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brightlotusmoon"Who cares what label gets attached to it? If it's a good story that makes you think, then it's good speculative fiction. If it doesn't make you think then, well, it's just entertainment."
http://io9.com/5332910/has-sci+fi-become-too-infected-by-fantasy
And this is why my novel in progress is science fantasy, and why all those hard SF authors who turn their noses up at fantasy can stare at my middle finger.
http://io9.com/5332910/has-sci+fi-become-too-infected-by-fantasy
And this is why my novel in progress is science fantasy, and why all those hard SF authors who turn their noses up at fantasy can stare at my middle finger.
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Date: 2009-08-09 09:10 pm (UTC)I find the concept of "plain" fantasy (fixed the quote marks there) to be a little baffling, if not completely oxymoronic. When will the SpecFic snobbery end?
Oh, wait, never. 8-(
Kudos to you, science fantasyist!
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Date: 2009-08-09 09:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-14 05:49 am (UTC)Octavia Butler wrote a vampire novel that was very much more sci-fi than fantasy, while telepathy, which is clearly fantasy, is generally categorized with the sci-fi books.
I do like (and can't recall whether I mentioned) that Pat Rothfuss brought up an excellent point-- sci-fi and fantasy can each be either "hard" or "soft." Star Trek, much as I love it, has always been "soft" sci-fi, whereas Tolkien is absolutely "hard" fantasy (everything works firmly within a given set of rules and the world is internally consistent. As Rothfuss put it "in a hard fantasy world, if you have dragons, you also have an ecosystem capable of supporting that large a predator.")
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Date: 2009-08-14 06:19 pm (UTC)I also agree completely with Rothfuss' point. I have always, always written soft sci-fi and soft fantasy. I don't like making given set of rules in internally consistent worlds. I love randomness and oddity. My stories have always been fantasy, perhaps set in a science fiction sort of setting (for example, a bunch of telepaths living on a space station in the far future with aliens and far-out technology). A lot of people don't realize that psionic abilities -- or psychic abilities -- are fantasy. Just not the "wizards and dragons and people on horseback" fantasy that people seem to think of when they hear the word "fantasy."
I have Rothfuss' novel in my library and I have yet to read it. I still have to finish Vicki Pettersson's "City Of Souls." Then It's on to Caitlin R. Kiernen's "The Red Tree." Then the anthology "Strange Brew." Then CE Murphy's "Urban Shaman" series (a reread). Then Amber Benson's "Death's Daughter."
Then I can read "The Name Of The Wind."
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Date: 2009-08-14 06:25 pm (UTC)I loved the "Urban Shaman" books. "Death's Daughter" is on my list too (my autographed copy, yay!), and I'll probably get around to Rothfuss eventually. After "Mean Streets," "Skin Trade," the latest John Flanagan book, and the other random odds and ends I couldn't help picking up at the library.
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Date: 2009-08-14 06:48 pm (UTC)CE Murphy needs to hurry up with the Urban Shaman series. Joanne and Coyote are marvelous.
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Date: 2009-08-14 06:56 pm (UTC)Murphy seems to have dropped that series in favor of another one, which really is too bad. Although, I confess, there are far too many good urban fantasy series' for me to keep up with these days. I haven't read the latest Weather Wardens book either!!
I'm actually tempted to reread Urban Shaman with a bit of research in mind; lately, I've been noticing a distressing trend among fantasy authors to use Native American mythologies-- which isn't necessarily a problem in itself, but I think it should be done with a certain amount of care so as not to be exploitative.
Mind you, I won't refuse to read a good book just because the author made some ignorant mistakes, but I like to see authors who actually do some research on the ideas they're borrowing. I plan to make a post about this some day when my brain has a period of unfuzziness.
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Date: 2009-08-14 07:32 pm (UTC)Aww, that's too bad about the Urban Shaman series. i heartily enjoyed it.
I think that if a fantasy author is going to use any mythology, serious research is required. That's one of the many many reasons why Laurell K. Hamilton pisses me off so much.
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Date: 2009-08-14 07:52 pm (UTC)I don't know if "Urban Shaman" is one of the ones that gets it wrong-- I'll have to reread them and see. Jim Butcher's latest book (and don't get me wrong; I adore the Dresden files) featured a badly re-invented Skinwalker who was fought off by your Generic Indian Wise Man. But what really bugs me is the fact that someone wrote a book called "Skinwalker" recently... about (according to the back) a Cherokee chick who's also a shapeshifter. *wince* That's a bit like saying the British are famous for their wines and cheeses.
I'm surprised you list LKH among the misusers of mythology. Granted, I know squat-all about Celtic myths, but I always got the impression she knew what she was talking about, even if she did make up extra stuff on top of it. It's amazing how easily those things slip past when you don't know the myths in question, isn't it?
At the Fantasy Author's panel, I asked about appropriation and what kind of research they did, and one of the interesting points that came up is that mythologies like "vampires" have so many different versions that you can pretty much do anything you want with them. Really, I think you only need to worry about accuracy when the mythology in question comes from an endangered culture. Rob Thurman pointed out that she completely destroyed the concept of "elves" in her stories, and was glad to do so, but that's hardly exploitative. No one's in danger of forgetting Tolkien's version!
I'm not up to explaining myself well at the moment, so let me know if I need to clarify.
If you like well-researched fantasy, though, I highly recommend Seanan Mcguire's upcoming book "Rosemary and Rue", which we already have at our store courtesy of her visit! In fact, if you'd like an autographed copy, let me know, and I'd be happy to mail it to you.
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Date: 2009-08-14 08:06 pm (UTC)"Endangered culture" -- I like that! LKH's portrayal of elves and vampires doesn't bother me, because gods know everyone does vampires and elves in every way possible. I just don't like her writing or her characters anymore and want to strangle every single character in her books. Best that I just stop reading.
(Personally, I find Karen Chance's take on vampires and faeries very refreshing.)
Seanan is on my friends list but I have yet to read her books. I'd love a copy! I'll email you my address.
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Date: 2009-08-14 08:24 pm (UTC)I have not read anything by Chance yet-- will have to give them a try. There's so much paranormal fiction/fantasy/romance out there now it's hard to know which ones are worth picking up. I hate when a genre gets popular like that and everyone starts writing it whether or not they've got the knack for it. Same thing happened to Juvenile Fantasy after Harry Potter hit it big.
I can pick you up a copy of Seanan's book today. Do you want a cost-estimate first? Usually, when I buy books for people, my employee discount just about covers the shipping charges, so you end up paying about as much as you would if you bought it yourself. I'm guessing this one will run about $8.50, all told. Does that work for you?
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