Message to Voyager You Really Should See

It took Voyager 1 36 years to travel the 11 billion miles to the edge of our solar system, yet it only takes about 17 hours for radio signals to reach Earth. Voyager 1 has far outlived it's expected life span and continues to reveal secrets about the very nature of outer space.

The above video honors the amazing accomplishment of Voyager 1's crossing into interstellar space in the words of some famous scientists and celebrities.

At the end of the video, you're invited to tweet your own message or well wishes to Voyager 1, using @NASAVoyager and hashtag #MessagetoVoyager.

If you're a member of the SFR Brigade or Fan Page, show your affiliation by adding the #SFRBrigade hashtag to your tweet.

Godspeed on your continued long journey, Voyager 1.

Pippa's Journal - 9/11/13

What. A Week. Well, where do I start?


Mission Success!

Okay, first the big announcement. I have signed two - yes, TWO - contracts with new e-publisher Definition House. Woot! One is the long overdue sequel to Keir - Keir's Fall - and the other a one-off SFR novella called Tethered. I am sooooo excited! Not only because I love these stories and can't wait to share them - Tethered missed out on being a LERA The Rebecca finalist last year by just one point - but because I know the team behind Definition House, and I know it's going to be a blast. They do have a somewhat novel approach to publishing - they're going to use crowd-funding to produce the books. Now, while this does mean that if the funding limit isn't reached, the book doesn't get published, it does mean Definition House can offer a generous 60% royalty on ebooks, and some extra little bonuses for contributors and authors alike. You can check out some of the details on their website here. It might seem odd that I'm willing to jump onboard with a publisher yet to prove themselves (but then, they all have to start somewhere) but I have full confidence in them. To find out why, you can check out my post over on the SFR Brigade blog here.

What else? Oh, The Rebecca. Okay, again I missed out on the finals, but got some fantastic feedback from the judges on my entry - a decopunk superhero romance that I started last year as part of Camp NaNoWriMo. As always, there's comments that conflict with one another, but the overall conclusion was the world-building was great, the conflict was well-balanced with some clear from the start and more hinted at, and they all wanted to read on. I'd had some doubts on the opening of this story and whether I should swap things around, but two said it started in the right place, with one commenting that they found it a bit slow but that it picked up nicely. Now I just need to sort out the mess toward the end of the story, polish it up, check it a hundred times, find a publisher, etc etc...

So, my aims for the rest of this year are to -
Finish the decopunk.
Finish two short stories that link to Terms & Conditions Apply.
Finish the short story that jumped on me a couple of weeks ago and has now already reached novella length.
Make sure I keep my publisher supplied with all the necessary info for my two books. >.<

Discoveries

A few Brigade members picked up on the article in Amazing Stories this week, and pulled it apart. I am not going to post a link to the article because I think the best thing is just to ignore it, and Laurie has already posted her reposte. The author not only bashed romance in scifi, but even went on the rage about zombies diluting his pure science fiction. To counter that, I'd like to point out a great upcoming issue special being run by Lightspeed Magazine, and urge everyone to get involved (note, they also take story submissions, and it would be great if one or two members could submit to that), Don't be misled by the title, but you can find out more information here - http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/press/announcing-the-lightspeed-women-destroying-science-fiction-special-issue/

Plus an interesting blog post on Seven Keys to Unforgettable Characters. Whatever genre you write, it's the characters you're going to empathize with, and there's some useful tips on making them memorable.

Happenings

On Friday I'm taking part in the Fall Into Romance blog hop, and I'm promoting...gasp...someone else's book! To find out which one, come visit me here.

Ping Pong

Donna, hope you're feeling recovered now. Great post on Mundane SF.

Laurie, glad to see you back after your hell month for the traditional burning of Badjuju. And hey, funny how straight after that I got my contracts. Also, wonderful reposte on the No Romance in my SF article.

