Blood & Rhetoric

This is a favourite point of discussion for many science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts.

What is fantasy? What is science fiction?

Is this novel steampunk? Or a combination of dark-bengasian-deiselpunk?

Who the fuck really cares?

That’s the stand Jonathan McCalmont takes in his interesting post on how to define a genre…and why not to bother

“The desire to define things is a product of one of the more interesting quirks of human neural architecture; the desire for abstraction. This desire expresses itself as a tendency to see the world not in terms of individuals but rather clumps of objects that share characteristics, and which can therefore be expected to behave in similar ways.”

On one hand, the defining of the multitude of subgenres for fantasy and science fiction makes sense: I love to read dark fantasy. I love to read dark fantasy with a more “literary” bent. Therefore, I actively seek out work that’s been defined by critics and readers as such.

But the problem starts, when the lines become blurred, and when the work fits into more than one or two neat categories. That’s when the disagreements start. And they can get heated. But the negative here is that it really can have a limiting effect on a book to define it so narrowly.

So-called “literary fiction” doesn’t really carry any subgenres within it despite the fact that books falling within that particular bent obviously work on different trends much in the same way that genre or commercial fiction does. I mean, how much literary fiction has been published in the last few years pertaining in some way to the immigrant experience in North America? Dozens. At least. And that’s just what I’ve personally managed to read. Browse through a bookstore and you’ll see what I mean. Immigrant fiction is hot. So are stories that focus on a son or daughter relating their parent’s story and unraveling some mystery about them in order to come to a deeper understanding by the end of the novel about their own lives.

These could be construed as subgenres. But literary fiction does not carry any official genre card, unlike fantasy and science fiction which certainly do — and often to a ridiculous extent. Look at the wiki article on fantasy subgenres and science fiction subgenres. It’s absurd almost to the point of farce, and I feel one of the many reasons that the two genres have such a hard time gaining mainstream success or literary accolades. It goes beyond merely helping the potential reader find what they’re looking for and makes books published in the genre seem almost instantly formulaic.

Those of us who are passionate about fantasy and science fiction and who realize what a load of crap the snobbery is are fighting an uphill battle for literary acknowledgement. Especially considering that novels like The Road and The Handmaiden’s Tale, despite their science fiction leanings, would never be labeled thus except by those of us who already read the genre and can point and say — hey pretentious jackass! that is science fiction you’re giving the Nobel to!

And don’t even get me started on “magical realism,” which is essentially fantasy of another name.

But at the end of the day, who does really care and why should we be bothered? Isn’t it really a moot point? An argument no one will ever win? I like to think so.

Think of the possibilities, for both readers and writers of any type, if such strict classification was at least taken less seriously if not outright shunned.

Margaret Atwood wins Spain’s top literary prize: The Prince of Asturias Prize for literature.

Hamish Hamilton has launched a new online literary magazine, Five Dials, designed to promote and distribute quality writing which is unlikely to be printed elsewhere.

Annual program offering $1,000 stipend and 8-month fellowship to writers in the early stages of their literary careers. Program includes one-on-one sessions with mentors, seminars on topics such as editing or working with agents, courses in the Writers’ Program at UCLA Extension, and literary readings.

The Gaurdian Asks: Why writers can’t go it alone. We love independent filmmakers and musicians, and celebrate their maverick spirit, so why don’t we want independent writers?

To which I ask, have you attempted to actually read that much self-published work? It’s a scary, scary world.

Disney’s “Enchanted” was the dominant film player Tuesday night at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror’s 34th annual Saturn Awards, held at the Universal Hilton Hotel in Universal City.

Gary Gygax’s final Novel, Infernal Sorceress, to be released this July.

An interview with Rachel Smith, founder of Bitten by Books, a new book review site focusing on paranormal fiction, urban fantasy and horror.

I’m excited to find a review site focused solely on paranormal and horror; currently 18 reviewers are reviewing (I’m saying the word “review” alot) 100 books per month, and they’re looking for more people to um…. review.

And, according to The Telegraph: The 50 Best Summer Holiday Books.

I know, I know — Amazon is evil. But the place sells some hillarious shit too.

This is just a few of the weird, funny, and/or disturbing things I found there today instead of actually, uh, working.

And my birthday is coming up in September. I think I’ll start hinting to the boyfriend just how badly I’ve been wanting my very own tank.

$20,000.00 is really a bargain for that kind of power.

I don’t like anything that pulls me out of a story, and prologues/flashbacks can do that quite often as they usually take the form of a huge infodump where multiple names and dates and gods and events are thrown at the bewildered reader with reckless abandon.

And until I care about the characters and their plight; all that infodumping just reads BORING and my eye skips ahead until there’s something actually happening.

There are of course exceptions and blah blah blah — standard disclaimer and all that — but when the prologue/flashback fails, as it does often, it sticks out more memorably then when it works.

