SF Signal has a great discussion up titled Is Science Fiction Antithetical to Religion? Among the authors taking part are Mike Resnick, Lou Anders, Ben Bova, and many many more. And don't even begin to assume that you know what the different authors are going to say. As Resnick states at the beginning, "You can't generalize about this large a field. For every atheist or agnostic author you can name, I'll name a religious one. For example: Gene Wolfe is a devout Catholic. Ray Lafferty was a devout Catholic. Avram Davidson was an Orthodox Jew. Michael A. Burstein is an Orthodox Jew. Ect. Ect. Ect."
Convention finder website
The other day John Joseph Adams issued a call for some tech savvy person to create a searchable database of SF/F conventions. Nathan Lily took up that call and has created Convention Finder, where you can search for conventions by zip code. Now all that we need are for people to enter the details of conventions into the database. So if you know about a convention, surf over there and do your part to help this wonderful website succeed.
Making science fiction books not look like SF books
GalleyCat examines the United States and United Kingdom versions of Charles Stross's Halting State and notices that in the U.S., the book cover clearly labels the novel as SF, while in the U.K. the book looks like a hip mainstream thriller. In addition, both editions of Ken MacLeod's The Execution Channel avoided an overly SF-looking cover. As GalleyCat observes, this is an obvious attempt to market these books beyond the core SF audience while at the same time not diluting the books' SF appeal. Sounds like a good strategy to me, although I wonder if part of the problem is that far too many SF books go for the generic SF-looking cover we all see in every SF section of the bookstore. Perhaps if more SF books showcased the variety of cover designs seen among generic literary and thriller books, other audiences would be willing to give these books a read.
Larry Sessions's proposal to honor Arthur C. Clarke
Larry Sessions is proposing that a massive stellar explosion which was visible on earth during the early hours of March 19th--shortly after the death of Arthur C. Clarke--be named in honor of this science fiction grandmaster. I totally support this proposal and urge others to do the same.
As Sessions says:
I propose that henceforth we refer to the March 19 gamma ray blast, officially designated GRB 080319B, as the "Clarke event" in honor of Sir Arthur. Was it the Universe reacting to the loss of this great man? No, as he himself would have told you, although likely not without prefacing it with a mischievous grin and an allusion to the gods being angry with him. No it wasn't the Universe mourning Sir Arthur. Instead, at its enormous distance, the light from this event formed and left on its journey long before Earth was born, presumably also making it the oldest event ever witnessed by humans. But what more fitting an honor for Sir Arthur?
For the record, NASA said this explosion was "the most intrinsically bright object ever observed by humans in the universe." I can think of no better tribute than to name this event for Clarke, who brought more illumination to humanity than most ordinary writers can even dream of doing.
Story of the Week: "The Nanny" by Thomas Wylde (and BTW, what happened to this guy?)
As I type this a well worn copy of the July 1983 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine sits beside my computer. The cover story is a fascinating tale by Tanith Lee; other content includes a short story by Ursula K. Le Guin. But the reason the issue stays in my mind is a story by a writer I never heard from again: Thomas Wylde.
I first read Wylde's novelette "The Nanny" when I was thirteen. My grandfather subscribed to Asimov's until his death in the mid 1980s and I probably borrowed this issue once he was finished. In fact, his mailing label is still stuck to the cover.
And did Wylde's story ever burn its way into my consciousness.
"The Nanny" concerns a NASA astronaut piloting a severely jazzed up, anti-matter powered space shuttle to Alpha Centauri. His cargo: human zygotes, the last hope for a humanity destroyed in a nuclear war. But something goes wrong on the way to the new star and, as the first line of the story says, "Eismann woke up eighteen years too early." To his horror he discovers the freezer containing the zygotes is destroyed. Unable to do anything else, he saves a male and female and raises the babies as he journeys through space, intent on these two children becoming humanity's new Adam and Eve. And that's exactly what happens, although not in the way Eismann plans.
"The Nanny" remains an excellent emotional examination of the choices people make when the fate of humanity is on the line. Because the story has held up so well even after 25 years, I've selected it as my story of the week. But the quality of the story also makes me wonder about what happened to Thomas Wylde. "The Nanny" was good enough to land in Donald A. Wollheim's 1984 Annual World's Best SF (along with being reprinted in a SF anthology titled Space Shuttles). But after publishing a handful of stories throughout the 1980s, along with two novels in Roger Zelazny's Alien Speedway series, Wylde dropped off the face of the planet. That's a shame because "The Nanny" definitely showed he could write an amazing SF tale.
