Sci-fi writers and readers, what do you love about the genre?

I actually wasn't a huge scifi reader as a child (much more fantasy and mystery for me). As an adult, I'm still picky but what I have found I love about a good SF novel is a comment on the nature of humanity. What happens when human beings are placed in entirely new circumstances. What does it say about our nature as a species.

I also like kick ass women but that's not specific to SF.

Reziac said:

Sound like you've been reading too many 1960s dystopias. Seriously, today's SF is overall so much more optimistic, so removed from the predictions of disaster and decline of yesteryear, there's no comparison. Philip Wylie and ...ah, what the hell was his first name... not Douglas Mason, the other Mason who wrote a bunch of dystopias... would never sell in today's market, and even Ballard and PK Dick might be a tough sell.

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I'm thinking more of William Gibson and that style of SF, actually. But it seems like a lot of the space-focused SF in recent years is more militaristic, and the focus has been on killing other intelligent species (who are evil and unambiguously want to kill us) rather than trying to reach some sort of uneasy understanding or seeing thing from their point of view.

In movie terms, it seems like there's more along the line of Independence Day and Signs and less along the line of Close Encounters if the Third Kind.

Though there was Super 8, which was basically ET with a much angrier alien (and that anger was portrayed as sympathetic).

What I like about sci-fi, is the openness of it all. It can be a hardcore science story, or soft, you can write a mystery, or a love story, war, or democracy, it all applies. It can be clean or gritty, all depends on how you want to make it.

Roxxsmom said:

I'm thinking more of William Gibson and that style of SF, actually. But it seems like a lot of the space-focused SF in recent years is more militaristic, and the focus has been on killing other intelligent species (who are evil and unambiguously want to kill us) rather than trying to reach some sort of uneasy understanding or seeing thing from their point of view.

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I still dunno what you're reading, cuz across the 45 years or so I've been reading SF/F, the major theme has gone from humans conquering the universe, to humans are always the bad guys who need to be more sensitive to the aliens, no matter what the aliens do.

Well, I can't say I'd necessarily like that either. I'm more interested in stories where other species aren't perfect, but we aren't either, and we have to learn from each other.

Like I said, I haven't been reading a lot of fairly recent space-based SF lately, though. I read Scalzi's Old Man's War a while back, and I liked it, but it was definitely more in the the "humans having to conquer the bloodthirsty aliens to make room for ourselves in the universe" vein. Actually, most of the SF I can think of reading recently, I'd say there are fewer aliens and more human interacting with technology themes and each other in a somewhat dystopian future going on.

Roxxsmom said:

Like I said, I haven't been reading a lot of fairly recent space-based SF lately, though. I read Scalzi's Old Man's War a while back, and I liked it, but it was definitely more in the the "humans having to conquer the bloodthirsty aliens to make room for ourselves in the universe" vein.

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Hmm, that's not what I got from it at all. IIRC the situation was if we didn't fight to make ourselves a place, we'd be wiped out. (Probably somewhat more clear in the sequels.) But the real theme was what all this tech and war did to people caught up in it, voluntarily or not. (Also more of a thing in the sequels. I didn't care much for the 3rd book.)

I love sci-fi when it's about different cultures, either human or alien, and how people react to them. I also like when the author extrapolates on the modern day to come up with a future that seems plausible.

OP, I'm not a big Ursula LeGuin fan but I did really like the Left Hand of Darkness. Probably because the culture was just really interesting!

Two female sci-fi writers who haven't been mentioned: Joan D. Vinge (read The Snow Queen) and Octavia Butler. They couldn't be more different or create more different worlds, but I think they both are great. <3 The Snow Queen is one of my favorite books of all time.

shestval said:

The Snow Queen is one of my favorite books of all time.

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Have you read the sequels, World's End and The Summer Queen...?? In my mind it's really all One Huge Book. (Well, I just now learned there's a 4th book, which I've not seen.)

Reziac said:

Have you read the sequels, World's End and The Summer Queen...?? In my mind it's really all One Huge Book. (Well, I just now learned there's a 4th book, which I've not seen.)

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Yes, I own all four! The Snow Queen is the strongest of the series by far, although the original trilogy reads very well as a whole. It's just long. And sometimes drags a bit. Anyone who can get through ASoIaF could read it, though.

