BTT: Fantasy and Sci-Fi

I originally wasn’t going to answer this week’s Booking Through Thursday question, but Marie at The Burton Review stopped in and said she was looking specifically for it.

Like Trevor, I take requests.

Here’s the question.

One of my favorite sci-fi authors (Sharon Lee) has declared June 23rd Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers Day.

As she puts it:

So! In my Official Capacity as a writer of science fiction and fantasy, I hereby proclaim June 23 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day! A day of celebration and wonder! A day for all of us readers of science fiction and fantasy to reach out and say thank you to our favorite writers. A day, perhaps, to blog about our favorite sf/f writers. A day to reflect upon how written science fiction and fantasy has changed your life.

So … what might you do on the 23rd to celebrate? Do you even read fantasy/sci-fi? Why? Why not?

Well, the 23rd is next Tuesday. I’m not big on Tuesday celebrations; I don’t even mark Fat Tuesday. But … there’s a first time for everything.

HOW I’ll celebrate needs the second half of the question answered. Do I read Fantasy and Science fiction?

HELL YES.

In fact, I was at a book sale last week with my best friend Bridget, she who is my right hand at Win a Book, and I handed her a copy of the classic William Gibson novel, Neuromancer. Her son may or may not be ready for it; he’s pretty advanced for his age and frankly, it’s been so many years since I read it, I can’t remember much more than how mind-blowing it is. I ought to read it again, just to see how it’s held up.

The best science fiction, we were taught in that class in graduate school (the class in SciFi/Fantasy, of course!), was prophetic. Certainly, most days, I feel like we’ve moved firmly into an Aldous Huxley world. Brave New World, meet the present. Shit, I even get spam trying to sell me soma.

For me, it’s more than the prophecy. It’s the world-building. Be it space ships or a truly new race of being, think about it. We writers talk often about world-building. But in Science Fiction and Fantasy, world-building is taken to new levels. Everything from the ground the characters (do or don’t) walk on to the air they breathe. From how they dress (why don’t the skimpily-clad women ever fall out of those obnoxious tops they’re always given?) to what they eat. From their government structure to society’s structure…

Okay, this brings us back to how I’ll celebrate SciFi/Fantasy day. During that class I mentioned taking in graduate school, the one that exposed me to A Scanner Darkly, to Vonda McIntyre, to Kate Wilhelm’s brilliant Where Last the Sweet Birds Sang. Sheesh. It’s been fifteen years and these books, bought used and well-worn, still hold an honored place on my shelves, even as books that have been autographed to me by friends come down. (No offense to the friends; in fact, it’s a good thing, as my book spines have faded over the years from the natural light in here)

Wow. That was quite the run-on. Sorry. I got carried away with the great books I read that semester. (and that was only the tip of the iceberg!)

It seems to me that the best way to celebrate is to pull out the world I began building. It was the option offered to the creative writer in the class: write your own science fiction.

You never really appreciate how hard it is until you try to do it yourself.

In the meantime, while you’re checking out those great books I mentioned, check out these authors, too:

Roger Zelazny’s Amber series
Robin Hobb’s entire body of work

All this and I didn’t even tell you about how I got started reading SciFi/Fantasy.

Ah, well. That’ll keep for another day.

Go read.

Ugh. My brain is whirling, and I’ve been thinking about this all day.

The worlds of Science Fiction and Fantasy are rich. They’re lush. They ARE for everyone; it’s a matter of sampling bunches of it and finding what you like.

Go for it. I promise. You’ll love what you find.