BTW, this issue's coming attractions heralds another "moving tale" which would be published in the Aug. 1983 Asimov's--"The Peacemaker" by Gardner Dozois.
Guilt tripping as a book promotion strategy
Robert Hoge has this suggestion for small literary presses which promote their books at conventions:
Don't try to guilt $25 out of me as a purchase-as-charity sale to support a small press. Yes the publisher has put lots of effort into the book and will almost certainly make a loss on the publication. But don't say you're going to bar the doors until everyone buys a book because the small press publisher deserves our support. Small publishers deserve and get our support because they publish shit-hot stories. If you don't at least try to sell me on buying the book because of its quality then you're not doing you're job and you don't deserve a sale.
I have been to too many launches where the only call to action is "buy the book so you can support the publisher's hard work and they can do more publications." Harper Collins won't be telling me to buy the books at their launch because Rupert Murdoch needs the money. They'll be telling me to buy the book/s because if I don't I'll be missing the hottest YA fantasy of the year or the best science fiction debut since Mary Doria Russell.
Since Hoge is a judge for this year's World Fantasy Award, I'd suggest small presses take his suggestion under serious consideration.
The passing of a science fiction master
Arthur C. Clarke is hands down my favorite science fiction author. As a teenager growing up in Alabama, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Childhood's End not only provided me with my first glimpse at how humanity stacked up against the eternity of time and space in which we swim, these books also showed me how fiction could tackle issues which are so large they send shivers down your spine to even contemplate them. I'm sorry to hear that Clarke has died, but I'm grateful for the amazing stories and perspective Clarke bequeathed to several generations of readers. Thank you, Mr. Clarke, for giving our world so much joy and insight.
Tom Purdom's science fiction memoir
The March 2008 New York Review of Science Fiction contains the second installment of Tom Purdom's fascinating science fiction memoir. While the NYRSF isn't online, Purdom has posted the first nine installments of his memoir on his website and I'd highly recommend them for anyone interested in the SF field of the 1950s and 60s. Of particular interest is episode eight (titled "Doubling Up"), which explores Purdom's adventures in the Ace Double field and the writing of his novel "I Want the Stars."
Florence Owens Thompson, Migrant Mother
Even though the name Florence Owens Thompson probably isn't familiar to you, you've likely seen her famous portrait by Dorothea Lange. Titled "Migrant Mother," this photograph is one of the iconic images of the Great Depression. Now, via Wikipedia, you can read about the life of the woman behind the photo. You can also learn more on the wonderful website created by her grandson Roger Sprague. As he states, the image came from a migrant camp where Florence and her family were living.
Then a shiny new car (it was only two years old) pulled into the entrance, stopped some twenty yards in front of Florence and a well-dressed woman got out with a large camera. She started taking Florence's picture. With each picture the woman would step closer. Florence thought to herself, "Pay her no mind. The woman thinks I'm quaint, and wants to take my picture." The woman took the last picture not four feet away then spoke to Florence: "Hello, I'm Dorthea Lange, I work for the Farm Security Administration documenting the plight of the migrant worker. The photos will never be published, I promise." Florence said, "Okay, if you think it will help." The woman turned, walked away, got in her car, and was gone. The next day the promise was broken: Florence's picture taken by the well-dressed lady was on the front page of all the newspapers. (Source: Migrant Mother website)
One of the recurring mysteries of life is to see an old photograph and wonder about the life of the person captured in that one brief moment of frozen light. Thanks to Wikipedia and the internet, Florence Owens Thompson's amazing life doesn't need to be a mystery to anyone.
