SF Signal: Stephen King Likes Robert Charles Wilson

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Stephen King Likes Robert Charles Wilson

For those who don't know, Stephen King has been writing a column for Entertainment Weekly, the magazine in which (I think) JP likes to wrap dead fish before he steps on them and lights them on fire.

The latest issue's column offers King's Summer Book Awards. Along with the The Book of the Summer (The Ruins by Scott Smith, author of A Simple Plan which was later made into a movie by Sam Raimi) and Best Outright Horror Novelist (Bentley Little, author of The Store and Dispatch), he also sites Robert Charles Wilson as the Best Science Fiction Writer.

Quoth the King:

I'm not a big science-fiction fan, but I'll read anything with a story and a low geek factor. Wilson is a hell of a storyteller, and the geek factor in his books is zero. Like Battletsar Galactica on TV, this is SF that doesn't know it's SF. His current novel, Spin, is good. Two earlier books, Darwinia and Blind Lake, are even better. There's plenty of imagination here, as well as character and heart.

O.K., two things:

First, why can't SF know that it is SF and be good? Or rather, what is it with these morons who don't realize that such a thing exists?

Second, wouldn't it be better to wrap the dead fish in the magazine, light it on fire, and put it on Pete's doorstep so that he steps on it?

Just a thought.

Posted by FredKiesche on Monday May 29, 2006 at 6:29 AM

I like Robert Charles Wilson; met him twice and had the opportunity to shake his hand. I'm glad someone else thinks so.

Posted by Ian on Monday May 29, 2006 at 11:30 AM

Fred,

I think you're being unduly harsh on Stephen King. I interpreted his comments as a compliment on the author's work not as a put down on the genre of science fiction.

Posted by Jose on Monday May 29, 2006 at 8:19 PM

I would agree with Jose, Fred, but your jab at Pete grants you a free pass.