Well, I did it again: led the Seven-Sentence Short Story workshop (created by science fiction and fantasy author James van Pelt) at a writing conference, this time, Wordbridge in Lethbridge, Alberta. Here’s the story I …
It’s time for this year’s Kickstarter to fund Shapers of Worlds Volume V, the fifth in the series of anthologies featuring science fiction and fantasy by authors who were guests on my Aurora Award-winning podcast, The …
It takes money to publish books, and most of that money flows out the door before the book is released and sales begin, so my publishing company, Shadowpaw Press, is turning to Crowdfundr to help …
Shapers of Worlds Volume IV, the fourth anthology featuring authors who were guests on my podcast, The Worldshapers, is now available everywhere, including directly from Shadowpaw Press. Here’s a handy universal URL with links to …
My publishing company, Shadowpaw Press, has three great titles coming out in the first two months of 2024, all of them science fiction or fantasy. The first two, The Good Soldier by Nir Yaniv and …
Here’s another seven-sentence short story! I ran the workshop again at Ganbatte, an anime convention in Saskatoon. It went well, and here’s the one I created, again with the instructions, created by noted SF short-story …
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What is science fiction?" A definitive answer at last!
John C. Wright* nails down the ever-pesky definition of science fiction:
Science Fiction is that genre of cognitive estrangement in a post-Gothic mode, utilizing a willing suspension of disbelief, transcending anthropocentricism and temporal provincialism, where spacemen, raygun in fist, soar through outer space with a glamorous brunette Space-Babes in their brawny arms.
He offers extensive pictorial proof. And I’m pleased to say the cover of Marseguro, with a brunette Space-Babe (OK, she has gills, but still) on the cover (in a skin-tight wetsuit!) being at least peripherally menaced by a giant robot (it’s on the back of the book, but close enough), definitely qualifies it as science fiction.
Whew. That’s a relief!
*Founder of the Space Princess Movement, of which I am an official member
Permanent link to this article: https://edwardwillett.com/2008/06/what-is-science-fiction-a-definitive-answer-at-last/