more on space opera
I’ve moved from the flu to bronchitis. I’m slowly getting better…I think?
Anyway, SF Signal convened a roundtable about space opera, using my Rain Taxi review of the New Space Opera as the launching point…it includes some of the authors in the anthology and some other practictioners of space opera, and a few rambly follow-up comments by me. Take a look-see.
I hope you get well soon.
Interesting discussion here. It never ceases to amaze me that just when SF goes mainstream on television and the End of Genre seems just around the corner, sub-genre’s come up again. It seems to me that genres and sub-genres are nice because they give people a starting point for discussion. There’s always the interesting challenge to “write beyond genre” then the marketer’s challenge to somehow sell it. Somehow, the fans love a good book no matter what the genre.
I believe that there is a book in each genre, it’s just a matter of finding the right one?
Did you read anything by Charles Stross or anything else in the realm of singularity? I find this sub-genre (here it goes again) to be interesting and at the same time a bit disturbing. My wife thinks that we are on the way down the technology slope due to energy concerns. Personally, I think that science is moving towards irrelevance because it is slapping up against its inherent limitations, limitations that sadly most scientists don’t even see. For example, I find the most insight into the world to be in the form of subjective knowledge which has to be somehow rendered objective before it can be discussed “scientifically.”
I also find singularity to be a problem in terms of wish fullfillment fantasy that renders any kind of human plot impossible. No struggle, no plot! This is the joy of singularity, watching the authors get around this problem for hundreds of pages at a time. Wow!
Also, I find the most interesting struggles to be internal, not external therefore, there will always be something of interest regarding being human. Also, SF fans do like to look beyond humanity and singularity offers more than a glimpse. Perhaps this is why it’s so scary?
Get well soon.
Fred