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Why do I love Science Fiction? Why do you love Science Fiction?
01/05/2005 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
Uncle Geoff looks at why we are transient SF viewers/readers and it all goes back to how we all started our science fiction interest in the first place. Why do I love Science Fiction?
Why do you love Science Fiction?
Hello everyone
No, that's not an indication that I'm entering the throes of identity crisis or falling out of love with SF. Once an SF fan, always an SF fan. My several collections are testament that its safer to keep them than think I'm ever likely to 'grow' out of my interest. Still, that doesn't answer the real question of how does Science Fiction maintain an interest for such a long time and how to the general population watching an SF film is a transitory process before finding something else to take an interest in.
Mind you, the way we look at things outside of SF, we might be seen as a transitory viewer in the opposite direction. Only taking an interest in anything else in passing. Saying that, I seem to know a lot more about them than they do of our interest or theirs come to that but that might just be me. The only difference age has made to me is that I can spot the diamonds amongst the dross. It hasn't really diminished my taste or interest in SF. Looking at this paragraph, maybe it's also because there's also enough new material coming out on a regular basis to continually pique our interest or is that too Freudian?
Our demographics last year indicated that the majority of our readers here - that's you folks reading this so if its wrong don't forget to answer the next survey - at SFCrowsnest are actually in our age range, somewhere between the early-30s to early-50s. All right, I know there's some of you on either side of this age range but this is sheer Gaussian Curve despite the fact that we didn't and still haven't gone out of our way to pander to any particular age range. We were amazed at that, especially as we never had a target audience in mind in the first place. Whatever.
What it boils down to is that I'm essentially talking the same language, concerns and how we grew up as the majority of you. If we're lucky, we might even share some other similarities as well. Those of you who are younger have something to look forward to. Those of you who are older have probably already asked yourself the same question, namely, what maintains our interest in SF? I mean, it's not as though there aren't other things in this reality to take our interest, is there? On the other hand, we've also had our share of disappointments or embarrassments in SF quality. We must be made of sterner stuff to persist or is it something deeper going on?
Maybe there isn't anything to replace SF. Look at the competition on television. There's not much outside of soaps, law or police or medical drama series, let alone those abominable reality shows that don't have much to do with reality. It's a similar thing with general fiction. There just isn't that much variety or something new there that has much in the way of a Wow! factor. It's even more amazing that some publishers want to disguise some SF books as general fiction. Whether it's a need to feed our type of stories into a slowly developing sterile environment, vice versa or not is debatable. Hopefully, it's also not an indication that is the same problem they see with SF as well. If there wasn't such a stigmatism associated with SF then it would be easier to direct people the other way around and show them that SF isn't all about outer space and aliens.
These days, the most unexpected people are closet SF fans. They might not openly admit to liking the genre but they see a lot of it. They might have a preference for TV or film over books but the biggest attraction of SF is escapism from the real world. It's like a weekly inoculation in a different world. The adage in reverse, 'SF is for people who can't get on with reality.' When the world's a happy place there isn't always a need for such distraction. We might have a better quality of life, but the fear of terrorism also ups the need for escapism and often as not, the more fantastic the better.
That's all right for the casual SF fan but does that imply that we...er...just need bigger inoculations from the real world? If anything, a lot of us are more balanced between fantasy and the real world simply because we started in our youth. After all, most of us got hooked into SF while still very young, often finding it more interesting than the people we had to associate with at school if we did that at all. Most SF fans aren't naturally that gregarious with non-SF fans and that often starts from being loners or individualists from an early age. Probably why there are more male than female fans.
Did we get our cold comfort much earlier because of it? I can pin-point my stronger interest in four-colour comicbooks right from the days at school when we had to stay in during rainy breaks and I didn't know where to get them from myself. It was something to look forward to than when it was sunny. With TV, in my tender years, it was probably the first episode of 'Doctor Who' (not to mention the second episode which places my thoughts exactly when JF Kennedy died), the early scattering of the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson shows and 'Star Trek'. Reading SF came a little later, largely cos the books didn't dominate the children's library - even if the Narnia books were the first that were bought for me - but I did start in the adult library at a young age. You all probably have similar types of links. The common denominator being it was a more intense, exciting and interesting alternative to everyday reality. It still holds that kind of interest even if expectation doesn't always equal product. We needed the stimulation for own minds and imaginations that conventional fiction couldn't provide.
Why do I like Science Fiction is pretty much the same sort of question you might ask yourself as why did you get interested in Science Fiction in the first place? What gets you hooked means the hooks keep coming up. The oddest thing is that outsiders who look at SF fans probably got it right as to what made the majority of us take up the interest largely because we started off as outsiders to the people about us. We are either thrust into or make the decision that puts us in that situation that there has to be something more interesting. We had somewhere more interesting to go and SF filled the niche. If anything, most of us could be regarded as oddballs, misfits or geeks, using the latest label, who didn't fit in to the normal pattern at school. We're not particular good at sports, let alone team games.
We tended to be scholarly, some times with a bent for science or the weird. At that point, some of us might prefer horror or fantasy. SF fans tend to keep some level of realism associated with our interest more than the fantasy fans. It would be easy to cite an interest in our own future but not all of us are employed at NASA although it doesn't surprise me if our interest in computers and technology goes hand in hand with SF. If anything we tend to share an optimism for the future. Whether we would be happy in a future reality could be open for debate in another editorial. The odd thing is, we also mostly fit a similar pattern.
