Debate: Sci-Fi Classics

There is an interesting debate unfolding across the internet about whether or not it is advisable to recommend the classics of science fiction to new readers of the genre.  

It began here, with a post by Ian Sales stating that it is not.  

Readers new to the genre are not served well by recommendations to read Isaac Asimov, EE ‘Doc’ Smith, Robert Heinlein, or the like. Such fiction is no longer relevant, is often written with sensibilities offensive to modern readers, usually has painfully bad prose, and is mostly hard to find because it’s out of print. A better recommendation would be a current author – such asRichard Morgan, Alastair Reynolds, Iain M Banks, Ken MacLeod,Stephen Baxter, and so on.

Since then responses both for and against have been popping up elsewhere and the comments are getting quite heated.  

The Crotchety Old Fan – Ooooo This Makes Me So Mad

Neil Williamson-Untinted Spectacles

Futurismic – Nostalgia Does SF A Disservice

IO9- Is SF Too Obsessed With Its Own History?

Pyr-o-mania – Does Nostalgia Do SF a Disservice?

The Crotchety Old Fan – Apologies For Stepping On Toes

I agree with the position that the classics -can- still be used as introductory texts to new readers, even if I don’t agree point for point with the arguments made by both bloggers and commenters who share this stance.  Particularly in the comments, it appears that the original point Ian Sales was trying to make is getting warped by hurt feelings.

 Whether your love them, hate them, or fall somewhere in the middle, the classics are at least very widely know.  Also, it is clear from these discussions that when it comes to the classics, people have very strong opinions. This is all great for someone who is new to the genre because they make good stepping stones leading hopefully to some very involved discussions and a deeper understanding of the genre.  

That is not to say that I would recommend the classics and only the classics when introducing Sci-Fi to a new reader.  To be a well rounded enthusiast, one needs to read and appreciate both for what they are.  After all, today’s contemporary works are tomorrows historical SF.  One only enhances the other.

The Debate On YA Science Fiction

I wouldn’t call this controversy, but I’ve seen a couple other bloggers talking about these two posts on IO9 about the topic of YA Sci-Fi.

In the first corner:  Stop Writing YA Sci-Fi

“But I object to the idea that young people need their own special, segregated genre of books, as if their minds are so dramatically different from adult minds that they require their own category of fantasy. Once a person has reached adolescence, relegating their reading material to its own gated subgenre seems at best condescending and at worst censorious.”

Actually I think it is rather helpful to have their own section outside of the children’s section.  There is no rule, or bookstore police force keeping the teens in their own private YA corral.  It makes it easier for younger teens, who are looking to read up and to branch out from the kids books, without being intimidating.  

I was not a sci-fi/fantasy reader as a young teen and bookstores intimidated me, frankly.  I should also mention that we didn’t have book stores like the large retailers on St. Croix. All my books came through the scholastic book club, and a Barnes and Nobles was larger than my school library.  I hardly knew what to do with myself when my mom would drop me off at the bookstore. 

Its protagonist is just 18 years old. But nobody would think Stephenson’s book was for young people, just as they wouldn’t likely slap “young adult” on the cover of a Vinge tome. Obviously age isn’t the only indicator, then: There is something more than safe subjects or young characters that makes a book YA.

I think you and I know exactly what that “something” is. It’s niche marketing. We’ve already got clothing, games, and technologies aimed at teenagers. Now we have scifi books aimed at them too. I don’t want you to think that I have some giant objection to niche marketing, because I don’t. It’s helpful to have bookstores divided up into sections. What I don’t like is when one of those sections is specifically designed to repel me, to make me think that I shouldn’t be there.

I admit I haven’t seen repackaging done for Sci-Fi, but both The Wheel of Time and Dragonlance two very popular adult fantasy series were repackaged for teens.  Of course this was years ago when I was still in high school, before the big YA boom.  Repackaging didn’t work then, but I think the atmosphere has changed.  A new repackaging project would be an interesting experiment.  

One thing that really bothered me about this article was that the author doesn’t fully explain how the teen market repels adults from it.  As a raging geek, I’m quite used to having people cast disparaging glances at me in the bookstore as the literary classics were kept across the aisle from sci-fi/fantasy.  Worse yet, I read manga and while it is much more mainstream today, readers still face a lot of opposition.  I’ve seen it no worse in the YA section.  In fact because of series such as Harry Potter, Twilight, and Gossip Girls I don’t think I’ve ever seen those same glares directed at adults in the YA section.  It is not that abnormal anymore for adults to be reading YA, and besides, was it ever truly weird to begin with?  How is a bystander to know whether that adult reads YA or is just looking for a book for a child or relative?  

Sure teen books aren’t marketed directly at adults in the same media channels, but do adults market to teens in through their popular media?  Not very often.  

I don’t mean to rag on the article so.  I’m grateful to the author for their opinions because it has been an interesting and thought provoking topic.  I do agree that I also cringe when I hear of a favorite adult author of mine jumping into the YA pool.  My reason for this is that I do find YA fiction to be very different from adult fiction, and there are few authors who can write to both markets.  Plot focuses in YA tend to be very teen specific because authors are trying to relate to their audience and cultivate the reading experience.  Adult fiction tends to be much more free-form, I feel.  Neither is wrong or worse than the other.  You can really tell though when an author is feeling either constrained or has been given too much room to work with.  The quality of the work usually suffers.  Some authors can do it.  I don’t mean to say that it can’t be done.  

Anyway, in the other corner:  Young Adult Books Will Save Sci-Fi

I think the title may be pushing it a little. While it’s true that there have been few new sci-fi superstars to emerge from the younger generations I’m not convinced that YA sci-fi is going to raise up the next Frank Herbert.  We live in a technological atmosphere that is so different from our elders.  I think modern sci-fi is in a bit of a flux because we are already living in an age that is so much a fantasy itself, one that is constantly changing and progressing.  It is hard to keep ahead of the sci-fi in our everyday lives.

I do agree though with the projection that YA sci-fi will impact the growth of the adult readership in the future.  The hope is that these young readers through word of mouth or their own initiative, will take the plunge into adult science fiction because they’ve felt comfortable and have been encouraged to delve into the genre during their formative reading years.