft read like a who’s who of horror and dark fantasy and includes China Miéville, Clive Barker, Robert Bloch, Stephen King, Gemma Files, Laird Barron, Storm Constantine, and many more. In addition, Lovecraft has also had a major influence on the visual storytelling mediums, from video games to films like Alien and Ghostbusters, both of which contain major Lovecraftian elements.

But despite this acclaim, Lovecraft has also never been more controversial.

Part of this controversy is because Lovecraft was not a great literary wordsmith — as proof, read his story "The Cats of Ulthar," which is more an idea of a story, a summary of a story, than a true story with fleshed-out characters, developed plot, and rising and falling action.

Yet the larger reason Lovecraft is so controversial has little to do with his storytelling manner. Instead, it’s the beliefs which formed the core of his own self and permeated into his writings. You see, Lovecraft was a hardcore racist and antisemite. Meaning he would have implicitly rejected many of the authors who have carried on the tradition of his stories, or authors who received the World Fantasy Award with his likeness on the award statue, such as Nnedi Okorafor.

And no, Lovecraft wasn’t merely reflecting the racism and hatred of his times. Some of his contemporaries were extremely disturbed by his racism and pointed out the issue to him, to no avail.

It is difficult to separate Lovecraft’s racism from his stories. For example, “The Horror at Red Hook" is both one of Lovecraft’s most well-known stories and one of his most racist, with Lovecraft describing Aryan civilization as being all that stands against the “primitive half-ape savagery” of lesser races.

This aspect of Lovecraft’s writing makes him a difficult author to totally embrace in this day and age. Author Victor LaValle grew up reading and loving Lovecraft’s tales even as he was appalled at the racism in Lovecraft’s life and stories. In response, LaValle wrote his powerful 2016 novella The Ballad Of Black Tom, which directly deals with all these issues even as it works the “The Horror at Red Hook” into something totally new, re-imagining the story and the Lovecraftian mythos so they’re seen through the eyes of a black man in 1920’s America.

Some Lovecraft fans complain about such re-examinations of Lovecraft’s racism, believing it is an attempt to remove Lovecraft from his place in the genre he helped build. But this view is nonsense. Lovecraft's influence on dark fantasy and horror isn't going to disappear merely because people are aware of the troubling aspects of his life and writing.

No, Lovecraft's legacy is secure because of all the authors and creators who took his ideas and ran with them. Most people are able to appreciate Lovecraft's influence on horror and dark fantasy while also acknowledging the negative aspects of his life and work.

You can see this dual attitude clearly in Nick Mamatas’ new novel I Am Providence, which is a murder-horror mystery set at a Lovecraft literary convention. In the novel Mamatas has one of his characters sum up Lovecraft’s influence as follows:

“What Lovecraft did do, better than anyone, was radically decenter the human experience from the art of fiction. Critics, or people who just don’t ‘get it,’ complain that Lovecraft’s characters are paper-thin cyphers who faint at the slightest hint of cosmic horror lurking in the ink-black sky. Correct, but that is a thematic strength, not an auctorial weakness. We are alone in an infinite universe, or so far from anyone else out there that it hardly matters. If we were to encounter alien life-forms … they might destroy us, accidentally or from an ethic of pure malevolence.”

I believe that quote sums of why Lovecraft’s vision still holds such power. And before anyone thinks Mamatas is fawning over Lovecraft, his novel also rips Lovecraft apart for the moral failings of his life.

Stories embracing Lovecraft's universe while also critiquing Lovecraft's views are how it goes these days, and that’s not a bad thing.

END OF XB-1 COLUMN


Response to those who say Lovecraft merely reflected the racism and hatred of his times

H.P. Lovecraft lived in what has been called the nadir of American race relations. Because of this many people attempt to excuse Lovecraft’s racism and anti-Semitism as merely being a product of his time.

