SF Tidbits for 7/24/07
By John DeNardo |
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 at
12:24 am
- At SciFi Weekly, sf author and columnist Wil McCarthy proves that Homer Simpson is no idiot.
- Aether Emporium lists Essential Steampunk Books/Films.
- Time looks at 80 Years of Robots in Hollywood. [via SciFi Scanner and Bibi's Box]
- James Patrick Kelly is podcasting his novel Look Into the Sun. Here’s Part 21.
- The blogger behind Brain Stab examines his (her?) preference for sf over fantasy: “I’ve never been too fond of swords and sorcery stories, and I think the reason is the deus ex machina cop-out that is so often applied to the genre, namely ‘Magic.’” That sums up my thoughts quite nicely. Sara Speaking has another fantasy vs. science fiction post.
- SF Crowsnest has the scoop on am open-source sci-fi movie project called Jathia’s Wager.
- Here’s Robert J. Sawyer’s list of Recommended Science Fiction.
Related posts:
- SF Tidbits for 9/14/06
- SF Tidbits Part LVII
- SF Tidbits Part LIV
- SF Tidbits for 1/1/07
- SF Tidbits for 7/30/06
Filed under: Tidbits
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“I’ve never been too fond of swords and sorcery stories, and I think the reason is the deus ex machina cop-out that is so often applied to the genre, namely ‘Magic.’
My problem with fantasy is that they tend to resemble romances in that the main characters never seem to be in to much jeopardy….in the end they are going to come out just fine.
In SF this seems less the case…main characters in fact even the narrator die often…along with civilization, justice and just about anything you might hold a value to is in a fair amount of frequency utterly destroyed.
I should note that there are obvious exceptions and also that this is just my personal asthetic preference.
I also should note that i don’t necessarily prefer tragedy…only that in Sci Fi because tragedy is common much like real life it is easier for me suspend my disbelief.
disclaimer: SciFi and Fantasy are works of fiction and entertainment…this is just my preference and not a claim that I am some holder of authentic tastes or better tastes. People should read what ever they like to read.
Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, all the way back to Wells… I’m finding based on biographies that a lot of science-fiction authors I grew up reading are atheists. And I wonder if there is a link – atheists interested in the physical realm, in what mankind will become, while the more alembics and stuffed-alligator crowds look to a past with ogres and stoats and pixies and FUCKING ELVES
ah and so the boom drops.
Brain Stab’s argument goes:
“I am an atheist and therefor a superior being….and therefor my entertainment preferences are superior.”
What garbage, and on so many levels.
Hmm. I know Asimov was an atheist — late in life, at least — but I’m not sure the writer is 100% correct on the others. In any case, religious beliefs, or lack thereof, don’t seem entirely relevant to a discussion of fantasy vs. science fiction, and I say that as a staunch atheist.
I was with him up until the deus ex machina part, though… that seems like an accurate criticism of a lot of fantasy that I’ve read.