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Subject: Re: Where has all the Science Fiction gone??
I don't know how Fantasy became the conjoined twin of Science
Fiction, but I really wish it hadn't. Science Fiction is NOT
supposed to come across as magic. Unfortunately, I think it is
I suppose they have elements in common ... anachronism, the same suspension of the real world, but in different directions...
One depicts the world as it might have been, the other depicts the world as it might be...
I have to admit I was dressed in the style of the late 1500's when I met Leonard Nimoy at a convention.
It was absolutely a mistake for literary awards to merge fantasy and scifi. Detrimental to both genres, and to fiction as a whole.
Right... how much science fiction is really just fantasy posing as a kind of pastice of science fiction?
*Real* science fiction makes you think, right? It isn't science soap-opera.
Which isn't to take away any joy from the science soap-operas out there... they can be a fun watch. But they don't make you really think. They don't get you to contemplate things like the influence of language on human thought processes, or how string theory might be used for space travel.
So, yeah, much of that list didn't really have good, hard-hitting sci-fi.
And, truthfully, it's *hard* to make decent sci-fi... because you have to THINK.
(And I'm not given to believe a lot of thought happens these days).
Right... how much science fiction is really just fantasy posing as a kind of pastice of science fiction?
Most of it, now that you mention it. Pretty much all of Star Wars is fantasy-in-space, or perhaps even just a space opera. Real science fiction requires some imaginative speculation, some radical departure.
At least Hulu is bringing back Animaniacs.
Which has absolutely nothing to do with Science Fiction.
Or *does* it?
Hey guys, do you read any regular science-fiction magazine? Do you have any recommendations for good ones? Duckduckgoing around shows many rhits, but I usually get better results asking people away.
Archive.org has most of the back-issues of Galaxy... That ought to take you at least a year or two to get through unless you have way too much time on your hands.
2021-03-15 23:12 from ParanoidDelusions
Subject: Re: Sci-fi magazines
Funny, Amazon made a bunch of recommendations for Kindle SciFi
magazines - and I was almost ready to pull the trigger - and then It
[Acame to me - it'll just be paying to get stories that push an agenda,
and I'll be disappointed.
Yup. It seems many modern publications are pozzed :)
If you do some research it turns out lots of current publications have political disclaimers in their websites, which is not good.
Yeah. When I was writing for Tech Republic, there was a big house cleaning where they cut about 95% of their editors and content contributors. The two Sr. Editors at the top were flaming liberals.
Around the same time, I noticed that Wired, a bunch of video game outlets, and other media outlets like Gizmodo started going very Identity Politics on their articles. National Geographic was actually the *first* publication where I noticed this, and quit my long term subscription, years ago.
It is kind of like how every "colonize Mars" or "set up a permanent space station in Earth Orbit" movie now starts out with a white male Captain who becomes incapacitated within the first 30 minutes of the movie, and his female, Chinese 1st Mate takes the helm. Once you see it as a pattern, it is hard to un see it.
Oh, there is also a white women who is a science engineer or botanist who is having a secret affair with the black man who is the chief-engineer. The white woman slowly becomes unstable, unable to handle the crisis. She may have a single child back on Earth. How she came to this position is left unanswered - but it was probably the fault of an abusive white male.
Plug in whatever story you want to this formula. Lost on Mars, destroying a killer asteroid, investigating some cosmic anomaly, setting up a colony on the moon. Every single time.
2021-03-15 23:12 from ParanoidDelusions
Subject: Re: Sci-fi magazines
Funny, Amazon made a bunch of recommendations for Kindle SciFi
magazines - and I was almost ready to pull the trigger - and then It
[Acame to me - it'll just be paying to get stories that push an agenda,
and I'll be disappointed.
Yup. It seems many modern publications are pozzed :)
If you do some research it turns out lots of current publications have political disclaimers in their websites, which is not good.