Story of the Week: "Five Thrillers" by Robert Reed
April has brought a shower of excellent short stories to the pages of the major print SF/F magazines, some of which I'll touch upon in the coming days. However, even with so many strong stories around, one tale stands far above the rest: "Five Thrillers" by Robert Reed in the April 2008 issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
"Five Thrillers" is the story of Joseph Carroway, an assistant engineer/secret agent/eventual world leader during a turbulent future period of human civilization. The major conflict of Joe's time is between ordinary humans and those practicing extreme genetic manipulation, who call themselves the Rebirth movement. But while Reed does an excellent job creating the fascinating universe in which this story exists, the tale itself belongs solely to Joe and his five different adventures across his lifetime (hence the story's title). Joe is one of the strongest and most startling characters to cross the short SF/F scene in years as he survives life through a sense of cunning and understanding of humanity that Machiavelli could only have agreed with. But just when readers begins to think that Joe might have gone too far with his power games, we are shown in stark terms how the future belongs to those who survive life--and how without people like Joe, humanity may not be long for this universe.
This novelette is a masterpiece of action, fast-paced narration, and insightful examination of the attributes which make humans so successful and potentially scary. Reed recently won a Hugo Award for his wonderful "A Billion Eves;" with this tale, he is in serious competition for a second award. In fact, if I don't see this story on the short list for the major awards (along with "Pump Six" by Paolo Bacigalupi, my previous story of the week), I will be extremely disappointed.
As a final note, artist Maurizio Manzieri should also be commended for his mind blowingly great cover art for "Five Thrillers." As Manzieri says, he decided to go all out with this piece of art because "when will I have another first-hand opportunity to paint the end of the world?" And boy did he ever create a sense of hell to match the hell found in both Reed's story and the amazing character of Joseph Carroway.
Editor nominations for best online short story of the year
The Million Writers Award for best online short story is almost halfway through its March nominating period. Of particular interest at this point are the large number of editors from online magazines and journals who have nominated stories. The complete list can be seen here. While there are way too many magazines there to list everyone, a sample of the nominating publications include Identity Theory, HOBART, Thieves Jargon, The Mississippi Review, Eclectica Magazine, ChiZine, Clarkesworld Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, Weird Tales, and Farrago's Wainscot. Editors wishing to add nominations have until March 31st to do so. Readers wishing to nominate a single story should do so on this page.
More singularity and SF discussions
Quite a few comments around the web about my post the other day on the singularity. One of the best is from Jay Garmon at Geekend, who examines my point about science fiction not going extinct. After giving some excellent analysis which I agree with in general, Garmon asks people what they turn to science fiction for: the futurism, or the characterization?
Speaking for myself, characterization is vital to all fiction. But what takes SF to the next level is placing believable characters into situations where the depth of human character is measured against the larger backdrop of space and time. When this is done properly, as in books like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stranger in a Strange Land, A Canticle for Leibowitz, and The Stars My Destination, the effect on a reader is almost beyond description.
How science fiction and humanity might survive the singularity
As usual, there's tons of discussion bouncing around the web about the looming singularity. Jay Garmond at Geekend agrees with Charles Stross--one of the foremost proponents of the singularity movement--that the shrinking times for technologies to achieve cultural saturation demonstrate both the coming singularity and why the science fiction genre will soon go extinct. Basically Stross and others say that rapid technological change makes predicting the future impossible. Since in their view the purpose of SF is to predict the future, the genre can't possibly survive (along with human society as we know it).
For me, though, these beliefs about the looming singularity aren't all-concerning, at least as far as the singularity taking place over the next decade or so. After that I could see it happening, although I believe cultural issues will play a larger part than most SF authors currently predict.
My reason for believing this?
First off, science fiction has a lousy record of accurately predicting the future. If one looks at the classic novels and stories of the genre, they aren't considered classics because they accurately predicted the future. Instead, those SF stories which have achieved canonized status--2001: A Space Odyssey, Brave New World, Stranger in a Strange Land, Fahrenheit 451, A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Stars My Destination--examine themes such as how humanity survives amidst the vastness of space and time; how we as a people adapt to technological change; how technology changes us; how we might be doomed by technology; how biological and other scientific processes make us who we are.
But accurately predicting the future? No. Science fiction which focuses exclusively on predicting the future simply doesn't hold up over time. So forgive me if I question the predictive powers of singularity fiction and don't agree that SF is doomed just because it fails at predicting the future.
Another problem with the singularity movement is that the evidence for it is cherry picked (as Capt. Zerox mentions in so many words). All this talk about technological change moving faster and faster doesn't factor in those examples of technologies which have been extremely slow to change, such as space flight, artificial intelligence, and solar photovoltaic panels. But I guess singularity supporters don't want to consider examples of slow technological change because that would mess up all those pretty graphs predicting the looming singularity.
