True, 90% of SF is crap, but some of it is really good literature. One book that effected me emotionally was ‘Steel Beach’ by John Varley. It’s a hard SF story, lot’s of technical details, fairly plausible science, but you don’t keep reading it to see what other nifty details will turn up, but because right from the beginning you care for the main character, and are worried for him/her (Hildy changes sex a couple of times in the story). The storytelling style draws you in, it’s told first-person and simply (the main character is the equivelant of a newspaper reporter) but so much of the character is hidden in the way he/she phrases things, skillfully avoids certain topics, etc. All the other characters seem very real too, though some are the product of experiences we have never been through and are strange because of it.
A lot of people swear by Ellison, I liked him OK, but he get’s repetitive and his style begins to become obnoxious after a while, at least for me. But I’d recomend him anyway if you are looking for good ‘literary’ SF.
David Brin also has written some stuff that transcended the genre, but he also writes plain old space opera too (damn well though).
Not to create a new thread or anything, but remember Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, and even Mark Twain (“Conn’t Yankee”)would be cosidered Science Fiction writers in many people’s minds.
Hi Eve:
And Nacho4Sara,
The only two books in the top five I read were Lolita and Brave New World, and that was so long ago…well, enough of the age thing. I liked them.
But I also love good sci-fi. True, it’s hard to find, but you need go no further than Arthur C. Clarke if you’re starting out, or re-reading 10 or 30 years later.
The man is called by many a visionary and he has my vote.
And he knows how to end chapters. (And whole books.) He often gives me honest to god goose bumps, and over the years I just keep re-reading him.
Here’s the last couple of lines from his 2001 book, now. I can see them climbing over the horizon…
#1) FYI: The term is SF, if you mean to include the entire genre from children’s SF to Hugo Award winners to Star Trek novelizations. Sci-Fi is a derogitory term used to describe the dregs of the genre. (And the genre does rise above the dregs)
#2) This generalization bothers me. I don’t think I’ve ever read an SF book where one had to memorize all the names of the cities on any planet. There is crappy SF. And much SF is certainly not to your taste, given what you’ve written. But I find that the example of why you don’t like SF to be flawed. There is SF with complicated, multi-layered characterization. There is SF that focuses on literary techniques. There is also crap Sci-Fi which is so plot-driven that the main characters are nothing more than chess-pieces to be moved into place for the next plot development. Might a wider exposure to the genre, especially to the more “literary” (as opposed to the “plot driven”) change your mind? (Granted, I have no idea what you’ve read, and if you tell me you’ve read a wide range of SF novels, none of which you enjoyed, I’ll happily retract that statement).
I’d be willing to make a friendly bet: I’ll reread Gatsby (which I hated in High School) and see if I like it, if you’ll try Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Dispossessed. LeGuin is one of the best of the “literary” breed of SF writers, and I’d be interested to see if you see any merit in it. Frankly if LeGuin’s beautiful use of language and subtle character development can’t convince you that SF is more than “rockets ‘n’ ray-guns”, I don’t know what will.
OOps. Thanks FENRIS, for the distinction between sci-fi and SF.
i Can’t drink coffee. It destroys my nerves. So I’m now bitch-slapping myself into wakefulness. I’ll just say my GF gave me those bruises.
More likely, you’ll read them and think, “Wow, there’s some much more stuff in here that I actually appreciate more because I have the weight of my experiences behind me to enhance my understanding.”
But you’re right; it’s not fair to say that just because you get older that you’ll “get” these works. Some people never reach that level of maturity.
Hey, Fenris, no fair! You might not like The Great Gatsby, but she most definitely will like Ursula LeGuin!
I’ve only read about 10 SF books. Several were from a series, I cannot remember the author but it took place in Florida, only it wasn’t Florida. There was a map, and the boy in the beginning plants some sort of fairy so that he can “sow his wild oats.” The whole time, I kept referring back to the map so as not to get confused, and then I’d get lost. I’ve read some other “adult” SF, but none of it has even registered for me (I have this problem because I read an awful lot, between school and the library, so I often forget books if they aren’t heart-stoppingly incredible.)
I’ll take you up on your bet. I’ll look up LeGuin at my school library tomorrow, and if I can’t find her, I’ll buy it when I get paid next Friday. I’ll certainly keep an open mind about it, and perhaps you can change my opinion of SF.
I really don’t mean to be a snob about it; I’m not saying Dickens is better than SF, but I just prefer classic literature much more. I’m the girl who defends Shakespeare till I pass out; David Copperfield is one of my most favorite books ever. I like expirimental stuff - modern lit, Beat generation stuff, but I always come back to the classics.
<gag, retch, choke,>YOU READ XANTH!!!<barf> Piers Anthony’s Xanth series is arguably one of the two or three worst pieces of hackwork in the entire history of the genre (up there with Gor). It’s atrocious. The first few are pleasant, guilty pleasures but complete fluff: like reading People magazine. They features clumsy prose, cardboard characters, bad dialogue and vaguely sexist plots and they’re up to about #25 in a series that was tired out by about #4. Trust me: That series was the second-worst possible series for someone with what I suspect your your tastes are to try. (John Norman’s Gor series would be marginally worse)
**
Knowing that you’d been exposed through Xanth makes everything you’ve said come into sharp focus.
LeGuin’s The Dispossessed won both the Hugo Award and The Nebula Award for best novel of the year, so most libraries should have a copy. I’ll be running out to a used bookstore on Sunday and I’ll pick up a copy of The Great Gatsby. I’ll report back once I’m done and I’ll be interested to hear what you think of The Dispossessed
