--- In SciFiNoir_Lit@yahoogroups.com, "Chris Hayden" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Think of yourself. When did you get interested in SF? It was > probably before you were ten years old. If you ain't got 'em by them, > you ain't gonna get them. AND > The reason why I came back was because I had got the fever when I was > a kid--there was something there. I have little doubt I would have > gotten into it in my twenties--again, if you want Science you will > read Einstein's Theory of Relativity. If you want Literature you will > read Joyce and Henry James, Ralph Ellison, Baldwin, etc etc. AND > The forty year old woman who likes Terry McMillan is not going to get > into fiction largely aimed at juveniles about fake aliens. Why do we assume this to be true? My experience amounts too little more than anecdotal evidence (but your evidence is anecdotal as well), but I didn't read science fiction until I was in my 20s. I assumed it was "fiction largely aimed at juveniles about fake aliens," and so, of no interest to me. Who wants to read about hobbits and warlocks and spaceships? I knew, of course, some SF was written by black people and some of it even had black people in it (my husband is a huge fanboy and so the stuff was always lying around), but, being a fan of "Literature" meant I stuck with Ellison, Baldwin, Joyce, etc. Then I randomly picked up Butler's Parable of the Sowers in a bookstore and that led me to her other work which led me to Delany which led me to Hopkinson and comic books, etc. I think it's a wrong to assume that college students and women in book groups are too old or uninterested to turn them on to SF. Perpetuating the idea that it's juvenile alien stories is part of the problem I think. There's all kinds of SF. Butler is not the same as Minister Faust who's not the same as Due (just like McMillan is not the same as Gayl Jones or Ishmael Reed). I'm not saying ignore the youth market because I thinkyou're right about hooking them young. But we can't overlook other readers simply because they aren't 12 year old boys. 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/
