This is a general thread about science fiction. I don't want to really get all that specific with definitions, although I will provide some, but just want people's thoughts on the matters. First off, some quotes: "If poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world, science-fiction writers are its court jesters." -- Bruce Sterling in the preface to William Gibson's Burning Chrome "Modern science fiction is the only form of literature that consistently considers the nature of the changes that face us, the possible consequences, and the possible solutions." "That branch of literature which is concerned with the impact of scientific advance upon human beings." -- Isaac Asimov So why is science fiction important? And what sets aside some science fiction as a masterpeice and others as just drivel? Put another way, what makes good science fiction??? So just post your own thoughts here, what do you like about your favorite sci-fi? What do you want to see in sci-fi novels? Let me know what you guys think. And note, this conversation can include fantasy, but keep it general -ZERO MASS
Science Fiction is important to society as a whole as it helps people adjust and adapt to new technology and in turn aiding the development of mankind. If it were not for science fiction people might not be able to grasp technological concepts and may even fear them. Another important thing Science Fiction does is allow people with little scientific expertise get their ideas into the limelight where those with the expertise can sit back and say "Wow, that's actually not a bad idea". It also provides inspiration, makes mankind dream of what might become. Hell, that's the main reason I enjoy SciFi, it makes me dream of the future possibilites. I love SciFi as it inspires me. I think one of the reasons I'm so into Stargate is because I imagined how the people on Earth would handle a Gou'ald invasion on my long walks home from college and what I would do if it did actually happen. Another SciFi series that inspires me is the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Such a rich and diverse background with some truely amazing stories, I can take what inspiration I can find and put it to creative use in my models. A good SciFi story lets you feel what the characters are feeling (like in any book) but the ones that make it closer to home hit the mark with most people i.e. Stargate is set in the present day and FarScape is about a modern Robinson Crusoe in space. People went to see War of the Worlds because it was about an alien invasion against todays world. I'm rambling as usual so I shall sieze and desist.
The difference between a masterpiece and drivel is the same in sci-fi as in any other artform. How many people does it speak to? Does it transcend its geographical and temporal community? Does it inspire them, educate them, entertain them, or merely titillate them? In SF of any sort I always look for entertainment. I may read a lot of books that aren't masterpieces but they sure make me happy. To be a masterpiece it's got to plant new ideas in my head. James P. Hogan's "Code of the Lifemaker," a book I never see on anyone's "best of SF" list, did that for me. I have different standards for the visual media. Sense of Wonder counts for a lot. Farscape did the best job of that, with no close competition. But judged by literary standards, Babylon Five was the masterpiece.
Where I live, most people are not into sci-fi, unfortunately. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! A friend of mine organised a sci-fi reading group to be held once a month in my local library. Not only did we get such a poor turnout in numbers, but the few that did attend thought sci-fi was too mind boggling! They were mostly into other genres like romance, comedy and poetry. I think their main argument was sci-fi destroys society through invention of too much technology, which ruins the moral fabric of society. People become too independent and self-sufficient, destroying social cohesion and family values, etc. (Those are their discussion arguments - not mine. I'm pro-science!) AA http://www.publishedauthors.net/aa_spaceagent/
I enjoy it fot the creative and thought provoking stories sometimes that I read, especially about the future.
One thing - science fiction is NOT fantasy. Also, there are essential difference between good scifi and bad ones,the former is creation while the latter is cliche. Here I can give an example, it might be a bit lame,tho. - let's bring two movies on the table, one is " 13 going on 30 ", another is " Primer " . Both of them are involved with time travel and stuff. So what? The former is the old sh*t for 13 years old ( bore u to death), while the latter is real good scifi. Well, I do know people don't even take "13 going on 30 " as a fantasy, I was just trying to explain the point I set. Be ware of the phonies.
good sci fi is the same as any other good literature, it is mainly about well-developed characters, and their experiences and interactions with a future world. it is about how humans deal with advancement. i think Arthur C. Clarke was the master of this, along with Asimov (though i haven't read as much of his). Orson Scott Card does a great job of this as well, but he requires more spiritual reflection, and generally more dedication, since he writes alot of series. sorry to address the thread out of order, but i would also like to add that sci fi speaks to the current trends in thought about future technologies- for good or ill...
