Sometimes I feel like a science fiction oddball. The stories I like most and like to write are good old fashioned space opera, like Star Wars or Star Trek, and sword & sorcery like Legend Of the Seeker, or high fantasy like Lord Of The Rings, etc. I don’t like slipstream. I don’t like stories which have no discernible speculative element. I don’t like preachy stories pushing a political agenda. And I don’t like stories with overwhelming amounts of science or magic which feel like textbooks. Tell me a story with good plot full of action and riveting, well developed characters.
Partly this is because I am a child of the media generation which are not the most die hard science fiction fans these days. I did not grow up on the old school science fiction stuff. I read some of it (Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, Jules Verne, HG Wells, Lord Of The Rings, Lord Valentine’s Castle, the Narnia Books, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, and more). I grew up on Star Wars and Star Trek tie-ins and the movies and tv shows. Those were what I got my biggest science fiction fix from. And certainly I have enjoyed going back and discovering much old science fiction stuff along with the new, both of which I continue to do. But I still want those lovable characters with action as they fight bad guys, save the girl, and save the world.
I don’t write hard science fiction. What would be the point? Biology was the only class I flunked in college. I never took Chemistry. The only science class I did well in was Astronomy, in which I got an A minus. And I skip the long boring sections in Tom Clancy books where he spends half a chapter describing a gun or vehicle. Who cares? Tell me a story. So those kinds of things just don’t impress me. In large part, that’s because they don’t make me feel anything. Characters do.
As I prepare to get my novel deal finalized and figure out a marketing plan, I am hoping there are lots of others like me, because that’s what I wrote, and I fear that may make it less appealing to the standard science fiction crowd. The fans who attend ComicCon and DragonCon would love it though, and I hope to reach out to them. Not sure how yet, but that’s the goal. Every reader who’s read it so far has raved about the book, including two fellow writers and two professional editors. Two small presses are bidding on it. I believe it’s good and people will like it. But they have to read it first.
Here’s hoping this is one case where being an oddball doesn’t leave me standing on the sidelines at the big game.
For what it’ worth…
