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pameladlloydMy reading this afternoon has been an article in this month's issue of The Internet Review of Science Fiction, SF and Fantasy: Siamese Twins or a Marriage of Convenience?.
This article discusses science fiction and market trends from a slightly different perspective than that in the articles I referenced in my last post, but includes new market share figures. I will point out, however, that these figures can't be directly compared to those in Rusch's article, as I believe they probably include the media tie-ins that she excluded. Even with the additional volume provided by those works, science fiction and fantasy, together, are only a small portion of the market:
(As an aside, I wonder why we have to turn to the RWA for our market figures. Surely, someone, somewhere within the science fiction and fantasy publishing world is tracking these things.)
Since this article looks at science fiction and fantasy and examines the connections and divisions between the two genres, I thought I'd turn my gaze in that direction, as well. I can remember wondering in the past why these books were always shelved together, but as my reading within the genre/s has continued, I've become far more aware of works in which the distinction is unclear. At one time, those genre-blurring works seemed sufficient excuse to keep the two together. Now, with new trends in fiction blurring genre lines in all directions, the need (or desire) for distinction seems at once more understandable, harder to achieve, and in question.
In question? Well, many of my favorite authors have aligned themselves with the interstitial arts movement, a movement which recognizes and celebrates this blurring and blending of boundaries (between genres, and also between media), seeing it as a liminal space within which artists are most free to create. Many of the artists working within this new area--defined not so much by the boundaries of genre, as by the spaces between them--are authors I discovered through my reading in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Many of their works are still published within this/these genre/s, but the field is far more diverse and I suspect I know only one tiny fold in the weave.
So, here I am, at once aware of my ignorance and of this connection I perceive (and I think my ignorance is vast--I am no expert; however much my reading may have wandered within and between and around the passages of this labyrinthine library, I have discovered only the barest fraction of the stock on the shelves and I'm only dimly aware of the paintings hanging on the walls between the shelves and of the music that filters through these once silent halls). I'm sure there are others out there--perhaps the librarian around the corner, or some other reader who has wandered farther than I and seen more, perhaps that artist whose work combines music and words and imagery to create something quite unlike anything ever seen before--who has a clearer understanding of what's happening. But, still, I stand here, looking about me in wonder, as I see connections forming, boundaries blurring, light shining through the cracks. I do not know yet what awaits on the other side, but I'm excited by the journey we (for all of us in the library will journey together) will take.
This article discusses science fiction and market trends from a slightly different perspective than that in the articles I referenced in my last post, but includes new market share figures. I will point out, however, that these figures can't be directly compared to those in Rusch's article, as I believe they probably include the media tie-ins that she excluded. Even with the additional volume provided by those works, science fiction and fantasy, together, are only a small portion of the market:
According to the Romance Writers of America (RWA), in 2007, science fiction and fantasy combined accounted for approximately $700 million of the slightly over $4 billion Americans spent buying book-length genre fiction. That's 17.46%. Of that number, original (ie, non-reprint) fantasy novels outnumber original science fiction almost 2:1, with 460 fantasy novels and 250 science fiction novels in 2007.(2)
(As an aside, I wonder why we have to turn to the RWA for our market figures. Surely, someone, somewhere within the science fiction and fantasy publishing world is tracking these things.)
Since this article looks at science fiction and fantasy and examines the connections and divisions between the two genres, I thought I'd turn my gaze in that direction, as well. I can remember wondering in the past why these books were always shelved together, but as my reading within the genre/s has continued, I've become far more aware of works in which the distinction is unclear. At one time, those genre-blurring works seemed sufficient excuse to keep the two together. Now, with new trends in fiction blurring genre lines in all directions, the need (or desire) for distinction seems at once more understandable, harder to achieve, and in question.
In question? Well, many of my favorite authors have aligned themselves with the interstitial arts movement, a movement which recognizes and celebrates this blurring and blending of boundaries (between genres, and also between media), seeing it as a liminal space within which artists are most free to create. Many of the artists working within this new area--defined not so much by the boundaries of genre, as by the spaces between them--are authors I discovered through my reading in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Many of their works are still published within this/these genre/s, but the field is far more diverse and I suspect I know only one tiny fold in the weave.
So, here I am, at once aware of my ignorance and of this connection I perceive (and I think my ignorance is vast--I am no expert; however much my reading may have wandered within and between and around the passages of this labyrinthine library, I have discovered only the barest fraction of the stock on the shelves and I'm only dimly aware of the paintings hanging on the walls between the shelves and of the music that filters through these once silent halls). I'm sure there are others out there--perhaps the librarian around the corner, or some other reader who has wandered farther than I and seen more, perhaps that artist whose work combines music and words and imagery to create something quite unlike anything ever seen before--who has a clearer understanding of what's happening. But, still, I stand here, looking about me in wonder, as I see connections forming, boundaries blurring, light shining through the cracks. I do not know yet what awaits on the other side, but I'm excited by the journey we (for all of us in the library will journey together) will take.