The fourth is a prequel, focused on Jerusa and BZ working as Blues. I wasn't crazy about it but I also read it only once, when I had a fever, so that may have influenced my enjoyment. I was quite disappointed because BZ is my favorite character and I was hoping for more from another book about him.

I start entering into rabid fan territory for this series, so I think I'll shut up now.

As a woman, what I love about both science fiction and fantasy is the opportunity to read about people for whom life works differently - whether they are an alien with three sexes that reproduces by laying eggs, a mage living in a world where magic is a part of physics and technology, a shapeshifter whose natural form looks like a giant water droplet, or just a student attending a space academy where they get to experience zero-gravity sports. For the same reason I love reading about cultures that aren't quite like any earth ones; maybe people organize themselves into packs or clans instead of nuclear families, maybe dragon-people have no particular use for clothes, maybe there is 100% job security because society as a whole operates like a military organization, maybe there is no money and social rank is purely a popularity thing. Maybe everyone is a hermaphrodite, do they have something kind of like gender roles but not really the same? What if aliens that start out humanoid can grow up into biological spaceships that carry other aliens through space? What if there is a type of aliens that acquires humans to keep as pets or ride as mounts? There are so many cool possibilities and interesting life experiences that I'd like to explore by reading science fiction or fantasy stories.

I've been kind of depressed by sff recently though, because it's been too dark for my tastes. I like 80's style adventures with happy endings and romance and morals like "friendship is awesome". So recently I've stuck to reading science fiction and fantasy romance, since those more or less have guaranteed happy endings. Also superhero/supervillain comedy, school comedy adventure; anything that seems like it's going to be cheerful without being unintelligent.

shestval said:

Yes, I own all four! The Snow Queen is the strongest of the series by far, although the original trilogy reads very well as a whole. It's just long. And sometimes drags a bit. Anyone who can get through ASoIaF could read it, though.

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I think that's a hazard of a fully developed world, tho (which it does a pretty fair job at) ... sometimes stuff happens that doesn't interest everyone. (Just as we're not interested in everything in Mundania.) I recall feeling some of that drag when I first read 'em, but not during the 2nd go-round, which was much more recent. But I now read more for background detail than I used to, and rather less for what's-happening.

shestval said:

I start entering into rabid fan territory for this series, so I think I'll shut up now.

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But fan-rabies is part of the fun of SF/F!

Reziac said:

I think that's a hazard of a fully developed world, tho (which it does a pretty fair job at) ... sometimes stuff happens that doesn't interest everyone. (Just as we're not interested in everything in Mundania.) I recall feeling some of that drag when I first read 'em, but not during the 2nd go-round, which was much more recent. But I now read more for background detail than I used to, and rather less for what's-happening.

But fan-rabies is part of the fun of SF/F!

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In that particular series, it's less the background detail drag that bothers me and more the wallowing in depression. I don't want to go into too much detail because it gets spoilery and I DO still think it's a fantastic series and worth a read. But Jerusa in particular just seems to get shat on by the universe for no reason. I'm pretty sure that nothing goes right in her entire life. And if there is anything Joan Vinge is good at, it's making the reader feel the character's emotional pain.

There is a scene in the Snow Queen where Jerusa snaps all the points off of a shell, a beautiful conch shell given to her by her only real friend. That scene will always epitomize despair to me. The need to destroy everything you love because you feel like you are unworthy of even experiencing the emotion.

I am so terrible at selling books I enjoy. XD And I do truly enjoy this series! The Snow Queen is probably one of the most influential books as far as my own writing goes, at least as far as form, character, and plot structure. My dream is to write something as good as that book.

What I like about science fiction are the complex governmental and military structures. It's why I think I slid into Song of Fire and Ice so easily. I know it isn't unique to this genre but I always gravitate to the science fiction stories with it: Armor, Freehold, Dune, Ender's Game dozens of others similar to those. I also grew up reading military science fiction since it is what my father and grandfather read, so its my comfy blanket.

I'd love a list of more recent (say within the last ten years or thereabouts), and especially by newer SF writers, space-focused SF with more optimistic themes. Doesn't have to be perfect, but some of the kinds of stuff sunandshadow mentioned.

