Media Tie-Ins and the Future of SF

[pameladlloyd]

Sean Williams (ladnews) posted a notice here about a panel discussion in which he participated on SF Signal: Mind Meld: How Do Media Tie-In Novels Affect SF/F?. I found the various responses very interesting, but I was especially intrigued by Kristine Kathryn Rusch's article of a few years ago, which she linked to in her response.

Rusch makes a distinction between the older generation(s) of science fiction readers, whose reading habits consist of works that rely on a strong knowledge of classic science fiction and fantasy novels, and younger generations who first encountered science fiction through media (lots of different kinds of media) and who may be unfamiliar with the various tropes and ideas found in books that are "buil[t] on ideas found in novels so long out of print that libraries and specialty used bookstores no longer carry them" and which she sees as favored by editors, because those editors are, by and large, from the older generation of readers. In the article she also discusses a divergence in the goals of fantasy, as distinct from science fiction:

Fantasy continued its heroic ways, promising—and usually delivering—those uplifting endings, those fascinating worlds, and those excellent (heroic) characters. But science fiction started resembling the literary mainstream. The novels became angst-filled. The protagonists, demoted from their heroic pedestals, lost more than they won. The worlds became as ugly or uglier than our own.

Having described this situation, she also discusses the trends in the publication of science fiction, which (at least as of 2004), was shrinking as a marketing genre. (I believe that this figure excludes the various media tie-ins typically found on the same shelves in the bookstore.) She also suggests that fantasy is not having this difficulty when she states: "Fantasy will take care of itself."

So, all of this (i.e., my blithering) is a long-winded way of getting around to a few of the questions raised by these two articles: Is science fiction mired in the past in a way that is preventing new readers from finding it enjoyable and worth reading? Are we, those of us who grew up reading classic science fiction and its subsequent successors, preventing science fiction from changing in ways that will allow it to be more accessible to today's readers? Or, is something else going on, that makes science fiction seem less relevant in today's admittedly high-tech world?

P.S. I've done my best to condense a few of the many ideas in Rusch's lengthy and well-reasoned article into the much shorter context appropriate for a journal entry. If, in the process, I've distorted or misrepresented the concepts she explained, please accept my apologies.

Comments

[janni.livejournal.com]

I'd be curious what you make of some of the YA science fiction out there (M.T. Anderson's Feed, Scott Westerfeld's Peeps and Uglies, Ann Halam's Siberia), which seems, to me, to have a different set of concerns, and not to rely on the genre's history much at all.

[cedunkley.livejournal.com]

The most recent Science Fiction books I've read have all been in the military-science fiction sub-genre. I'm not sure who is writing "classic science-fiction" these days.

My own science fiction stories would probably be classified as "military science-fantasy" (if I get them published someday).

By the way, Happy Birthday!!!

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Rusch touched on YA just long enough to say that she wasn't including it in her assessment of the situation with the adult science fiction market. Although I read a few YAs, it's not a large part of my reading and I don't feel I know the market well, so I don't have much to say. Frankly, I think you must have a much better picture of that than I do. So, I'm going to turn this one back on you and say that I'm curious about what you make of YA sf. (It would be fun to have you as a guest blogger on the subject, although I'm sure you'd have more readers on your journal, if you wanted to move the discussion there. If we keep it in these comments, many readers may miss the discussion.)

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Rusch kinda lumped everything together a bit. And, I wonder how much the dynamic has changed, with the influence of Lois McMaster Bujold's works, which were generally categorized as space opera, but completely blew the lid off any preconceptions one may have had of that subcategory, with excellence of writing, characterization, and plot all stirred into a willingness to mix things up in the subgenre pot.

Thank you for the birthday wishes! *g*

[janni.livejournal.com]

I don't know that I've read quite enough to do a coherent full post, but my impression is that YA SF really doesn't require prior knowledge of the field, and that it tends to be both based in the biosciences rather than in physics and space travel, and that it also tends to be dystopic more often than not.

I think that many adult SF readers--especially the ones who think kids no longer read SF--tend not to see it because it doesn't harken back to Heinlein, and it doesn't look like adult SF looks. (These covers strike me as one of the more dramatic examples of SF that doesn't look like SF to adult readers.)

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I suspect you know more than you think, but I certainly don't want to pressure you to do anything you're not comfortable with.

I find your comment about the biosciences, as opposed to physics and space travel interesting. While I think there have been many fine adult sf works that were bioscience-based (I'm thinking especially of works dealing with nanotechnology, strange diseases, and psychic phenomena) the association many people have with sf is physics and space-based. I was particularly fond of mathematics and time-based stories, too.

I see what you mean about the covers; the titles and covers were somewhat ambiguous in that respect, yet I think I might have figured it out. Hard to tell, since I already knew (because you pointed them out) that they were sf. I wonder if there won't be a resurgence in interest in adult science fiction as today's YA readers grow up and start looking for works in other parts of the bookstore and library. Especially since the old guard of sf editors are going to be replaced, as time goes on, with younger people who may be more adept at recognizing works that will appeal to younger audiences.