Jason Arnett's Blog, page 23

SF and Subgenres

What is Science Fiction, anyway?

One definition is that SF is a "literature of ideas". Authors use it to explore possibility and make commentary on modern-day events either through satire or outright attack. By this measure anything that deals with Time or Technology in a fictional setting (despite bearing a resemblance to the modern day world) is science fiction.

So we need to have subgenres that allow for further categorization. Steampunk, cyberpunk, time travel, space opera, alternate histories, military, superhuman, apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, dystopian, utopian and the list goes on and on.

Related to science fiction are the genres of Science Fantasy and Speculative Fiction. There are subgenres within those, too. In Science Fantasy, someone is usually carrying a sword ala John Carter of Mars.  In Speculative Fiction one tends to see more literary aspirations including the likes of Harlan Ellison, Margaret Atwood and even Kurt Vonnegut. These authors don't necessarily want to be marked as science fiction writers or they don't want to be constrained by the perceived limits of science fiction.

It seems to me that despite whatever boundaries are set upon the subgenres or related genres, it's all science fiction. Yet why is there a need to delineate differences between these subgenres?

Marketing.

The average bear likes things to be neat, needs to have pigeonholes to put things in in order to feel satisfied that everything is clean and neat. That's not necessarily my way nor is it the way of others. I've read many a SF novel that had fantastic elements to it and many fantasy novels that dealt with hard science of its world and time. My library lumps SF and Fantasy together. Several organizations do so, as well. It's convenient.

Perhaps it's the nature of fandom to tick off boxes and divide the genre of Science Fiction into smaller, more manageable parts. Dystopian means something very different than cyberpunk, after all.

But when authors crossover the subgenres it gets confusing and so Science Fiction becomes the banner for the work. It works the same in the Mystery genre, too, where there are a number of delineations such as cozy mysteries, detective fiction, crime fiction and subgenres within those, too.

So the publishers saw an opportunity to pinpoint certain audiences with neat classifications and marketed to fandom subsets. What got ignored was the tendency of many readers (like me) who read across genres and find that Fantasy is just as much fun as a good Mystery which can also be as interesting as a political Thriller. My friend Rachel writes urban fantasy stories, another friend writes detective stories and I read both. And I love Science Fiction and many of its children.

Things have become too neat, too stodgy. A Science Fantasy Mystery should be a helluva lotta fun, right? And yet books that mash up too many genres get lost and end up failing to attract any readers. What happens instead is a title mashed up with urban fantasy or horror elements. I tell you I'm just waiting for someone to go whole hog and release Uncle Tom's Cabin in the Woods. I won't read it and I won't promote it but someone will be silly enough to do it and self-publish it, at least.

Or perhaps that's a line that won't be crossed. I hope that's the case.

People tend to lock themselves into only reading or watching one kind of story. Even in the case of Science Fiction. I recommend reading not just across the genre you tend to like most but to read across all genres. Watch a lot of different kinds of movies. Listen to a wide variety of music, too. Your mileage may vary from mine, but I've found a lot of inspiration and a world full of stories and entertainment I mightn't have if I'd only ever watched Star Wars and its sequels.

Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.

And yet the Science Fiction in this belief is that it's a Fantasy. Nothing will change unless you help someone do it. If you're genre people, try something you haven't before. Widen your horizons.

Try out some new ideas.

A Resolution

Let's do some reading. Are you with me?Happy 2014, everyone! Another year down, a new one ready to go. Hope your hangover isn't too bad. Mine's all right. Should be a good day.

Let's see, I suppose I should tell you what my resolutions are. Or the one resolution I'm making, anyway. (Don't worry, though, I'm sticking to the whole 'lose 5 pounds a month' thing. That's not a resolution. That's determination.) So, here it is:

Read more books from this century.

That's my resolution for 2014. Usually I make some complicated, overfull list of everything I want to accomplish in a New Year. Over the last few years I've done some really thoughtful, oblique kinds of resolutions that I've been able to mostly keep to. I didn't necessarily put them up here, but I made some little posters that I kept in my office at work and at home. I'm posting this here this year because I want to be held accountable.

Here's the explanation:

I want to be a full-time science-fiction writer. I've spent my life reading a really pretty narrow list of writers who've been influences on me: Heinlein, Bradbury, Dick, Burroughs, Moorcock, et al. For 2013 I vowed to read more authors whose work I've heard of and even read about but never actually cracked open.

I did that. Read quite a few: Jo Walton, Kurt Vonnegut (I know!), Nancy Kress, John Scalzi, James M. Cain, Clifford D. Simak, James Thurber, Norman Spinrad, Jack McDevitt, Kage Baker. I enjoyed every single one of them. I also read Stephen King, some Michael Moorcock, Richard Kadrey, Alex Grecian, Mike Carey (can't WAIT for his new one), George R.R. Martin, Warren Ellis.