Like attracts like. SF characters, by and large, are themselves outsiders with a mission much of the time. Hardly surprising then that we develop a kinship for them. We might not share their advantages or mission in life but we share similar mindsets. Mind you and, bearing in mind my analytical mode here, these stories are written by people who themselves might have seen themselves as outsiders growing up, it is a kinship from people who have had similar experiences. A bonding of outsiders if you like. The heroes can therefore also be seen as being what we would like to be in similar situations. Hell, as we live their lives as we even get to get the girl as well. Is it any wonder that SF is perceived as a medium for the adolescent? What the critics don't seem to realise is that as we get older, there's also a need to examine these realities from more than the hero perspective and only see that as one aspect of the story whereas we see a lot more. It is often the repeat viewing that gives a different perspective of something we just accepted the first time around. No doubt this makes us look a little obsessive to outsiders. The fact that we're aware of what we do probably gives us a stronger hand than those who are obsessed with sport with its ball in the net fixation or perpetual soaps. I think, to the most part, we're more aware of our obsession and enjoy it for what it is as we get older. We might not fall for every merchandise angle or product but I think we're here more for the SF experience.
We love SF as an entity for what it represents. Not all of it is good or bad. These days, the future is both optimistic and pessimistic. Some have better highlights than others but it doesn't deter the interest. SF realities have such a wide and expansive taste range that there is always something there to give each one of us something to enjoy or detest. Science Fiction is an umbrella genre that covers a far wider range than all the other genres put together. It is only the stigma that is attached to its label that probably stops more people reading the wider expanse of SF than just getting stuck in to media tie-ins. Again, it's open for a different type of editorial as to would we like the entire population of the world to be in on our 'little club interest of SF' or just prefer them to be transitory when finance needs a little boosting.
Looking at the above, I'm not entirely sure if I've answered all the reasons for my loving SF. Once an outsider mostly an outsider. Our differences keep us with our genre than a desire to be 'normal'. We might blend in a little occasionally but there are always different levels of obsession. The general conclusion is that there's little to compare to SF and the reason it doesn't attract more of the regular population is probably because they either think it too fanciful or intellectual for themselves. If anything, it goes back to comparison to distinguish what makes an SF fan or not. Whatever, perhaps its more a matter of being bloody-minded enough to say I enjoy SF for myself rather than what people think I should be interested in. Read, watch and write your SF with pride. SF is better and more colourful than the reality outside.
Be happy. Enjoy the rest of the website.
Thank you and good night
Geoff Willmetts
editor: SFCrowsnest.co.uk
(Less Serious) Thought For The Month: Watching The X-Files TV series, I'm sure you've all whistled along to the opening credits. Is it my imagination or if you give the whistling words it sounds like, 'I don't believe it's true'? Try it and see.
Something for neo-writers to ponder on: I frequently come across story samples which use a device of being able to refer to history in an exact way of over 10 millennia ago. Bearing in mind that we have problems having an exact history of 2000 years back, this doesn't seem very practical. It also tends to suggest that if nothing ever changes then you have a rather stagnant society anyway.
PS If you've survived this far in the editorial, let me reiterate something from the website newsletter and the above editorial. As you can see from the main page, we have one of the biggest SF/fantasy/horror monthly reviews columns on the Net. Our success has increased the number of books that comes in and our policy is to read everything before giving a review. You want the bottom line about what you're going to choose to read. We roadtest books so you have some idea of what you're letting yourself in for. That means actually reading the product and telling others what you think. For that, we're always on the outlook for more reviewers.
Apart from the ability to put words into sentences, you also need to know how to précis, either know or do a little research on associated subjects and can express opinions constructively expressing good and bad points about the books you read. You'll even get a little editorial help in how to write good copy and that can always lead to other things. I did say you have to love books and willing to read beyond your favourite authors, didn't I?
If you like reading books in the genre, think and show you can write a decent review and, most importantly, live in the British Isles (sorry, expense, time and distance travelled prohibits elsewhere), contact me below for my 'Reviews Flyer' - put this in the subject ebox and we'll see if you've got what it takes. We can't pay you but a review for the price of a book has to be a good incentive.
We have one of the most popular SF review columns on the Net. Do you think you're up to writing a review? If you think you can, then you're really going to think you've landed your hands in the biscuit tin.
PPS: For those keeping track, I'm still about 20 months (end of May 2003) behind.
With going through the ebook samples, I have removed some who've gotten published elsewhere. Thank you for your patience but let me know if you've sold elsewhere so I can reduce my pile or if you've changed address, especially e-mail address. I can't give you my comments unless either is up to date. Currently, doing spot-checks to see if you're still there when I reach your sample in the pile is making it easier on my time and catching up on the slush pile.
This isn't much of a repeat, just to show you're not forgotten. Those sending in ebook samples, be prepared for a long wait and read the Guidelines elsewhere on this website. They are there to help you do some of the right things and reduce the number of times I'm repeating myself over silly grammatical errors and spelling mistakes that you shouldn't be making. It makes editing a lot easier if any editor has less work pointing out poor English which should have been sorted out in the first place and more focused on other areas of your work.
There's an old editorial adage, if you can't aim for perfection why should an editor nurse-maid you to that state? If you're a writer, then you should understand the words and grammar of the job you're supposed to be writing or are you considering it as mundane and boring as any other job to get right? Fall in love with making every sentence the best you're ever written, read up and understand the rules of grammar. Be prepared to put a story away for a few weeks and go back to it for a self-edit. A lot of the time, errors will just stare you in the face when you didn't see them the first time round. Once you know where your weaknesses are, they can be sorted and allow you to move a little higher up the ladder towards making your material look its best.
Please don't confuse this with my short story slush pile which is kinda low at the moment. We're always willing to give short story writers a chance to be seen if they can withstand my scrutiny even if we can't pay for their efforts. Don't forget also, we've got a teaching ground of one page stories, so check out the rules elsewhere on the website.
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