However, Lovecraft’s racism and anti-Semitism went far beyond the norm even of those horrific times. And as times changed, Lovecraft didn’t change with them, instead sticking firmly to his racism and anti-Semitism.

Lovecraft’s hateful views were a major concern of his wife Sonia Greene, who was Jewish. Sonia was extremely disturbed by Lovecraft’s anti-Semitism and repeatedly raised this issue with Lovecraft, as related in this Wired article which states “Greene told a biographer later that she kept reminding Lovecraft about her own background, but it didn’t seem to dissuade him from his fear of Jews and other immigrants.”

Sonia even once confronted Lovecraft on how she was a member of a group he despised, to which he responded by saying she “no longer belonged to these mongrels.”

Despite Sonia repeatedly raising these issues with Lovecraft, she later wrote, “Whenever we found ourselves in the racially mixed crowds which characterize New York, Howard would become livid with rage. He seemed almost to lose his mind.”

It’s likely even Lovecraft knew his views were not the standard racism and hate of his day. Otherwise, why would he have worked so hard to defend his views? An example of this is related in S.T. Joshi's A Dreamer and a Visionary: H.P. Lovecraft and his Time. Joshi describes how Charles D. Isaacson wrote an essay on racial tolerance which also attacked the film Birth of a Nation for inciting “racial hatred.” In response Lovecraft wrote that “Mr. Isaacson’s views on racial prejudice … are too subjective to be impartial.”

Isaacson responded with an essay attacking Lovecraft, saying that the author “is against tolerance of color, creed and equality, upholds race prejudice…”

The year this exchange took place? 1915. Even that long ago people were willing to call out Lovecraft for his racism.

Lovecraft’s friend Wilfred Branch Talman also noted Lovecraft’s racism, although unlike with the Isaacson exchange Talman merely dismissed Lovecraft’s “racist viewpoint” as being part of the bizarre 18th century aristocratic pose Lovecraft affected. But the fact that Talman even noticed Lovecraft’s racism during one of the most racist times in American history speaks volumes about how bad Lovecraft’s views were.

The idea that Lovecraft’s racism and anti-Semitism wasn’t merely a product of his times is also taken up by many of the people who have studied the author’s works in recent years. For example, in the intro to The Mammoth Book of Cthulhu: New Lovecraftian Fiction, editor Paula Guran writes “Lovecraft’s prejudice seems, at the very least, somewhat more pronounced than many of his contemporaries.”

Guran’s view is echoed by China Miéville in his introduction to At the Mountains of Madness: The Definitive Edition by H.P. Lovecraft, where Miéville writes “Two things are sometimes adduced to excuse (Lovecraft). One is that it was 'the time' — people were just 'like that' back then. This is an unacceptable condescension to history: people were emphatically not all like that.”

As I stated in my original XB-1 essay, despite Lovecraft’s racism and anti-Semitism his legacy is secure because of the many authors and creators who have taken his ideas and run with them. In addition, most people are able to appreciate Lovecraft's influence on horror and dark fantasy while also acknowledging the negative aspects of his life and work.

But none of that means we should ignore or excuse his racism and hate.

"Toppers" in Asimov's Science Fiction, August 2016

My novelette "Toppers" has been published in the August 2016 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction. The time travel story set in a weirdly different New York City is already receiving positive reviews.

The August 2016 Asimov's is currently in stores. You can also order ebook editions of the issue from Amazon and other places.

My MidAmeriCon II schedule

I'm a participating author at MidAmeriCon II, August 17 to 21 in Kansas City. This will be my first WorldCon and I look forward to seeing everyone.

Here's my schedule. Also note that I'll be giving away signed limited edition copies of my novelette "Blood Grains Speak Through Memories," published earlier this year by Beneath Ceaseless Skies. While supplies last, as the cliche goes.