Additional

I'd like to wish friend and fellow Brigader Misa Buckley a very happy birthday. Have a good one, Misa.

Sci-Fi Isn't About Romance? - Round 10

Other than a few comments and one short blog, I've remained pretty quiet on this topic. That's not because it doesn't pain and irritate and sometimes outrage me--believe me, it does. It's just that I'm okay with letting people express opinions that are completely other-side-of-the-universe different from my own.

Freedom of speech is one of the rights we've always (maybe until recent years) prided ourselves on having in this country. When I was young, we were taught to respect, and even consider [gasp!] opinions expressed by others that didn't fit our personal outlook. There was a time when the general feeling was "everyone is entitled to their opinion" though these days that seems to have morphed into "everyone is entitled to my opinion."

This "Keep your Romance out of my Sci-Fi!" group seems to be a banner-waving minority who'd like to champion that school of thought. But, IMHO, some may be simply using the topic to enhance their stats.

Case in point:

There's a difference between freedom to express your opinion and intentionally inciting a reaction. This is why I am choosing to talk about one specific "opinion piece" without including a link. I'd like to state my own opinion of the motivation behind it without feeding that particular fire.

This past week we were treated to yet another strongly worded argument on keeping Romance out of Sci-Fi, and an equally strong push back, which was immediately labeled as being an attack on an author who has a right to express his opinion. (In other words, he has a right to express his opinion, but no one has a right to pin his hide to the wall in an articulate rebuttal.)

In my mind, this wasn't an opinion piece, this was a very sad attempt to stir the pot and feed off the controversy for the sake of hit count. The article was meant to incite, not promote discussion, which became painfully clear by the closing words and the subsequent threats to "turn off the comments." And this is why I don't feel this post was really about stating and defending his opinion at all, it was simply a blatant form of manipulation.

I'm going to avoid direct quotes from the author unless necessary, but let me paraphrase some of the statements made in the article:

• Some authors who started off writing "true" Science Fiction soon outed themselves by including Romance and that made it unworthy of being called Science Fiction.

• The Book of the New Sun series written by Gene Wolfe, although clearly labeled Science Fantasy should be discounted because he didn't take into consideration the effects of tectonic plate movement and vulcanism on his dying world.

• "Not true" Science Fiction contains elements that only women find interesting, like "military dress, palace intrigue, gossiping, and whispering in the corridors." [A debunking of the works of Lois McMaster Bujold].

• "Not true" Science Fiction novels that includes Romance lack necessary tension. [A discrediting of the Sharon Lee/Stephen Miller Liaden Universe series.]

• Steampunk is declared a Fantasy sub-genre, because the author has no interest in reading about "zombies, fancy dress balls, smooching warriors, or star-lit dinners..." 

The author closes by claiming he has now, "of course," offended everyone by stating his opinion. Which, judging from his provoking conclusion, was the whole point. Let's stir the pot by insulting some of the most beloved Science Fiction series because they contain elements that don't fit his personal narrow-minded definition of the genre. After all, everyone is entitled to HIS opinion--especially when making such bald, condescending statements will up the site's traffic count and generate a deluge of public backlash. Woohoo! Let's poke the tiger!

So let's look at Science Fiction and Romance debate in a different way--beyond stat-grabbing, beyond personal likes or dislikes, and beyond a futile attempt to defend the "purity" of one small segment of a genre that is fading from the reading public's interest.

Here's my view (like it or not, it's your choice):

>  Science Fiction and Romance are soul mates.

>  Science Fiction is about exploration and discovery. So is Romance.

>  Science Fiction is about looking at situations in new ways and adapting to changing times. So is Romance.

>  Science Fiction is about being inventive, spontaneous and pushing the envelope. So is Romance.

>  Science Fiction is about being forward-thinking and embracing the possibilities. So is Romance.

>  Romance not only belongs in Science Fiction, it shares the same DNA.

