by
Steve Lazarowitz
May 2000
DEATH OF A GENRE
I'd like to take a moment of your time to talk to you about Science Fiction. Not fantasy. Not horror. Not speculative fiction. Not slipstream. Science Fiction.
There. I've done it. I've separated one genre out of the myriad of related genres that fall under the umbrella of speculative fiction. There it is. Look at it. I can almost picture it, standing by itself, glaring resentfully at it's brethren and wondering what had happened.
Forty years ago, speculative fiction WAS science fiction. Horror and fantasy barely rated at all. Pulp magazines (like Galaxy, Worlds of If, Analog, Weird Tales, Amazing Stories and a host of others) carried us away to new worlds. And they were everywhere. You couldn't walk into a candy store, without being exposed to at least half a dozen pulp magazines, sporting some space battle or alien on the cover. Fantasy was still in its infancy and horror hadn't yet come into its own.
A couple of years ago, I went to find a SF magazine at a local newsstand. Something to read. Anything. I was in the mood. Of course, with the exception of Analog, the magazines previously mentioned were long gone (well Weird Tales is back, but in a drastically changed format, after a long absence). But Asimov's had made it's debut somewhere along the way, and the Magazine of Fantasy and Science fiction was still one of my favorites.
I entered a candy store and looked around. There were plenty of magazines...dozens from which I might make a selection. Five devoted to guns, three to tattoos, quite a few books of puzzles and word games, magazines on computers, on business, "men's" magazines (in abundance), popular electronics, home and garden-- but nothing that even remotely resembled a science fiction magazine. I asked at the counter and the man behind stared back blankly. I repeated myself and he slowly, sadly shook his head, no doubt wondering why a man in his mid thirties would be interested.
My search continued. I went from store to store, block to block, neighborhood to neighborhood. I felt as if I were on a quest like many of the characters in the books I so enjoyed. After hours, I finally did find a store that had a copy of Analog. And I found myself wondering what had happened to SF? I almost began to feel as if someone has placed the stamp of evil on one of my favorite genres, particularly disturbing at a time when I was trying to break into writing myself.
Then Omni went the way of the dinosaur. Omni, with it's great science articles, innovative fiction and professional presentation was gone forever. I cried when I learned of its demise. Recently, SF Age breathed its last breath. Its sister magazine, Realms of Fantasy is still kicking around, which says something, though I'm not sure what. What I am sure about it there are less and less markets that will accept submissions of short science fiction stories...and there are more and more authors.
Have we really created a society that is so devoid of any kind of imagination? If that's the case, then why have so many fantasy novels sprang up like weeds? Not that I have anything against fantasy, I love the genre, but fantasy is not science fiction.
There's not enough variety in today's fantasy to hold my interest. Fantasy is more than just swords and sorcery, or should be. I guess as long as it remains popular, Robert Jordan will keep adding books to his Wheel of Time series, which was originally supposed to be six books, but has expanded to eight (the ninth book is imminent). Fantasy series are still selling and many Madison Avenue publishers are jumping on the bandwagon, ready to cash in on the latest craze.
And here and there, between the fantasy series, are lone SF books, withering away for want of attention.
Perhaps there is a reason for this decline. Forty years ago, SF was almost more like fantasy, than fantasy is today. Today, space travel is something we've done. Satellites, cloning, lasers, it's all old hat. Hell, who wants to come home from work and read about computers, after working on them all day? It's no longer escapist literature.
Today's SF has evolved. Now more than ever, SF is dealing with social issues and politics. It can't go further, so it goes deeper. Today's SF has more science and less fiction. It's also somewhat more literate than its pulp counterpart of forty years ago...but it's no longer an escape for most of us.
Sometimes we all need a little mindless adventure. Something that entertains us. Something we can read without thinking. I think enough during the course of a week. What I need is fun SF again.
Give me just one more alien invasion. It doesn't have to make perfect sense for me to enjoy it. Give me one more monster story. Something with a hero and a quest...something with a damsel in distress (even if it is politically incorrect). Something that allows me to kick back and have fun again.
If you don't believe that fun and simplicity have anything to do with the popularity of SF, go and watch the original Star Wars again. Then think about the empire that single motion picture has spawned. A simpler tale has seldom been told.
Interest will continue to dwindle, unless someone decides to return to the basics and bring the fun back to SF. There'll still be room for "hard" SF...there always has been, but that shouldn't rule out a well told tale of adventure. And as there seems to be a shortage of those...
I've just finished rereading Leigh Brackett's Skaith Trilogy. I think I'll reread Stephen Goldin's Family D'lambert Series next.
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