Not as many books as I wanted to, but more than last year. I think

My friend Christie is vowing to read a hundred books this year. No way I can do that. But what I can do is read books that have been written in the last thirteen years. That list of authors I read, many of them were books that were twenty or more years old. The stuff I grew up reading was nominally current to the time I read it, thirty years ago.

So it's time to read some more current stuff. Starting off with some cool stuff that's only six or seven years old, moving on to Year's Best SF 18 which is the only anthology I read every year. It's consistently, consistently packed with awesome science fiction shorts. After that, things are kind of up in the air. I should read another Charles Stross book, I really want to read the Prophet comic but I haven't sourced a copy of that. Lots of other things on my radar. Probably some Michael Swanwick. I love his short stories. More Scalzi. Right now I've got a Connie Willis collection of short stories that's tugging at me, too.

Lots to choose from. SF is alive and well and doing just fine. I'm going to get current and then we'll see what happens. Lots of good things, I hope.

All I have to do is crack open a book. Or two. Or seventeen.

I'm Not Announcing Anything

2014 is fast approaching and this is the time when I usually start talking about what I'm intending to do next year. No matter how reserved I am I always say I'm going to do something and it never quite happens.

I will ask you, if you don't mind too much, to head over to my author Facebook page and give it a like. That page is building up slow and sure and there's content there that's not anywhere else. Not a lot, but some. That's where I'll announce things (when they're for sure) sometimes before I announce them here. Thanks so much. Now on to the reason I'm not announcing anything.

The last year and a half has been a creative struggle. I've accomplished some things I set out to do and not others. I could blame it on having gotten sick - and that would be valid, I was far more sick for far longer than I ever thought - but that's a cheat. It wasn't anything really physical that I struggled with. It was more mental.  A lot more mental.

Self-doubt, convincing myself that I'm no good at this. That was more it than anything else. Some of that comes from the physical. I wasn't exercising and there were other factors that contributed. It sounds like an excuse but it's not. It was a recurrence of certain --- well, let's just say that while I don't struggle with depression on a regular basis I know from experience this was related. Some of it was external but most of it wasn't.

Regardless.

Coming back from the physical illness has rejuvenated the creative juices. I have plans but I shall keep them to myself. As they're ready to launch into the world, I'll let you know here.

The other reason behind my deciding to play things closer to the vest this year is that sometimes ideas just aren't good. They may seem so right now but in the execution it may be revealed that's it's not workable, for whatever reason. I've had several things just not pan out because I didn't have the experience or reference or whatever to follow through the way I wanted. That also is mental.

And maybe it's mental in the sense that it's mad, crazy, whacko. It might be.

Nah.

I'm not crazy. I'm in a slump. Was in a slump.

Well, working my way out of it. Doing the things that've worked in the past to pull me out of it. For the moment it's no longer a downward spiral. Now I'm looking for an updraft, a thermal that will carry me back up where I need to be.

The Experts

Everyone who has an opinion is not an expert. There is a distinct difference between critique and review, most especially when it comes to talking about popular media, politics and just about everything.

This is important to remember.

Especially when one is reading commentary. Whether it's a blog post, a letter to the editor, comments on another post or even a GIF on Tumblr it's essential that we all know what is considered informed opinion and what is essentially thought vomit. Critique comes from an informed opinion. Sometimes review does, too but it tends to be much more personal. Commentary is pretty much thought vomit and intensely personal to the exclusion of informed opinion.

The other thing to remember is that an expert, no matter how informed or convincing she may be, doesn't have to reflect your own thinking. It seems that nowadays it's a lot easier to let others do our thinking rather than forming opinions based on a variety of sources. This is what hurts us as a society more than anything: being lazy.

Yes, I'm trying to influence my readers to think but not necessarily in a particular way. I'd much rather that you have your own ideas and discuss them rationally, civilly, with others (or me) and exchange information. That's how we'll progress. That's how we progressed to this point.

This time of year, 'best of' lists are everywhere and they're oftentimes just recycled bits of information from elsewhere on the Internet. It's rare that there's any real assessment of the items on said lists that's new since it came out. It turns out that 'best of' lists are really just 'what I like' lists. The ones I find useful are the ones that have actually experienced the things they're listing and where the lister can talk with authority on the subject.

Right?

And lists in general are really 'what I like' more than anything else despite labels like 'essential' or 'indispensable'. So it's up to us to be more discerning in reading/seeing/hearing and then relaying information.

Let's all be a bit more honest and communicate our personal tastes in more personal ways and sound more like regular folks rather than experts.

