Question of the Week

Question of the Week

Question of the Week: How can Space Opera keep itself relevant?

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Shaun asked me to do the question of the week a few hours ago, and I accepted, even though he forgot my birthday. So the question I pose this week is: how can space opera stay relevant? Space opera, in many ways, is the heart of SF. A decent space opera extrapolates current technologies and theories past their breaking points, muse on alien culture and philosophy, contrasts the everyman with the extraordinary, and heaps on that good ol’ sensawunda until it topples over and spills some into other subgenres. That’s what a decent space opera should do, in my opinion, but they’ve been doing it for decades. In this time of the naysayer slandering SF, saying it’s a “dying medium” because of some garbage about “SF catching up with reality,” what can space opera do to say, “Au contraire Monsieur (or Madame) Naysayer,” and proclaim its relevance? How can a subgenre over 100 years old reinvent itself for our increasingly cynical and overly fantastic world? Respond please. P.S.:  I didn’t forget his birthday.  He never told me that his birthday was this weekend.  Totally Adam’s fault.

Question of the Week

Question of the Week: Favorite science fiction or fantasy stories about real wars?

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Those of you who read my personal blog will know that I’m working on a syllabus for a Survey in American Literature course.  Science fiction, as you might guess, appears prominently in the reading list, which has inspired me to post this question: What are your favorite science fiction or fantasy novels, stories, dramas, or movies which are about real world wars (allegorically or otherwise)? For me, the list is pretty clear: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman Haldeman’s military SF classic is, in my opinion, one of the most important works of literature in the last 100 years.  As an allegory about the Vietnam War (or Conflict, if you want to be correct about such things), it is a stunning foray into the operative function of SF as a genre:  estrangement.  If you’ve never read it, you should.  Right now.  Hurry… Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Vonnegut’s fiction has always intrigued me.  Slaughterhouse-Five is one of those books that is at once supremely weird and cleverly autobiographical (Vonnegut served in WW2 and the title of the book comes from the place where he was imprisoned, which protected him during the firebombing of Dresden by Allied forces).  Vonnegut’s experiences fill every page, which help cover the unreality of the alien visitors narrative that make the novel a piece of science fiction. “Faith of Our Fathers” by Philip K. Dick (in Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison) PKD is known for his dystopian futures and alternate histories.  “Faith of Our Fathers” is one of the second variety, telling the story of a world where communism won and is run by an amoral, all-consuming godlike Party leader.  The Cold War may not have been a proper war, but it’s hard to ignore its impact on fiction in general, and science fiction in particular.  Dystopian fiction after WW2, as far as I can tell, saw a massive increase, with numerous stories by PKD alone dedicated to nuclear holocaust or variations thereof. Star Wars IV – VI by George Lucas A lot of folks have suggested the obvious parallels between the Empire and Nazi Germany (if I recall correctly, even Lucas has made this connection).  Star Wars is so saturated with WW2 imagery that even its action sequences are obvious throwbacks to pre-jet-engine dogfights.  Whether the allegories had an influence on the film’s impact is up to speculation, but one certainly can’t ignore that Star Wars has changed everything we know about science fiction today. Aliens by James Cameron I enjoyed the first Alien movie, but it pales in comparison to Cameron’s Vietnam-influenced sequel.  The film mimics everything from the overbearing macho-ism of anti-communist (and anti-“other”) America and military right down to the bureaucratic amorality which started the Vietnam War.  It’s hard not to include it on this list.  Plus:  the movie is freaking awesome! And if you don’t believe me, then this should change your mind: The big question is whether there are fantasy titles out there that deal with similar issues.  If you know of some, let us know in the comments. So:  which science fiction and fantasy stories about real world wars are you favorites?

Question of the Week

Question of the Week: What do you think about the Hugo Nominees?

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We’ve talked about the 2011 Hugo Nominees in Episode 3.5, but now we want to know what you think.  Do you think it’s a good list?  Why or why not?  What would you put there instead? Let us know what you think about the list in the comments or on Twitter.  And stay tuned for Monday’s episode, which will feature Andy Remic, author of Serial Killers Inc and Kell’s Legend (among other novels).

Question of the Week

Question of the Week: Which skiffy or fanty character would you cosplay as?

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It doesn’t matter if you’ve never dressed up.  Everyone has a character they’d love to be, even just for a few hours at a fancy dress party.  Here are ours: Shaun Doctor Who (David Tennant or Matt Smith).  Why?  Because I’d look damn good in a bow tie or Tennant’s coat!  They’ve both got a wonderful sense of style (the characters, that is), and Doctor Who is a wonderful show.  What better reasons could there be? I rest my case. Jen So I’m totally not sexy enough to pull the character off, but I think I would have to cosplay as Blink, from the Marvel Universe.  Granted, the people at Marvel are total bastards and killed her off almost immediately after originally introducing her in the standard timeline, but she was seriously epic in the Age of Apocalypse timeline and was later reintroduced in the Exiles series…  She’s a pink-skinned elfin-eared teleporter, a la Nightcrawler, who can charge bolts that she shoots at people.  Oh, and I love her. If you were to cosplay any skiffy or fanty character, who would it be and why?

