Certainly the appetite for science fiction and fantasy is strong - movies and video games make that point solidly. I think the real question is: Does the decline of traditional markets indicate that the demand for spec literature is decreasing? Or is the same demand shifting to other markets?
-- Jonathan Sherwood Sr. Science & Technology Press Officer University of Rochester 585-273-4726 On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 2:12 PM, Eric Scoles <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 12:27 PM, Jonathan Sherwood < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> We all know this is a topic that has been kicked around for at least a >> decade, and has been given new vigor due to the acceptance of the internet. >> But for the sake of argument (or fruitful discussion) it might be worth >> stepping back and: >> >> - Making sure there really is a problem, and if so >> - Making sure we really understand the problem, and >> - Discuss whether it's a problem that ought to be fixed, and >> - Discuss how the problem might be fixed >> >> We always talk about the last point, the solution. But I really, really >> think we have to make sure we understand what the real problem is we're >> trying to solve. >> > > > What's "dying" is a special place to sell and read stories that fit a much > tighter set of criteria that makes them seem at home in Analog, Asimovs, > F&SF or the other "genre" short-fiction outlets. > > Speculative Literature as something that's true to the definitions we > usually apply (versus looking empirically at *what gets published in "our" > press*) is clearly healthy as a horse. People write it all the time, and > it sells millions of copies. People make big-ticket movies that make lots of > $$ for their studios. > > Films just this week, per IMDB: > > - Shorts: The Adventures of the Wishing Rock > - Cold Souls [Paul Giamatti putting his soul in cold storage for > safety] > - G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra > > Next week, and earlier this summer (went back about a month): > > - District 9 [Alien Nation with a more political edge] > - Angels & Demons [anti-matter anyone?] > - Half-Blood Prince > - Aliens in the Attic > - G-Force > - Ice Age > - Transformers > - Ponyo > - The Time Travellers Wife > - Thirst > - Blood > - Twilight > - Moon > - Dead Snow > > Many of these are lowbrow popular entertainment, but I'm not making an > argument about quality, here. Also, I'm very arbitrarily omitting what I see > as straight horror, but that would make the list longer. > > Major mainstream-marketed books from recent years that clearly qualify as > Spec Lit: > > - Yiddish Policeman's Union > - Infinite Jest > - The Time Traveller's Wife > - Children of Men > - Angels and Demons > - Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro) > > RIght now on Amazon's top 20 (which merges fiction and non): > > - The Time Traveller's Wife > - Two "Twilight" books > - The collected Sookie Stackhouse stories (dramedic vampire detectives) > > ... for 20% (4 of 20) of the merged entries. > > Gibson and Stephenson routinely sell large numbers of books if their > publishers are careful not to market them as "SF". They're still nice to us > because they know where they came from and aren't insecure about it. > > Craig's talked about how not only does Spec Lit do well in theatre, but > it's not even really noticed as different. > > What's dying, IMO: > > - A particular literary sub-form and its related markets. > - The use of special category descriptors (e.g., "Science Fiction", > "SF", "Spec Lit") by large classes of people. > - Possibly: Short stories above 2K works, including novellas. > - *And most importantly, to us:* A mode of expression within the "SF" > sub-culture that's primarily literary, due to decline in paid readership by > members of the sub-culture. *This is what's taking down "our" market.* > > Does that mean there's not a problem? Of course not. But let's not pretend > that it's a problem with Spec Lit. It's a problem that affects a > well-demarcated sub-category -- that is, the genre of Science Fiction, and > particularly with regard to the short story, and particularly with regard to > the post-Campbell SF-ghetto form of those short stories. > > -- > eric scoles ([email protected]) > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "R-SPEC: The Rochester Speculative Literature Association" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/r-spec?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
