SF Should Take Its Cue From Drug Dealers and Terrorists

Wow Mike! Where the hell did this come from? Have you flown completely off the deep end?

No, I haven’t. Although many of you that have met me might think otherwise, my sanity is well in check. This topic came out of a discussion my wife Wendy and I were having regarding a panel that I’m moderating tonight at CopperCon 26. It’s entitled SHOULD SCIENCE FICTION BE A CASH COW OR A RESEARCH LAB? [Did Star Wars and Hollywood steer an entire generation of SF off course? Is it the difference between writing something innovative or something that is guaranteed to sell?]

I ranted over dinner last evening about how stupid a subject this is. At a time when we see our genre narrowing and losing out to Fantasy, I find this discussion topic asinine, provincial, and sophomoric. We should be doing absolutely everything we can to attract as many as possible to the wonderful world of science fiction. The tent should be increasing in size allowing any and all who have curiosity about this genre to enjoy one form or another. More and more works that once were considered science fiction are being pushed off the plantation and labeled Fantasy. There is a ritual purification that is occurring, and I think it to be unhealthy, and ultimately will lead to the final demise of science fiction.

When I was seven years old I had the wonderful opportunity to see Star Wars, and it did more to turn me into a science fiction fan than just about anything up to that point. As a result I ran to books, TV series, and other SF related things just to maintain my sense of wonder that I got from the film. Later in life I learned that: “What you enjoyed wasn’t Science Fiction [stupid], it was Fantasy.” Well I say in a loud voice: “YES IT WAS SCIENCE FICTION AND DON’T TELL ME THAT IT WASN’T!” Whether the SF Fascists like it or not, Star Wars and Star Trek excited a lot of people who were afraid to give science fiction a try and turned them into rabid fans that, yes Virginia, read and enjoy many types of SF.

How can we learn from drug dealers? For generations they have had ways to attract customers and keep them, despite the long arm of law enforcement -- it’s the “nickel bag.” Star Wars and its Soft SF equivalents are like the “nickel bags” of science fiction. They give one just a tiny taste -- a doorway into another world. Once hooked the new fan’s pulse rises. He runs to the bookstore, Blockbuster, and You Tube to try to get a fix. He spends thousands of dollars attending cons, joining local SF groups, and maybe even becoming a writer himself. Star Wars and Star Trek have done that for so many of us. Don’t you dare say they’re garbage or that they have destroyed the genre. In fact, they have done more to keep it alive than any Philip K. Dick novel.

In the quest to expand our base, attract new fans, and tempt those to harder versions of science fiction, I say we take a cue from the terrorists. Any time there is a work out there that is popular, and can even remotely relate to SF, we “Claim Responsibility.” We point out to any and all naysayers that: “What you enjoyed was Science Fiction!” Issue press releases, podcasts, and videos on You Tube showing the prevalence of SF in all forms of entertainment. That movie? Yeah, it’s got SF in it. Oh, did you like that book? Well, it’s a Scientific Romance -- yes, SF. You got it. I can’t believe it’s not butter! (I think you get my point.) What will this do? It will inform a lot of people who don’t think they’re fans of science fiction that they truly are! We have a huge base out there that love SF, but don’t really know it. Let’s help them out. Also, it will show that our genre really is mainstream, and intertwined all over the world of pop culture. Let’s start with LOST. As the SF Nation we should immediately claim responsibility and tell the millions who enjoy the show that “you just enjoyed science fiction.”

If we want science fiction to survive we must expand the base and get as many as we can to join our cause. Yes, we can have an intellectual discussion about where to take SF in the future, but we must ensure that we have ways for new fans to enter. Once they’re in, we can show them around the genre and introduce them to all that it has to offer. But if it weren’t for Star Wars and Star Trek, you can bet that the attendance at WorldCon last week wouldn’t have been as rich, and that would have been a tragedy.

Comments

[J Erwine]

Sadly, few people ever go past the nickel bag...they just get hooked on that without realizing there are better highs out there...I did like the analogy, however.

A lot of what is popular is really SF, but a lot of times the authors don't even want to claim the tag. Margaret Atwood still insists that The Handmaid's Tail was not SF, and Vonngeut hates when people refer to any of his work as SF. People just seem to think we're dirty or something, but that's ok...I like playing in the muck...

[Marlin]

What you describe seems to be the Dragon*Con / San Diego Comic-Con formula.

20,000 plus attendees. Seems to be working for them.