The Future of Forensics

Thursday August 18, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m., 2209 (Kansas City Convention Center)

Forensic scientists analyze scientific evidence in criminal investigations and as with all science the methods available grow and change and improve on a regular basis. This panel of experts discuss what is current and lead to where it might go next. 

Jason Sanford, Alistair Kimble (M), Jack Campbell Jr., Diana Rowland, Anna Yeatts

Autographing: Sharon Joss, Anna Kashina, Mur Lafferty, Jason Sanford

Thursday August 18, 3:00 - 4:00 p.m., Autographing Space (Kansas City Convention Center)

Stop by for an autograph and pick up a free limited edition copy of my novelette "Blood Grains Speak Through Memories," published earlier this year by Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

Knock on Wood. From Squirrel Girl to Lumberjanes

Thursday August 18, 5:00 - 6:00 p.m., 2207 (Kansas City Convention Center)

What the junk?! In the last couple of years we've seen the growth of comics that might superficially appear to be aimed at a YA audience, however these titles are hitting the mainstream with a vengeance. Marvel are leading the pack with Squirrel Girl, Ms Marvel and Captain Marvel, but there's also a vast amount of Indie work coming through such as Lumberjanes, Space Dumplin', Kaos Komics and Footloose. Our panel discuss why these titles are so popular, and what they have to offer both new and established audiences. 

Tom Galloway, Jason Sanford, Adam Rakunas, Rebecca Schwarz (M), Catherine Lundoff

Trends in Magazine Publishing

Friday August 19, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m., 3501D - A/V (Kansas City Convention Center)

A lot of things have changed for magazine publishing. What's the beat way in, and how do we write for a genre that is moving across media?

MR. Donald Douglas Fratz (M), John Joseph Adams, Neil Clarke, Shahid Mahmud, Dr. Mary Anne Mohanraj, Jason Sanford

Kaffeeklatsch: Richard Hescox, Rebecca Moesta, Jason Sanford, Martha Wells

Saturday August 20, 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.,  2211 (Kansas City Convention Center)

Stop by and pick up a free limited edition copy of my novelette "Blood Grains Speak Through Memories," published earlier this year by Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

Archaeology in SF

Saturday 2:00 - 3:00 p.m, 2503B (Kansas City Convention Center)

Forget Indiana Jones, learn what archaeologists really do and how science fiction and fantasy get it right and wrong.

Dana Cameron, Rhiannon Held, Jason Sanford (M), Jack McDevitt, Ms Rosemary Claire Smith

Note: I used to be an archaeologist and have strong views on how that science is depicted in SF.

Magazine Group Reading - Apex

Saturday 3:00 - 4:00 p.m., 2504B (Kansas City Convention Center)

Our Magazine Group Reading Series continues with a special group reading that features authors from Apex Magazine.

Jason Sizemore (M), Ms Rachel Swirsky, Jason Sanford, Kate Elliott, Foz Meadows, Adam-Troy Castro

Hybridity in Comics

Sunday 10:00 - 11:00 a.m., 2503B (Kansas City Convention Center)

 "The hybrid constantly betrays the reader as it switches from one formula to the other, shocking and surprising us and breathing new vividness into the familiar" (Ada Palmer). As with any evolving genre, comics borrow some elements from elsewhere, cross thematic genres, and learn from their peers, both historical and contemporary. Our panel discuss some of the ways that hybridity benefits the genre, and helps it grow.

Ada Palmer (M), Jason Sanford, Jessica Guggenheim, Mr. Stephen Stiles, Ms. Lynne M. Thomas

Criticism in Speculative Fiction

Sunday 12:00 - 1:00 p.m., 3501F (Kansas City Convention Center)

More than just a review, criticism places a piece of literature in the overarching field of speculative fiction. Critics discuss works in relation to what has come before, perhaps even trying to establish the importance of an author or work beyond popularity. What is the role of a critic? What different types of critics are there, and do some hold more sway than others? 

Dr. Amy H. Sturgis, Dr. Tom Easton, Jason Sanford