In addition, I am not convinced that technological change in the coming years will occur at the pace of the last few decades. For example Moore's Law, from which people extrapolated the groundwork for the singularity belief, is not a true natural law such as gravity or the speed of light. Instead, Moore's Law is a simple prediction based on past experience. There are already real-world constraints on Moore's Law which scientists believe will slow down the growth of computer processors. It's highly likely this slowdown will spill over into other aspects of technological change. And when one looks at the entirety of human history, you also find a fascinating pattern of relatively rapid technological or societal change followed by longer periods of stability. If I was a betting man, I'd place my money on current times being part of a rapid burst of change to be followed by a longer period of stability.
Finally, one major issue which singularity boosters overlook is human culture, which doesn't only refer to "patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance" (per Wikipedia). Human culture also has a protective function, which is to make sure that the human propensity for change doesn't endanger a culture's existence. Fiction often mocks this cultural role, such as when the big city rocker of the movie Footloose arrives in small town America and outrages the prudish moral sensibilities of just about everyone. But this defensive mechanism is still a part of our culture. If the singularity actually began to occur, does anyone really believe that humans wouldn't react violently against it? One of the few authors to address this issue is David Marusek, who in his novella "The Wedding Album" showed humans destroying certain aspects of their technology instead of allowing a singularity-like event to happen.
So I don't waste much time worrying about the singularity occuring in the very near future (say the next decade). After that, all bets are off, but don't underestimate the cultural reaction humanity will have to uncontrollable technological change.
As a final note, Paul Kincaid states in an excellent new essay that "Science fiction is a genre that lives and dies by novelty." The result of this is that SF continually supports one literary movement after another. But when SF becomes too wedded to a particular movement, the entire genre risks stagnation. The singularity movement has brought fascinating ideas and perspectives to the genre. But the movement is now becoming stale and, in a few years, could be seen as one more wrong prediction of the future. Until that happens, SF writers would do well to avoid becoming so engrossed with this movement that they forget the other ideas, explorations, and themes which make SF unique. Because if that were to happen, then the genre truly would be in trouble.
Interzone challenge: Write an optimistic SF short story
Jetse de Vries has reprinted an essay he wrote for the BSFA's magazine for writers, Focus, discussing how optimism in SF appears to be dead. As Jetse writes, with only a few exceptions "In the last couple of years, SF short stories have been predominantly dark and pessimistic . . . it's almost as if it's forbidden to write an uplifting story." Jetse then points out part of the problem is that writing a convincing optimistic story is very difficult. He even quotes Gardner Dozois on the subject: "As someone who has written post-apocalyptic stuff myself, I can tell you that it IS easier. It's easier to write about how the current world went wrong than it is to come up with believable ways how the current world is going to survive and prosper (to say nothing of changing in unexpected ways)."
Jetse has also set a challenge for SF short story authors: "Write an ambitious story about how the future changes for the better: one that is convincing, as well. As realistic and plausible as you can get it. Then send it my way when I re-open Interzone for email submissions (probably May 2007, but keep an eye on our website and Ralan.com)
Ordinary life and SF
James Wallace Harris has a very good post called "Ordinary Life and Science Fiction" in which he laments how science fiction stories rarely feature details of ordinary life. He focuses the point around the recent serialized novel Marsbound by Joe Haldeman, but expands the issue by showcasing how The Road by Cormac McCarthy merged both exciting vistas and drama with slices of ordinary life. Other science fiction stories which I believe do a good job of this include A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller and "Pump Six" by Paolo Bacigalupi. I don't know if it's significant that the first two stories which jumped to mind as combining SF and ordinary life are both variations on post-apocalyptic views of the future, but that's something I'll have to reflect on.
As a final note, I highly recommend people bookmark Harris's excellent blog Auxiliary Memory. Rarely a day goes by in which he doesn't post something which forces me to stop and reflect on his words.
Million Writers Award update
The Million Writers Award nomination process appears to be going well, with a large number of reader and editor nominations coming in over the last few days. In fact, the only problem I've seen is the attempt by certain people to stuff the reader nomination box with the story "The First Fire" by David Andrew Stoler (originally published in Carve Magazine.) Please stop doing this. The story has already been nominated by several readers and was one of the three official nominations by Matthew Limpede, editor of Carve Magazine. Nominating a particular story over and over doesn't gain anyone anything--aside from making me irritated at having to spend time deleting all the redundant nominations.
