As a somewhat collector, as many SF fans including you the reader actually are, do you feel somewhat appalled at the prospect of going totally digital or haven't you given it much thought for where we might be in a decade's time?

Hello everyone

There's been a lot said about how music and books are going to go totally digital. Bye bye, CDs - although they might ultimately become collectable because unlike vinyl, getting something to play them on is likely to be less of a problem. Bye bye, books. Although I doubt that will happen until e-book reading gadgets come down in price and are capable of showing colour photographs. Even so, market forces, lack of trees or just the manufacturers seeing a way to cut costs will out.

As a somewhat collector, as many SF fans including you the reader actually are, do you feel somewhat appalled at the prospect of going totally digital or haven't you given it much thought for where we might be in a decade's time? I mean, the whole point of having a collection is a depiction of your interest and occasionally to show others the commitment you have to the genre, not to mention the sheer enjoyment of possession. To point to a computer in a near empty room and say it's all on a hard drive doesn't quite have the same effect. I mean, it's not physical, is it?

Everyone who wants to use one has a computer. Having it storeed digitally means there's nothing short of a boot-up to show what you have. Likewise, where else will it lead? It would also be easily copied. You just swop pictures or copies of your collections so ultimately it becomes an equality with no wishful thinking because it's available to all. Although I can appreciate the idea of ensuring the price is within everyone's reach, one-of-a-kind will no longer be applicable. There would be little we would aspire to or let alone own.



It's also easy to appreciate for insurance reasons some very expensive items of a collection might well be end up in a bank vault, most of it will be in the home. However, would you go for a digital picture of a model rather than own the real thing? You might look longingly at, say, an Aoshima Aliens film Dropship but I doubt if you'd keep a picture of it simply because its outside your price range and mostly unavailable. You could own several thousand e-books and then forget to read them. Just the ownership being important but without the indication of a book that shows it's been read looks pretty meaningless. At least most of us in the community read what we buy unlike mainstream who put them aside for a rainy day that never happens.

A lot is said about what makes a true Science Fiction fan but a common thing is we all have collections at some time or other. Some of us even nourish and let them grow. Mind you, speaking from personal experience, having gotten rid of most of my first comicbook collection in my early teens, I didn't make the same mistake the second time around. I'm enough of a non-conformist and individualist not to be swayed by the idea of 'you'll grow out of it.' My books, comicbooks, models and toys are part of me that resists the urge that I will out-grow them. Looking at how much it would cost to replace some of them compared to how much I originally paid for them, it would be an impossible task to do otherwise. I could never replace them at today's prices. I hope any of you recognising yourself in that statement have informed your insurance company what you collect and at least got some cover for it just in case of accidents or theft.

Based off the above argument, it should be fairly easy to recognise that SF and its grey cousins, fantasy and horror, fans can't possibly be minimalists. You might have to shave off parts of your collection from time to time in house moves, coveting something else or occasionally, just want to move over into another subject. With the latter, though, I wouldn't be surprised that you wouldn't still collect so it's not as though you're throwing away the habit. Collectively (sic), we just aren't minimalists. We can't be. It's not in our blood. We take pride in what we own and always see it as a sadness when a collection has to be broken up or sold, even when it's not our own even if we covet parts of it ourselves or is that just me?

In many respects, I see collectors as being custodians of our genre, especially when we have rare or one-of-a-kind items. It has definitely developed over the past century where, until then, it was only the wealthy who had the libraries of rare books. Rarity has extended to such a level that fakery has entered into the equation and it's important to have some verification as to how real some things are. Luckily for us, outside of autographs, we're fortunate to at least have a mostly original market. A totally digital world, with verification links attached and, oh so easy to copy software, would probably remove even that choice. Nothing would be limited. Everything would have the potential to be cheap or valueless. The former isn't such a bad idea because it means everything is within the cost of everyone's pocket but at the same time, there will never be anything as one of a kind any more. Well, outside of film and TV props anyway.

Would the same hold true for future generations? Would they lose the need for clutter collections? Now, that would be a tough question to answer. How many of you folk with kids have them following in your wake or are they finding different subjects to explore. For those of you who might have missed seeing a newspaper advert a few years ago, there was a picture of two old hippies with a smartly dressed son in school uniform with the caption, 'Where did we go wrong?' Being surrounded by a collection will inspire others to keep going. Let the minimalists go totally digital but encourage physical objects or ultimately, we will lose out.

Thankfully, I hope, our genre is flourishing and the amount of associated merchandise and availability is going to ensure that that future generations will sustain our hobby and that it will include real books. A lot more comfortable than taking a laptop to bed for a read. Warmer than a hot bed blanket for one thing.

A footnote to the editorial comes from reading and reviewing 'Waging The War Of The Worlds', a book about Orson Welles and Howard Koch's radio version of 'War Of The Worlds' where newspapers were being challenged by the upstart radio for giving the news because the latter could be quicker and instantly up-to-date. The same no doubt happened again when the next upstart, television, challenged them both but still survived. The same again (notice any pattern here?) with the latest upstart, the Internet, which can give you the news often with moments of it being discovered...if you know where to look for it or have an interest and seen as the demise for the three previous mediums. Their audiences might have diminished for all sorts of reasons but they all survive.

I think all mediums survive simply because they fit different people's life-styles and preferences and how they want to get information. Notice how newspapers survive throughout all of this, despite their own misgivings that they won't. I think the strength that the paper press forgets in all of this is something in common with me telling writers to step back for a while before looking at their material again for mistakes. Catching up on the news the next day puts things into perspective and ensures thought is given to the implication and context of the news. That and reading things you might scan over and miss if you relied solely on the Net for giving you only the news you want to read. The important thing is to implement rather than ignore. Lack of knowledge could define our extinction.

Thank you, take care, good night and be grateful for your collections
Geoff Willmetts
editor: SFCrowsnest.co.uk

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