"the fish in this barrel are all dead!"

[jazzfish]

John M. Ford on Genre Fic As Literature: "I’ve had three decades of being told that forms I work in can’t possibly do anything that isn’t cliched and juvenile by their nature, and it got old three decades less five minutes ago. Judging an art by its bad examples isn’t criticism; it’s tossing a grenade into the barrel and then complaining that the fish are dead." Relevant to a conversation I was too out of it to have coherently at elf's weekend before last, but which uilos picked up and ran with fairly respectably.

Whenever I get into this discussion I end up referring people to Samuel R. Delany, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Gene Wolfe. Who do /you/ send people to for 'literary SF?'

Utterly unrelated except by genre, John Scalzi (mostly famous for taping bacon to his cat [context, more or less], although he's also written some decent SF) will be reading, chatting, and signing at Olsson's in DC on the 8th of May, at 7 PM. I am informed that there is a really really excellent sushi place in Dupont Circle that I should try. Conveniently, Olsson's is two blocks south of Dupont Circle. Fate has spoken, and it has said "Fish!"

Comments

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

I haven't run into much literary SF personally, but I would say JRR Tolkien, Susannah Clarke, and John Crowley qualify. I also think that Neil Gaiman, Robert Holdstock, and China Miéville have gotten close at some points.

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

Btw, all I've ever heard is that George R.R. Martin is God's own gift to fantasy, but I'm about halfway through A Game of Thrones, and his writing style makes me gag. It's truly the trash novel of SF. If people think this is the good stuff, I'm not surprised that the genre gets no respect.

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

Oh, and of course George MacDonald and Lord Dunsany.

[uilos.livejournal.com]

Dunsany is what I'll be pulling off the shelf for the reading this weekend. I love it, but I can see where people could get put off by the writing style.

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

I don't think I could read 1,000 pages in a row of it, but the style appeals to me a lot.

[uilos.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't know where to begin to send someone for literry SF. I get the impression most of the people asking are looking for something in the genre to compare to 'literature' and wouldn't know the SF tropes and style to enjoy the literary SF. On the other hand, SF people looking for literary SF usually know where/how to find it or stumble on it on their own.

Then again, I think I've gotten so obsure in the genre that I don't know what to recommend to anyone anymore.

[kateyvic.livejournal.com]

Usually I recommend Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination. But also Robert Heinlein and Theodore Sturgeon.

Although, I have no clue as to what you mean by "literary," as I am stuck in the late centuries BC and early centuries AD.

[mikailborg.livejournal.com]

I'm so happy to hear someone else say that. I couldn't even finish the thing.

[pictsy.livejournal.com]

high five!

Literary SF

[selki.livejournal.com]

Some Ray Bradbury. Murakami (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World). Some Connie Willis (short stories). Some Zelazny.