I started reading this thread a couple of days ago, then got lost in Amazon looking up all the great reading recommendations. But now I'm back and glad I found this discussion again.

I enjoy reading and writing science fiction/speculative fiction, anything that is removed from the reality of our own existence on this world. I like my imagination to be taken somewhere else.

I can't stand 'domestics' - stories about ordinary people living ordinary lives. Sure the author often brings them to universal themes but I find such things completely dull. Maybe it's because I always have enough family drama of some sort or another people are trying to suck me in to, I don't know, but you'll never convince me to read any of it.

Those same themes explored more widely in the outer world are what draw me, along with meandering through abstract concepts such as the nature of time, reality, life and death and so on. The what if...

aus10phile said:

Thought I'd share this in case anyone is interested or in case anyone has an additions/reactions to it. This is the reading list that I created based on my polling of friends and family who love sci-fi a few months ago, which I referenced in my original post. I think there's quite a bit of range on this list, but since I'm not well read in the genre, I don't know that for sure.

What do you guys think? Anything on the list that you think is ridiculous or shouldn't be on the list? Anything missing?

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Some might recommend Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I'd also recommend a rather, unfortunately obscure, book called We by Yevgeny Zamyatin - which influenced both Huxley and Orwell with their own dystopias. It's one of my favourite sci-fi novels.

Oh, and I didn't see Slaughterhouse Five on there either.

I've loved scifi since I was a child. I love it most of all because it shows us what can be - what is possible, what we can one day achieve. Of course, I also happen to love space and astronomy, so that's a big factor as well.

As others have stated, it is certainly true that a lot of scifi can get all wound up in the "stuff" - tech, gadgets, how different everything is. If it's well enough written and paints a stunning world, I'll still enjoy it.

In my own scifi writing, I focus on the characters first and foremost (though I try to place them in a believable, plausible, yet futuristic world). Some of the best scifi explores issues of human nature - what will it do to society and individuals when we can live for many hundreds of years (or even effectively forever)? How much will technology and life have to change before we become not/more/other than human - or will human nature always remain fundamentally the same?

aus10phile said:

Thought I'd share this in case anyone is interested or in case anyone has an additions/reactions to it. This is the reading list that I created based on my polling of friends and family who love sci-fi a few months ago, which I referenced in my original post. I think there's quite a bit of range on this list, but since I'm not well read in the genre, I don't know that for sure.

What do you guys think? Anything on the list that you think is ridiculous or shouldn't be on the list? Anything missing?

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Thanks: I've read a lot of those, though I'll check out the ones I haven't Looks like a good list. I'll have to think about others that may belong there. Maybe the Morgaine novels or Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh could be added. She always seems to get left off the lists of classic authors, and I think her stuff is quite good (and there's a lot of it)

But I'm still wondering if anyone has a list of recommendations of newer stuff specifically. Especially stuff with a more optimistic bent. I enjoyed Willis's Blackout and All clear, but I'd love to add some newer SF talent to my reading list (and especially stories with space, aliens and other traditional SF themes).

I like exploring the different. I live in the real world every day - it's an adventure to go somewhere else, even if that place is only a dozen years into the future. (I love fantasy and historical fiction for the same reason.) This is true even for the shallowest, silliest science fiction.

I also love the game of "what if". What would happen if we could design robots that were sentient? How would we keep them in line? Are there ways to keep a civilization's collapse from being as bad? What if devils existed, but weren't bad (just a memory of our future destruction and rebirth at their hands)? What if there were no genders? What if everything you dreamed could come true? What if becoming pregnant meant you were going to die horribly before your baby could be born? What if there was an apocalypse and the only nearby people who survived were religious fundamentalists who hated knowledge? What if these people were the ones who were *right*? These are all really interesting questions, and I care more about them than the more "normal" what if questions you tend to get in other novels.

It's also a good way to explore the world in a way that doesn't necessarily offend anyone. (i.e. you can explore gender, race, sexuality, socioeconomic status, etc. without having to be tethered to historical truths or sore spots.)

The last thing I love is that science fiction really tries to push the boundaries of originality. It's amazing to read something totally mind-blowing that works!