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Posted By: Aslan Jun 01, 2001 - 09:54 am

What is the consensus on the state of sci-fi and fantasy in the last few years? Growing? Dying? It seems that more books are being published under fewer publishers, but are these books worth publishing? Who are some good young/new authors? Was there ever a true "Golden Age" of sci-fi and fantasy?

Answer what you will. I've heard such varying comments on these topics that I'd like to hear more!

[moved to Sci-Fi Yesterday Today and Tomorrow - The Master]

Posted By: Gablety Jun 03, 2001 - 08:41 pm

SF&F is in the hands and minds of its authors. As long as there are people willing to think, to dream, to speculate, and to make myths, there will be a good supply of SF&F to my mind

I hate how cynical some people are; I read a book trying to debunk "Voodoo Science" and the dreadful ignorant author assumes that "primitve, tribal people" assumed that because they did this weird funky thing with rattles and masks, there was rain or a healing. The did the dance, the rain came or fever left, they assumed it was the dance. he hates that kind of thinking! But he totally undermines most of the value of such a ritual. Dancing with a community with ratlles and masks is an incredible experience and ritual; it's just fun to do, and there's magic there, which he was totally oblivious to!

(sorry if this is too incoherant; it's a quarter to one in the morning)

Posted By: Thomas M. Kane Jun 07, 2001 - 09:15 am

Sci fi and fantasy has so much potential that so-called literary authors are trying to get in on the act. The popular style of "magical realism" is very, very similar to fantasy.

I suspect that a lot of great new speculative fiction writers are going to get their start on the web. That's a good way to raise the question -- can anybody suggest any really exciting web sites for new fantasy fiction? My personal favorite is www.D3Press.com. Aphelion's on-line magazine looks promising too, and, of course, so is Speculative Vision.

Posted By: PsiProne Feb 24, 2002 - 02:41 am

I think sci-fi has been improving on the film and tv side over the last decade or so.

Posted By: Caltana Feb 24, 2002 - 07:16 am

Sci-Fi and Fantasy on TV and film:
With some recent TV sci fi I'm tempted to say 'don't get me started!' but film has been fairly good over the past few years, aside from the constant barrage of ST:TNG films that is. To take an example, The Fifth Element was a superbly done film, with a mix of sci fi action and comedy which didn't look cheesy or even bad. Zorg, the bad guy was hilarious and sinister at the same time, while Bruce Willis' cold dealing with Chris Tuckers extravagant character was inspired. He was the ultimate example of radio gone wrong. Evolution had its moments, and it was nice to see Duchovny in an amusing role for a change, and the film featured a line which sums up the film attitude of all American generals 'with napalm, lots and lots of napalm!'
Though being mainly an action film with far too many special effects for my tastes, The Matrix did have a good and thought provoking storyline, as well as being ground breaking stuff.
Still, I have to say I prefer the classics, Blade Runner, the Alien Trillogy, Terminator, Predator etc or maybe its because I just like 80's films!

Posted By: juroara Feb 25, 2002 - 01:53 pm

"Golden Age of Sci-fi and Fantasy" = 80's


I'm gonna have go with Caltana, those are all great movies ^_^ the dress style of the 80's scares me but they had some of the best movies

lets not forget Akira ^^;;; thats also 80's, I also liked Legend and the Lyborith (spelling?)

i think the promblem today is all movie makers care about is special effects, when it comes to fantasy i think the story is the most important thing

and i didnt like the matrix -o- i felt as though they tried too hard

Posted By: Ian Eccles Sep 19, 2002 - 06:22 am

Hey... i'm just struggling to think of the name of a certain film and its one of those things thats just going to annoy me if i dont find it out. so i was wondering if someone could help. the film is about a man who has to wear sunglasses because if he takes them off the sun accelerates his brain and make him much faster but could kill him if exposed for too long. thats all ive got for you i'm afraid. so if you can help that would be great.

Posted By: starhunter Dec 15, 2002 - 09:01 am

I think the audience wants an interactive product today. I grew up with D&D, Star Frontiers and the special effects revolution of Lucas and computer animation. Today we have the Internet, the ultimate for interactive RPG genres.

Relating a comment I made under "Technobabble", I think the audience is more savvy, and with the lower costs of special effects tech., there's more competition for their attention. Loyal fans want interaction, realism and also the magic of imagined future worlds. We live in a techno world, and we aren't won over unless we can draw objective connections between our world and the worlds of the future.

Posted By: Odrade Dec 15, 2002 - 12:33 pm

i know there has been a topic like this before. like in early novemeber, but i will answer again.

I think sci-fi books are becoming popular again. The magazine Newsweek recently compared sci-fi and fantasy and said sci-fi was dying. I disagree with sci-fi dying in book form. The new books in the Dune series sold better than the Frank Herbert, except for the very original first book, Dune. Tad Williams, known for fantasy, his last series was sci-fi, and it is four huge books. And it sold well. Star Wars books (the new 1-3) are selling well too. There is even a sci-fi series in what is considered the Christian book genre, the left behind series. Annd from what i heard, it has a huge following, maybe not mainstream (whatever that means) but doing better than anyone ever thought.

I think there are sci-fi films, but i think they are not too poular. The Star Wars I and II did not do as well as expected. Lucas thinks that they are good, but movie goers give them a worst rating. Maybe because they are compared by some to the orginal three. ( i am one of those, i admit)

New writers? well brian herbert is new. I think if any thing, writers from different genres are trying sci-fi, coming over. Stephen Ling wrote a a book about aliens and human interaction with them. It is called Dreamcatcher, not one of his most popular, but with his name, he brought a following. Anne Rice, started a series with horror, The Witching Hour was the first title, but both Lasher as especially Taltos devele into sci-fi. This family is so cross bred that their genes produce a non-human species, acidentally at first, then there is a delibrate attempt to bred through out the family to evolve the family into this other species. And of course by the end, the family loses control of this species. Maybe it is not sci-fi with aliens, but it uses science/genes and genetic mutation as a focus. I already mentioned Tad Willaims.

So i think the book area of sci-fi is expanding, which is my favorite part anyway, i am not too big into movies. Movies are not expanding greatly into sci-fi, but i actually think they are jus taking a break, a pause before going forward. TV i think is expanding though.