I’m writing about this because I’m struggling with this in my current WIP.

These people have a history, a religion, rituals, ceremonies, styles of dress, symbolism etc. and so do the other people and cultures living within their society and I want that to come across in the story without it slamming anyone across the head.

How does the writer accomplish this? What’s the fine line between being descriptive and just plain reciting facts like a text book?

One thing I do know for sure, is that I don’t like having every detail or foreign thing explained to me when I’m reading a fantasy novel. I like being ignorant in that respect, and figuring out the foreign thing on my own and being shown its meaning and function through story and action, not expository essay.

The same goes for setting. With a foreign world or city it’s easy to want to explain every nuance, but I’d rather get a sense of the world through my own mind’s eye and not read it in excruciating detail.

I suppose this is why first drafts and red pens go so well together.

Batman: The Dark Knight, The X-Files: I Want to Believe (working title, I think) and Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Three franchises that I have loved and been border-line obsessed with since I was a small child. Movie-wise, this will be an exciting summer indeed.

Yes, I am a nerd. Thanks for asking.

Batman: The Dark Knight.

I don’t want to talk about Heath Ledger and how this was his last film. The details of his tragic death have been delved into everywhere ad nauseum, and will be brought up again as this movie is officially released. I will say this though, and it has been said before, but you can’t tell it’s Ledger playing Joker. The voice, the character — amazing.

I’ve been a huge Batman fan ever since first coming to Canada at the age of five. I watched the cartoons, I watched the cheesy Adam West show, and I loved the movies. And I was obsessed with Catwoman. I would play pretend like I was her and in my childhood imagination, I commandeered a huge army of cats. Batman and I usually wound up married by the end of my game. Again — I was a child, this isn’t a recent thing!

Like alot of fans, I was hugely disappointed by cartoonish crap the films were becoming; the final straw being the horrible 1997 Batman & Robin, unfortunately starring the luscious and talented Clooney. Really, I felt bad for George, but he should have known better.

When Christopher Nolan took over and made Batman Begins with Christian Bale, I was in love with franchise all over again. It became the best of the bunch for me, and Christian Bale is without a doubt the best actor to ever play Batman.

 The X-Files

The X-Files is probably what piqued my interest in Science Fiction. It was another childhood obsession (I was like 8, or something, when it debuted) that I never quite grew out of. I was also one of the crazy internet fans who would argue different conspiracy theories online and argue over inconsistencies and etc.And I’m going to admit now that I may have actually written some fanfiction. May have.

I stopped watching soon after David Duchovny left the show; as a huge part of the success of the series was the amazing partnership between Scully and Mulder.

The X-Files: Fight the Future came out ten years ago; and now, finally, we have the sequel which apparently is based on events between seasons 4 and 7. Not sure as to the truth on that one. There’s alot of secrecy (read: clever marketing) surrounding this one.

Finally, we have Indiana Jones 4: Kingdom of The Crystal Skull. Say all you want about Harrison Ford being too old, but as far as I’m concerned, even at the age of 97 (or whatever) he’s sexier than alot of guys my own age.

Indiana Jones made me want to be an archaeologist; and, even after I grew up and realized that archaeology equalled a decade of post-secondary education, relatively low pay, and mostly desk work, I always cherished the image of the intellectual adventurer discovering long-buried treasure and secrets.

I rarely — if ever –get excited about big blockbuster movies, so these had better not dissapoint.

This is my first year watching Lost.

My boyfriend and his roommate are obsessive fans, so yet again; I’ve been forced into more television viewing that I would not have done on my own.

My impressions of the show? Well, I have no clue as to what the fuck is going on.

I’m pretty sure that the writers even are making it up as they go along.

I find the character of Jack really annoying, what with his control freak ways and all.

And what’s with no scar on his stomach in the….um…..flash-forward (?) of last week’s episode? Hm?

Sawyer kinda “does it” for me. But I wish he’d go back to his roots, hair wise that is.

And speaking of hair, Ben’s daughter getting killed off, execution style, was pretty intense. I really liked her character. She had such great hair. Kinda reminded me of my own before some jackass stylist decided to give me the mullet-esque style I’m currently sporting.

People go freaking nuts over this show. It’s pretty amazing, or not really, considering how much crap gets made for television. I think the people who make shit t.v, and the people who get shit books published must pray to the same evil demon god of unwarranted fame — but anyways, my theory, knowing absolutely nothing about the show or what happened in previous seasons: Atlantis. something about Atlantis. Why not?

That’s it. That’s all I’ve got.

 I hate Star Trek. My boyfriend disagrees. As a result, I watch alot of Star Trek.

Last week, I realized something extraordinary: Tolkien’s elves are Vulcans in the future.

I found this fascinating. But, I do still hate Star Trek.