I wonder what it is we lose that causes us to give up SF, or is it just that we grow up some.At first I thought I hadn't given up SF, but then I looked at my recent reading list and realized that it bore no resemblance to the one I had, say, 30 years ago. Back in the old days, SF was my primary reading material. Now it's philosophy, religion, economics, business and so on. Instead of dreaming and escaping with Heinlein, Bradbury and Asimov, I'm trying to explain the world around me. I just bought a Jack Chalker Well of Souls book, but other than the odd novel now and again, I can't really say I'm into science fiction any more.
The movies don't thrill me, either. I'm much more interested in space travel and interacting with aliens than I am with hyperkinetic violence. My favorites are slower and more gentle than what is being produced today. I loved the Star Trek series. Avatar? Not so much.
I've been recently, with the help of the library, been rediscovering the scifi of our youth. I wanted to see what I thought of Starship Troopers as an adult. I think you might like A Canticle for Leibowitz. An author by the name of Alfred Bester, who I didn't know about until the 90's, has some great stuff. I really enjoy the cold war paranoia of Philip K. Dick. And I've decided to reread Ringworld.
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up a good point, as we get older history is something we remember rather than something we learn. I think that drives the interest in history you see in many older readers. I recently saw a great documentary on the US Navy's Operation High Jump, which was a post WW 2 expedition to Antarctica. I don't know how interested I would have been in that before working in that area.
Kelly, thanks for the recommendation. I read "A Canticle for Leibowitz" at Sean Carr's recommendation back when we were in high school.
ReplyDeleteNow there's a blast from the past for you!
I like your history thought. It hadn't occurred to me. Do you think that real life exploration becomes more interesting than Sci Fi exploration?
I didn't exactly give up science fiction, so much as progressively run out of time for it after I got married, and then had kids[1]. I still like to read it when I have the chance, but those chances are a lot further apart than they used to be.
ReplyDeleteThere's also the point that when I was younger, there was this huge backlog of good SF that I could pick up used copies of cheap. But, now I have read all of those, so I have to sort out the occasional new one out of the huge mass of "My Vampire Boyfriend" books that currently occupy most of the shelves. It takes a lot more time and thought than when I used to be able to go to Minicon and load up from the $0.99 cent box at the "Uncle Hugo's" table.
And then there's the point that as my understanding of the scientific background increases, a lot of stories that were formery OK, are now so far over the "suspension of disbelief" line that I just can't swallow them any more. Like "Avatar", for example.
[1] This may change soon, though. Both of the girls have decided that they like having the "Tintin" comics read to them, this could easily branch out.
On further thought I realise I don't read any fiction at all these days for, as Tim Eisele says, I simply don't have time, blame the internet partly. Though about four years ago I read the Earthsea books by Ursula K LeGuinn and enjoyed them immensely, I guess that's fantasy rather than science fiction. I've just ordered to read with my grandkids TH White's The Sword in the Stone, which I read about forty years ago as The Once and Future King. Guess I'm a little out of date eh?
ReplyDeleteThe genre has changed with the culture. I think that, in the past, science fiction had a hope for humanity at it's core: things might get bad, but we will find a way to survive, grow, and thrive. Today's science fiction seems to be rather pessimistic: Humans are evil creatures except for the odd enlightened one (see also Avatar). I even saw this in the kids movie Wall-E. Humanity allowed itself to deteriorate to the point that the machines decided their fate.
ReplyDeleteIn short, sci-fi today sucks. It's been contaminated by the same progressive gobbledygook as movies and newspapers. Excuse me, I'm going to go curl up with my hardback copy of The Demon Breed by James H Schmitz (peace be upon him).