If we exchange our ideas we'll share more experience and be stronger as a whole. Anyone who rejects my experience because it's different than his own would be revealed to be closed-minded. Maybe not as an absolute, but in that case. Again, not an expert here, but that makes sense to me.

Then we could confront that problem head-on. Accept that everyone's experience is slightly different based on any number of factors. There are no absolutes in a world of diversity. While they're comforting, they're also limiting. If you think about it, you know this is true.

As you read and share 'best of' lists that appeal to you, be prepared to discuss them with others. Exchange your considered thoughts and opinions with others who have other experiences. Learn from them, add them into your frame of reference and hope that the other person will do the same.

That would be the greatest gift, wouldn't it? To expand one's horizon.

It doesn't take an expert to do that, either.

It's the 25th

I wish each and every one of you the merriest of holidays. Please be good to one another, remembering that treating others as you wish to be treated is not just The Golden Rule but the best way to be happy.

A Geek's Christmas Tree #3

Third in the series... 





Rex on the dark side.

From the Glad To Be Alive Department: End of the Year

Take that, Death. Next time you come for
me you better bring a lot more than massive
bilateral pulmonary embolism.For those just joining us:  Back in August I was very close to checking out. Read the details here, here, here and here. All caught up? 
So last week I went in for an echocardiogram. It was a much different experience than when I was in the Emergency Room. The tech talked me through everything she was looking at. Watching the valves open and close was pretty cool.
Ten days later I met with the pulmonologist who took such good care of me. She told me right off the bat that my echo looked 'pretty darn normal'. She drew me a picture of what went on in my lungs when we met back in the ER, and - well, let's just say she didn't pul any punches. It was bad. The super clot buster stuff she gave me, the stuff they give stroke patients, was the best thing she could have given me. AND I'm the only patient she's ever prescribed it for. 
At the end of the appointment, she said I was doing so well (I've lost the five pounds a month, my blood pressure is great) that I don't need to see her any more. I'm okay with that. She's great, this doctor, and she explained everything to me so that I understood. From the start my whole case was a challenge and she made great decisions. If you need a pulmonologist, let me know. I can recommend a great one.
I'm still on the blood thinners, though. I go back for another round of testing in March at the behest of a hematologist who is every bit as good as the lady doctor I don't have to see any more. The blood doc is also youngish and has the same bedside manner as she does. He explained his testing of my blood in detail, not the boring stuff, but what he was looking for and why. Which means he's able to tell me that the reason the blood clots developed because of ulcerative colitis, a condition I had ignored for nearly two years.
All this happened because I was scared of a little colonoscopy and backed out of an appointment back then. Lesson learned, I guess. 
Don't follow my example. If you think something's wrong with you, get checked out. Don't wait. It may be expensive up front, but trust me that if you wait too long, it'll be waaaay more expensive. 
I will be on the blood thinners for the next nine months, at least. I'll have to be careful and continue eating sensibly and losing the weight. The downside is that just as I've developed a routine it's damn cold outside and walking is the best thing I can do for my knees and my weight. Still, I won't give up. I won't let down the people who kept me from dying. I won't leave my wife like that. 
This, then, is an ending of sorts. The blood clots are gone and I feel great. My biggest risk now is simply a recurrence of blood clots. There's nothing else I need to worry about. Except the colitis. But that's being managed. I've been told that sometimes parts of the body just quit for no reason. Like your warranty's run out or something. 
Finally, as this post is getting long and rambly, I must thank everyone who's sent positive thoughts or reached out in any way over the last three months. Your care and concern is meaningful. I have so many friends I almost can't believe it. I love you all. And my family, jeez, where would I be without them? There are too many thank-yous to list here. I've been working on those.
All right. that's it. This chapter is going to be closed. The next one is about getting better and staying on mission to lose the weight and avoid the recurrence of The Incident. I'll update you sometime in the spring on how that's going. In the meantime I'm staying focused on writing. I've got stuff to get down and turn in and see where it goes. 
Thanks for reading. 

Random Doctor Who Thought

Because it was on BBC America this morning, I'm thinking about the Doctor's Daughter, Jenny.

During the first half of the episode, the tenth Doctor dismisses her as 'only a soldier' a couple of times. He is distancing himself from her in a way that's reminiscent NOW of how the eleventh Doctor dismisses the War Doctor.

Wouldn't it be interesting to see her return (since she can) fairly early in the twelfth Doctor's run? Put her in the TARDIS and see how that would affect things? The dynamic would be energetic to say the least. Plus it would be cool to see Georgia Tennant (nee Moffett) return.

I imagine there's a fan fiction to this effect somewhere out in the world but I don't want to read that. I want to see it on screen.

A Geek's Christmas Tree 2

The second in a series...

A Geek's Christmas Tree #1

The first in a series.