--- In SciFiNoir_Lit@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > I was only answering a question and I am being honest when I say I don't > attach a color to Science Fiction as I only see good stories and bad stories. > <<That is good. That is exemplary. In a perfect world that is what we should have.
We do not live in a perfect world. I know you mean well. I could be wrong but you are probably one of these people that sees Speculative Fiction as a method for building one world, erasing racial differences, bringing about a color blind society, etc. etc. I wish you luck if you do. I have been watching people try to do this for fifty years and they have failed utterly. I do not expect to see it in my lifetime and maybe, after a while there shouldn't be. There are groups out here, like Sisters Nineties and Yari Yari, who are already engaged in seeking a sense of self by studying their own culture. The culture produced by Africans and African Americans. They are doing it because they do not get it in the schools. They have been dismissive of SF because it has excluded them. As John Clute stated in his encyclopedia of Science Fiction, "It was not a literature intended for the Dispossessed" They want to read SF by people like them. Write it themselves. This is their right. There are all these groups that write their own SF--femnist, gay, etc. Do you feel the same way about the? Very few people see it the way you do, by the way. Read the struggles of Black SF writers--even the successful one, if you think they do. Look at what has happened to Steve Barne's alternative history books--the lack of push in the SF pres, etc>> > I don't thing black sci fi writers should either. <<That is fine. Others don't think so. There is room for both sides- -there had better be>> The origin of this post > was about marketing to black science fiction fans. <<Wrong. It was marketing science fiction to black folks. Big difference. From my experience you do not have to write black to market to black science fiction fans>> I am saying it's very hard > because many black sci fi fans wont even admit they like sci fi publicly and > the majority just don't like it not because they don't understand it but many > don't have time for made up stuff that they can't relate to with all the > difficulty of just being black in their lives. <<See above>> > > The first thing a writer must do is know his audience <<The audience we are speaking of is black folks. Not black science fiction fans.>> and for sci fi writers > to realize that no one has a problem with "black" science fiction but you > are make a small niche market even smaller by labeling yourself. <<That is for them--us--to worry about. And again you need to read stuff like Delaney's essay about racism in Science Fiction. But let me say this. When Buddy Bolden and them guys were blowing their crazy ratty music in Storyville back in the early 1900's, that music that mixed in ragtime and spirituals and blues, music lovers,especially whites and proper negroes, looked down on it. That music, known now as jazz, went on to conquer the world. Same thing with bebop, rhythm and blues, hip hop, etc. If you do your thang well, people come around. > > > George L. Cook III author of Let's Talk Honestly Vol. 2 > A book of poetry and essays on African American Issues > Read ebook for free here: > _http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/page/page/3118263.htm_ (http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/page/page/3118263.htm) > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > Community email addresses: Post message: SciFiNoir_Lit@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe Digest Mode: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SciFiNoir_Lit/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SciFiNoir_Lit/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