So if you think exploring the future, other dimensions or emerging technology isn't tied to romance, you're entitled to think that, I suppose. But there's a growing reading public who vigorously disagrees. And ultimately it's the readers--not the authors, bloggers, reviewers or publishing houses--who will decide what is and isn't Science Fiction.

I rest my case. Please feel free to make yours.

~~ * ~~

Mundane Doesn't Have to Mean Boring

I just read a REAL mundane SF novel online.

Our sister blogger over at The Galaxy Express, Heather Massey, recently posted a review of a science fiction romance set on current day Earth, Red Shoes for Lab Blues (http://www.thegalaxyexpress.net/2013/09/is-db-sieders-red-shoes-for-lab-blues.html)  Despite its initial presentation as what looked like a contemporary romance with a medical setting, Red Shoes, Heather discovered, is a “mundane” SFR—and a good one.

Ah, but what, you ask, is a “mundane” SFR?  And how boring can that be?  The very definition of “mundane”, after all, according to my Oxford American Dictionary, is “lacking interest or excitement.”  However, the second meaning is “relating to the physical world rather than a heavenly or spiritual one.”  And, that is closer to the meaning the SF world has always given it.

Stories set on Earth, rather than in space; stories set in the present day or near-future, rather than in the far future; stories using known technology or technology that can be readily extrapolated from known technology; stories focused on humans, rather than aliens or monsters (though aliens may show up, typically as the bad guys)—these are generally thought of as “mundane” science fiction. 

This, though, is only the broad, or rather, the diluted, definition of mundane SF.  The original hardcore definition was posited by Canadian SF author Geoff Ryman at a Clarion (California) writer’s workshop in 2004.  In his Mundane Manifesto, Ryman argued that many of the tropes of traditional science fiction—time travel, interstellar travel, intelligent aliens, habitable planets and so on—were in fact “stupidities” and outside the realm of possibility.  Despite their ability to entertain, they should be avoided in favor of the idea that “Earth is all we have.”  Plenty of ideas—artificial intelligence, scientific advancement, genetic manipulation, virtual reality, global warming—exist on this planet to provide fodder for the writerly imagination.  Thus mundane SF should only concern itself with such concrete subjects.

Wow.  That’s harsh, man.  It’s bad enough that NASA has pulled humanity (well, at least Americans) out of space.  Now the Mundane Manifesto argues that science fiction—the last resort of space dreamers—should do it, too.

“Mundane” was never the best term for a subgenre of science fiction.  Most people are going to equate it with that first definition I gave you and think “boring,” especially when you think that it’s an old term among SF/fantasy fans for “those not in the know”.  Harry Potter and friends may have used “muggles”, but I think “mundanes” was the original term for those without magic used by the wiccans.

So, given all this, I really think we need a fresh term for SFR that is set on Earth, or close to Earth; is set in the present day, near-future, or an indeterminate time; deals with current or easily extrapolated technology and focuses on humans.  When you think about it much of the best of New Wave SF could be described in those terms—classics by Zenna Henderson, Theodore Sturgeon, Harlan Ellison and others.  Think of the best episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, of FRINGE, of THE X-FILES.  Think of 1984, Brave New World, The Handmaiden’s Tale, Fahrenheit 451.

The one thing that stands out when I name these classics is that hard science is not prevalent in them.  People—relationships—are prevalent.  Maybe that’s just my preference.  Maybe you could find just as many titles that fit the criteria and put science first.  I doubt it, though.  Science fiction has been dominated by physicists and astronomers, not biologists or doctors, who tend to write medical thrillers.

Still, the point is, we need a new moniker.  Home-based SFR?  Small-circle SFR?  Grounded SFR?  Familiar SFR? Everything I think of seems so limiting.  Help me out, y’all.  We don’t fit the mundane straitjacket, not sure we want to. But we are different from our startrekking cousins.  We just need to tell everyone that adventures can be had close to home, too.

Cheers, Donna