Journal Entry
SF/F authors considered as high school students
July 25th 2007 at 4:43 pm
It’s funny. We certainly tend to fight in SFWA like high school students at times.
Conversation topic: I’m in the freshman table right, but where do you think I’m going to end up if Stephen writes this entry again in a few years?
Yes, they do tend to divide themselves up like this. Lunchtime is an especially good time to see the cliques as the students congregate into groups.
Of course. I’d be happy to discuss the students’ groupings with you. Let’s start with the fellows in the camouflage. They’re very interested in military science fiction. It’s all guns and dropships and the like with them. The student who’s holding forth very loudly is John Ringo, and that’s David Weber next to him. The quieter fellow holding the Bob Heinlein mask is John Scalzi. He’s one of our newer students. I’m not sure he’s going to stay at that table, to be honest. The MilSF crowd has been asking to stage mock battles during the lunch break, complete with imitation guns and blood packs. You can imagine how that request has gone over given the political climate. They’ll be in your office the first day you’re principal, mark my words.
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1. Mark Terry on Jul 25th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Ah, I see that the SF community (you rabble, you!) has many similarities to the mystery/thriller (who are so not-together that the thriller community created their own organization) or the romance (don’t get me started) community.
This is, I think, the breakfast cereal-ization of books. I want Granola, because it’s covered with sugar and molasses and it’s good for you, therefore it’s for adults. I want Cap’n Crunch because it’s covered with sugar and it’s for kids; I want Raisin Bran because it keeps my colon happy and healthy and I’m a grown-up; I want All-Bran because I’m an adult who wants a colon happy and I have no taste buds to tell me other wise; I’m…
At least it makes sense that the publishers and bookstores do it–the bookstores need to know where to put the book, after all (you can put mine right between The Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, thank you very much, it’s called The Serpent’s Kiss and it’s in trade paperback, $13.95, oy veh, vhat a deal! rush right out…)–but when the readers start getting obsessive about it…
2. Steve Buchheit on Jul 26th, 2007 at 7:42 am
Hmm, I think you’re going to be at the table listening to John Ringo hold forth. It depends on why Sly Mongoose is going.
3. Stephen Granade on Jul 26th, 2007 at 10:26 am
I’ve no idea where I’d put you. Space opera? MilSF? The Butler and Delany memorial diversity table? In fact, the whole “Freshman table” was a bit of a cop-out, since I didn’t know where I’d slot Elizabeth Bear or Jay Lake, either.
To my mind, that’s a good thing — I like it when authors do a lot of different things. Though I know that makes marketing departments sad.
4. Sandra on Jul 26th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Don’t feel bad. Some of us are still in Junior High, wondering if this whole pimple thing is going to get worse or better before we get to highschool and sit at that MilSF table…