Message Board Topic For 5/5

[Comsie]

They can be fun, they can be mysterious, they can be a surprisingly effective means of making a statement. They're science fiction stories, and they can easily take the form of a gay erotic story online.

 

However, writing one, as many can tell you, can sometimes be a risk to anyone looking to gather a fanbase online. Simply because, there are many people who see the term 'sci-fi', and automatically think of aliens having sex with mutilated cattle or something! Believe me, I had an EXTREMELY hard time getting people to read "Gone From Daylight" when I first wrote it. It was like pulling teeth to get people to even 'consider' it! And even THEN it took weeks for them to actually do it. (Thank GOD for word of mouth on that one!) The fact remains, there are a lot of people who have preset sense of negativity towards anything labeled 'sci-fi' in the gay author genre. Que sera sera.

 

What do you guys think? What are your personal feelings about sci fi stories in general? And do they have a chance of geting your attention? Or do you usually shrug them off as something you're not really interested in? What do ya say?

[Graeme]

Since most of personal print library is either science fiction or fantasy, I can't really say much except that it is a popular genre, though one that not everyone likes. I can't appreciate the perception others have of the genre -- I like it!

 

Having said that, I don't read much SF online, mainly because of a lot of it is done poorly. SF & F is a genre that needs to be done well, or it comes over as either hard to read, or just plain stupid. The author is creating a new universe, and they have to educate the reader about that universe while still telling a story. If they fail to explain the universe (at least to a degree), the reader doesn't understand the context of what is happening. If they explain the universe, but fail to tell a story while doing so, they'll lose the reader from boredom.

 

Authors who write in 'the real world' don't have this problem -- they only have to tell a story because it is assumed that readers understand the context.

 

I think this is probably the biggest reason why some people are reluctant to read SF & F online -- not the genre itself, but the way it's been treated.

Edited May 6, 2008 by Graeme

[JamesSavik]

What do you guys think? What are your personal feelings about sci fi stories in general? And do they have a chance of geting your attention? Or do you usually shrug them off as something you're not really interested in? What do ya say?

 

Sci-fi is one of the healthiest genres going. When you go to a big bookstore, you'll find it standing as equals with mysteries, romance and so on.

 

Hollywood has caught on too. Sci-fi is an established money maker and we're seeing 2 or more big budget sci fi movies almost every cycle.

 

The well isn't going dry anytime soon. There are tons of classic sci-fi material just waiting to be discovered. There is also a lot of junk too but it doesn't stand the test of time.

 

Good science fiction raises questions: how will x technology impact society? How will society cope with x disaster? These are darned good question to be asking because the boys in the lab are creating science fact as fast as the writiers can imagine it.

 

All of us regardless of age have seen science fiction become science fact: space station Freedom, Dolly the cloned sheep, Copy-Cat the cloned kitty, the Hubbel space telescope, Voyager 1 & 2 grand tour of the solar system, the internet spanning the globe, PCs that double & triple their power every couple of years, the lunar landings and the list goes on.

 

Soon we will all have to address the impact of inventions that are crouching at the edge of imagination. What sorts of perils, problems or benefits might wide-spread Cloning? What happens when that technology is applied to humans? What if clones of living humans are created just so their organs can be harvested?

 

Nanotechnology is another double-edged technology with great promise with equally great peril.

 

Some years ago there was a long running experiment called the human genome project that sequenced and mapped all human genes. What if researchers learn how to tell if a person is vulnerable to heart disease, cancer or stroke? What if employers use this test to cut their cost on new hires? (ala Gattica)

 

There is one thing that sets sci-fi apart from any other genre: it is an infinite canvas. There are no limitations.

[Ar Pharazon]

I've had that prejudgement TWICE now, with two stories that were categorized under the 'sci-fi/fantasy' genre. I should have never thought twice about reading them though. And I'll admit that it was entirely based on me not particularly being interested in that genre, not even looking through it to 'give them a chance'.

 

The first was a book my best friend gave as a gift for me to read. It was a little book called "The Silmarillion" by J.R.R. Tolkien. I ignored it because I had seen it under the sci-fi/fantasy sections of many bookstores. I wasn't, enticed to read it. Then one day I decided to just give it a shot and began reading it. I was completely amazed and baffled that it didn't even FEEL like I was reading a sci-fi/fantasy book. In fact, even now I will gladly argue with anyone and claim that this book shouldn't even be considered under those genres. It reads more like a historical documentation of sorts. It's written with such a mastery of English, and it really made me thirst for more "aestheticly English" works.

 

The other one (please forgive me everyone!) was Gone From Daylight. Sigh, heh, you can all kill me now! But I'll be honest, it was the last story on Comsie's site for me to read. And shallowly based on the fact that all I knew about it was that it was 'labeled' sci-fi. And even after The Silmarillion, I had my doubts. Boy was I ever wrong! But the moment I started reading, I couldn't stop, and I kept reading it and reading it until my eyes burnt (and it was the ONLY story to actually make me cry). Again, as with The Silmarillion, GFD didn't even feel like a fantasy tale, or a science fiction story. It just, 'is'. That's why now I cant really consider any story 'any' kind of particular genre. Because in the end it's hard to really classify something with one or two words.

 

I suppose for the sake of classification (if only for organization) there has to be genres developed for stories. But after reading these two stories, I never think "okay, I'm reading a sci-fi". Simply put, there are many elements in ANY story that can be classified under various genres. Obviously the one genre that it stands out as most will be the one it's classified under.

[JamesSavik]

I want to add a quick note: There IS a difference between sci-fi and fantasy.

 

Science Fiction could also be called "what if" fiction. What if we had lightspeed spacecraft and could explore this part of the galaxy? What if genetic engineering technology becomes widely available in the near future? Science Fiction starts with a known baseline: what we know, science, tech and adds a new element like lightspeed starships or designer babies.

 

Fantasy completely ignores any rules except for it's own. If you want dragons as pets and moat monsters, there is indeed some fantasy out there you'll find to your liking. That isn't to say that a fantasy world/universe has no rules- those rules are specific to that world and care must be taken by the writer for it to make sense and be consistent. Magic and magical items are common in fantasy. The tricky part for a writer is to make magic make sense without giving too much away. The writer has to figure out how magic works and where does the damned bunny come from before the mage pulls him out of his hat. What are its limits? What happens when it backfires?