Question of the Week

Question of the Week: Which science fiction novel would you start middle school kids on and why?

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Since our latest episode is a little on the dark side, we thought it would be a good idea to have a happier question for you all to think about.  We’ve also brought in a friend to sweeten the deal: Shaun The hard thing about choosing books for middle school kids is that a great deal of books for their age group that are fantastic in nature are actually fantasies, rather than science fiction.  There isn’t enough science fiction written explicitly for their age group, let alone for the two groups around them (children’s lit and young adult).  If we were talking high school, the doors would be wide open for all kinds of stuff, from John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War to Tobias Buckell’s Xenowealth novels (Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin, and Sly Mongoose).  But because this group is a young group, content is a big issue.  I have no doubt that they can handle more adult material than we’d like to think, but they are still younglings. With that in mind, I would have to pick The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.  The novel may not be meant for middle school kids, but it’s hilarious, fun, and all kinds of weird.  Whether they’ll get all the jokes is irrelevant, because the characters are funny enough on their own.  The big question, of course, is whether Adams is a good gateway into the SF genre as a whole.  I don’t think I can say… Jen Honestly.  I have no idea!  I started reading science fiction earlier than middle school, but I think the same books are appropriate.  However, they’re a little outdated.  To be honest, though I haven’t even read the series yet, I would start with The Hunger Games.  I’ve always been of the opinion that to get a kid interested in something for the first time, you have to play to their interests.  Not only is The Hunger Games a new series of books, it is also being made into a series of movies.  Double win to a teenager (especially if that hot guy from Beastly and I Am Number Four is in it, then you’ll get every girl in America reading the series).  I see no reason to throw them straight into the complexities of Ender’s Game or something by Heinlein.  I started with Ray Bradbury and Madeleine L’Engle (although I was never a big L’Engle fan) and these are still great authors to begin a science fiction journey with, but to snag a kid so late in the game (yes, I’m calling middle school late) – appealling to them on a less “literary” level might be a good way to go. Patrick Hester Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. I think the story is accessible to kids because it’s about kids, their relationships and a lot of themes involved with growing up that they’ll relate to. Plus, the kids are the smartest people in the story (for the most part), which I think they’ll like too. So, what do you think would be a good SF book to start middle school kids on? Let us know in the comments!

Question of the Week

Question of the Week: What mythological or folkloric tradition would you like to see more Fantasy based on?

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We’re on a bit of a fantasy kick these days.  With places like the World SF blog covering speculative literature published elsewhere around the world, it’s becoming pretty obvious that there’s so much more out there that traditional outlets aren’t covering.  But Western myths and folkloric traditions are still the dominant theme in a lot of fantasy, which is why we’re asking the question in the title. Here’s what we think: Jen I think it’s fairly obvious to American readers that most of our fantasy is based on western European mythologies and folklore, predominantly the folklore of the British Isles and, to a lesser extent, Greek and Norse mythology.  Even the vampire legend had to be transplanted from Eastern Europe before it was popularized (although vampires are a broader tradition and not unique to even Eastern Europe).  Anyway, what I’m saying is – BOOOOOR-ing!  Boring isn’t really the right word.  I still continue to enjoy these traditions in the fantasy that I read, but I’d really love to see the American fantasy community branch out a bit more – break out of their Western European comfort zone!  I’ll grant you that Neil Gaiman and Charles de Lint have done a great job incorporating non-western mythologies; it seems to be lacking for the most part.  And though writers that are born within those non-western traditions/cultures do incorporate them, they aren’t necessarily things you see on the American market.  So, the mythology/folklore I would like to see more of is… crap…  I’m going to go with South American.  Things out of the Mayan and Aztec and tribal mythos would be very neat to see.  If anyone can tell me some fantasy that already uses these traditions – point me in that direction!  I want chupacabras and Quetzacoatl and whatever else they have!  Can you tell it’s a tradition I know next to nothing about?  Well I want to learn! Shaun Honestly, I would like to see accurate portrayals of tribal myths/folklore/belief systems/etc., particularly those from the African continent.  The problem I’ve seen in SF/F is that a lot of work that tries to use non-Western mythologies or folklore does so with an implicitly Western viewpoint.  By that I mean that such works rarely explore the myth without somehow Westernizing it, either by using a Western POV character or trying to change the dynamics of the myth itself to make it accessible to a Western audience.  Accessibility is problematic, though, since one can easily cross over the line into “too accessible,” which inevitably means that your attempt to represent a non-Western myth has failed miserably.  African, Native American, South American (Amazonian, perhaps?), Chinese, Southeast Asian, South Pacific-an…whatever it may be, I want to see it brought out in its entirety, without unfair reduction.  Worldbuilding should be totalizing, not half-assed. What do you all what to see?  Let us know in the comments below!

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