Who cares if Star Trek Phase II is professional or not
I thought last week's comment by Marc Scott Zicree would put to rest the controversy around a script from Star Trek Phase II (formerly Star Trek New Voyages) becoming a finalist for the Nebula award. Zicree stated that from the point of view of the script's creation, the production was professional, which is a requirement for this particular Nebula award. However, now Karl Hodge at Den of Geek reports that James Cawley, Star Trek Phase II producer and super-fan, has released a letter stating the production is absolutely not professional.
I'm not going to get into a legal argument over whether or not this production meets some contrived definition of professional. The larger issue is whether or not this script is the best one under consideration for this Nebula award. Attempts to deny an award to a worthy script through a legal maneuver at best reeks of being wrong and at worst throws even more doubt on the entire Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, which is not something the organization needs at this time. The Star Trek Phase II script should win or lose fairly, not because of some movement to deny it a shot at the award because the way it was produced offends--or more likely, scares--certain professional script writers.
Interview with fantasy author Jim C. Hines
Fantasy writer Jim C. Hines--author of the humorous novels Goblin Quest and Goblin Hero, along with numerous short stories--has a new book out. In honor of this, Monsters and Critics has published my new interview with Hines in which we discuss everything from whether psychology helps one understand humor to whether or not the United States is ready to elect a goblin as President. M&C has also published my review of Hines's new novel Goblin War, which is (to quote myself) "laugh-out-loud funny."
When fantasy and fiction are abandoned for fake realities
First came news that Misha Defonseca's horrific memoir Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years--in which she describes living with a pack of wolves as a child, treking 1,900 miles across Europe in search of her deported parents, killing a German soldier in self-defense, and oh, yeah, being Jewish--wasn't true. Now it turns out that the author of another high profile memoir, Love and Consequences by Margaret B. Jones (a pseudonym for Margaret Seltzer), isn't a "half-white, half-Native American girl growing up in South-Central Los Angeles as a foster child among gang-bangers (and) running drugs for the Bloods."
So these authors turn out to be liars who conned a reading public into believing fiction as fact. Personally, I haven't read either of these two authors so I can't evaluate the stories they told. Still, I find it funny that people are using the terms "fantasy" and "fiction" to describe these women's fake lives. Aside from the obvious pun, these terms hint at a bigger problem with these memoirs: that the authors felt the only way their stories could get attention was to pass them off as real.
A few millennia ago, there was no division between fiction and nonfiction, fantasy and memoir. Storytellers felt free to mix amazing events with real life happenings, such as occurred in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Audiences readily accepted this practice, enjoying the stories and seeing the truth that existed within them. Then humanity became more sophisticated and began to see myth for myth and reality for reality. Soon came the demands that our stories adhere to this artificial division. The result of this is that in the pantheon of truth-telling, fiction and fantasy are now considered the bastard stepchilds to "real" writings like journalism, memoir, and nonfiction. To understand the truths of the world, people turn to these newer genres. The irony, though, is that people who have written in these "real" genres know that fiction and fantasy still abound. Show me one piece of so-called real writing, and I'll show you any number of fantasies within the piece.
I haven't read these two author's memoirs, so I won't vouch for their stories (let alone condone their lies). They deserve all they crap that's now falling upon their heads. But I also know that a world which demands nothing but absolute accuracy in its nonfiction, and considers fiction and fantasy to have little relation to reality, are setting up all these story-telling genres to fail. There are truths which can only be told through fiction and fantasy. There are truths which can only be told through nonfiction and memoir. And there are truths which can only be expressed through the intersection of all of the above. Both writers and readers would do well to remember this.
Best short SF/F fiction of 2007 (Dave Truesdale edition)
Dave Truesdale's online short fiction review magazine Tangent is in the midst of a website overhaul, so he's posted his 2007 recommended reading list on Black Gate. Truesdale's list contains "214 stories from various 2007 print publications only: magazines, single author collections containing one or more original stories, and original anthologies." Quite an undertaking and Dave deserves a big word of thanks for doing this.