Good literature doesn't have to be character driven, as Isaac Asimov and Philip K Dick prove. I'd have said ideas were most important, followed closely by the sense of realism - whether the internal universe is coherent.
Hmm, I will have to respectfully disagree with your assertion. I think that I, Robot is very character driven. The character is the robot species, and over the course of the stories we clearly see that they grow and evolve, much like a human character does. PKD writes about society much in the same way, as our personal fears and short-comings as the characters, played out in a world that is usually topsy-turvy. I think that maybe we can amend the statement to say that MOST good literature, or what we think of as classic literature, books that appeal to the widest audience, generally seem character driven. The point of this post though was to get at why right a story about a woman on a planet with a whole bunch or robots and aliens when you could just write a story about a woman in a city finding love or something? Why do we wonder and write about the extraordinary? -ZERO MASS
simple: it is infinite. no one can know the future, so go crazy. however the best scifi writers work hard at making it seem reasonable.
There was a time about 15-20 years ago when editors tried to make "SF" stand for "speculative fiction" instead of "science fiction." It was an interesting point but the crusade was hopeless. Speculation about the nature of reality and how humanity would respond to a difference in reality is what sets SF apart from "mainstream" literature, even great literature. However, as all of us erudite members of this forum must know, a new genre was recently developed in Latin America called "magic realism." Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luís Borges, and a dozen other authors are its pioneers. Magic realism is like SF except that only ONE aspect of reality is changed. That way the characters' actions and the whole milieu seem a little more familiar. It's a greater challenge for the author to develop the story when he can't change things to fit the plot he wants to write. Most SF stories are a little light on characterization. The milieu is the main character. The planet, the laws of physics, the encounter with aliens, the technology, the new form of government, economics, or religion. In magic realism, the characters are key and must be as well developed as Don Quixote. I can't really explain it to you any better than that. My wife got her master's degree in this stuff and I typed all of her papers. I know the jargon but the literature is a little to deep for me. I tried to read her favorite book, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by García Márquez; I got halfway through it and still didn't have the faintest idea what was going on. The same problem I have with all "great" mainstream literature. I gave up halfway through "Huckleberry Finn" and spent a week trying to read ten pages of "The Magic Mountain." Forget Faulkner, I couldn't understand one word of it. But the SF community seems to embrace magic realism. Editors always speak of Borges as if he's one of our own writers.
I think the original exponent of the term "speculative fiction" was Robert Heinlein - it was in one of his speeches, but I can't look it up at the moment. As for magic realism, it sounds a lot like some of Robert Silverberg's work, especially The Book of Skulls and Dying Inside. They are also much more character driven than a lot of SF. While I have read One Hundred Years of Solitude, it's certainly not my favourite book - while well written, it's not the style of writing I enjoy.
I love sci-fi stories because the world is made to suit the story, sometimes, and sometimes the writer hopes for the story to fit into the real or present-day world. Adventure! Sure, we could read adventure stories on the high seas, in the mountains, in the desert... been there, done that. But more terrifying to me is the giant alien warship than the giant squid. For those of us inspired by technology and pursuing the advancement of it, science fiction gives us a creative outlet to imagine our dreams. I read a novel where the Shuttle (Columbia, incidently) was hijacked! and flown to the moon to gather fuel for nuclear energy! But what sets aside a sci-fi masterpiece has to be the characters, and how well the reader can relate to the story. I always hate to get half or more through "drivel" waiting for excitement, adventure... plot! And some books can be far too technical. But what I love is to see characters like me (or any of the 1000s of ways I can imagine myself) doing incredible things. Solving murder cases in a high-tech world, traipsing about the galaxy making a living, encountering an alien species, for better or worse, all these are exciting adventures one doesn't see in other novels. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Our mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilization, and to boldly go where no one has gone before! I think we like scifi because we can pretend we're living our dreams. And in the best scifi we can. All the "drivel" leave us looking at the words on the pages, not staring into the sky!
