Science Fiction reading...

[fajrdrako]

From May 14, 2009: One of my favorite sci-fi authors (Sharon Lee) has declared June 23rd Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers Day. As she puts it:

So! In my Official Capacity as a writer of science fiction and fantasy, I hereby proclaim June 23 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day! A day of celebration and wonder! A day for all of us readers of science fiction and fantasy to reach out and say thank you to our favorite writers. A day, perhaps, to blog about our favorite sf/f writers. A day to reflect upon how written science fiction and fantasy has changed your life.

So … what might you do on the 23rd to celebrate? Do you even read fantasy/sci-fi? Why? Why not?

Of course I read science fiction. Has it changed my life? No. Just expanded my fannishness to another venue. I've spent a lot of time in SF groups, working on SF conventions, and going to them. But SF still isn't a favourite genre (I prefer historical fiction and fantasy) - which doesn't mean some of the SF out there isn't some of the best books I've read.

When I was a kid, I wouldn't and didn't read science fiction. I adored comic books, and got my SF fix from them. Science fiction looked boring, and was all about guys, and technology.

Then I fell in love with science fiction when I read Dragonflight by Anne McCaffery and The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, both in one week, in England, when I was seventeen.

A decade later, I became involved in SF fandom, for three reasons. First: StarWolf phoned me because he'd been seeing my letters in X-Men comics. Second, I went to Maplecon II, the local SF and comics convention, and made some lifelong friends. Third, I fell in love with Star Trek and joined the local Star Trek club and discovered fanfic... and slash.

Yeah, all of that changed my life, but I've always been a book-addict and I've always been more into comics and fantasy than prose SF.

That being said, there are some SF novels that are among my favourites ever. I was just listing my favourite SF novelists this morning. They are - and this isn't really a definitive list:

1. Lois McMaster Bujold, author of Shards of Honor, Barrayar, The Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game and the rest of the Vorkosigan series. My favourite is Aral Vorkosigan, but the great achievement of these books is his son, Miles Vorkosigan, a brilliant protagonist on any number of levels. Bujold has a lot of very impressive things to say about life, war, human relations, and really dangerous technology like genetic manipulation, but what you remember about her books is the breathtaking humanity and the humour. There are scenes that stick with you powerfully - like the "shopping trip" in Barrayar, and the airlock incident in "The Vor Game". Inspired.
   
   
2. John M. Ford, another writer with exquisite style and an usual way with ideas. I think of him as a modern American version of John Wyndham. His most famous is probably The Dragon Waiting, an alternate history that involves King Richard III - that's fantasy, though he excells in SF, too.
   
   
3. Ursula K. Le Guin, who probably needs no introduction to anyone here. My favourite of hers was Tehanu, but her style is always superb. Insightful books with a sense of beauty.
   
   
4. Karin Lowachee, author of Warchild, Burndive and Cagebird. Despite some structural infelicities, these are brilliant novels: psychology and action together, following the fate of young men caught up in a war between Earth civilization, pirates, and aliens. I particularly loved Captain Cairo Azarcon, but he is far from the only attraction of these books.
   
   
5. Susan R. Matthews, An Exchange of Hostages and the following series about the Jurisdiction and torturer/surgeon Andrej Koscuisko. If you can tolerate the potentially distasteful themes, the story become more fascinating as it continues. I thought I was there to read about Koscuisko, then enjoyed the books without him at least as much.
   
   
6. Vonda McIntyre, especially The Entropy Effect.
   
   
7. Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow and Children of God. Bring kleenex. Russell isn't marketed as SF, though those books are about first contact with an alien planet. She is a Dunnett acolyte and that comes through in some very powerful twists of plot and theme.
   
   
8. Brian Stableford. A wonderful blend of action and character.
   
   
9. Gene Wolf. The more I look at this list, the more I realize how much I read for style rather than content. Wolfe may be the most original writer I know.
   
   
10. John Wyndham, The Chrysalids being my favourite of his novels, but there isn't one I didn't like. I love his style of writing. He is the only really 'classic' SF writer I love.

This is confining my list to books, rather than comic books, which would be an even longer list. And SF fanfic, like those piles of K/S zines I consumed once upon a time.

So how will I celebrate the 23rd? Hmm. Perhaps I will go to a bar and toast the genre with a Sonic Screwdriver or a Screaming Welshman. Perhaps I will reread A Civil Campaign, as I have been wanting to do.