tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695280310697378421.post8287924518909990600..comments2024-03-25T02:15:02.505-07:00Comments on Nancy's Blog: Quoth The Greybeardadminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11442349453021015062noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695280310697378421.post-1869772679501313052007-09-25T22:40:00.000-07:002007-09-25T22:40:00.000-07:00I totally agree with Ruhan. Fantasy also has a muc...I totally agree with Ruhan. Fantasy also has a much larger audience than SF in China, and writers are more rewarded for writing fantasy...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695280310697378421.post-75954392218431833152007-09-25T21:30:00.000-07:002007-09-25T21:30:00.000-07:00Hi Nancy.I was pleased to meet you at last year's ...Hi Nancy.<BR/><BR/>I was pleased to meet you at last year's WorldCon in Southern California. (I'm Japanese, tall, with long hair. I had the stack of books for you to sign at the <I>Asimov's</I> table, including your earliest SF novels.)<BR/><BR/>I'm also one of the assistant editors at <I>JBU</I>.<BR/><BR/><BR/>> <I>Even the young people I know personally, when they read in the field at all, vastly prefer fantasy to SF. Why?</I><BR/><BR/>I think it's an issue of accessibility.<BR/><BR/>A kid can start reading a fantasy novel and become instantly immersed in it.<BR/><BR/>That's not the case with a lot of contemporary SF -- so much of which assumes that the reader already has a familiarity with the ideas and terminology of the genre.<BR/><BR/>Decades ago, the SF magazines served as a gateway that drew in young readers. But most of the stuff published in the top-tier print SF magazines now is even less accessible to the uninitiated than most SF novels.<BR/><BR/>These days, it seems to me that the media tie-in novels are serving as the gateway. And because the tie-in novels are based on the shared familiarity of characters and settings, they're far less challenging to read than most "core" SF. So the tie-in novels are more likely to lead readers into the more easily accessible material found in fantasy instead.<BR/><BR/>SamAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15256884208459505637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695280310697378421.post-62039478056880439402007-09-25T19:39:00.000-07:002007-09-25T19:39:00.000-07:00I've wondered if the problem isn't so much the age...I've wondered if the problem isn't so much the age, but what kids are reading this days. I consistently take a creative writing class at a local community college and I notice that the students below 30 invariably read either fantasy/vampire/zombie material or they read Media based tie in SF, Halo, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. In one of the history classes I teach, I have a student who says, "I read sci-fi" but when you look at the books he is chewing through, they are always media material. <BR/><BR/>I think the younger market is there. I just sometimes wonder if those of us who write/publish SF in the US are targeting that market properly. <BR/><BR/>Another thing to consider that there is a considerable lack of general science knowledge among younger students (or history, sadly, I'm learning today). That may put the harder SF out of their reach.<BR/><BR/>Congrats on Safeguard. I've often wondered about the market potential in India. The legacy of the English language might work to a writer's advantage if they can tap into it. <BR/><BR/>Respects,<BR/>S. F. Murphy<BR/>Living in a place next to Kansas called MissouriSteven Francis Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02246600213078993467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1695280310697378421.post-82811906956146147092007-09-25T08:29:00.000-07:002007-09-25T08:29:00.000-07:00Happy to know that "Safeguard" will be published i...Happy to know that "Safeguard" will be published in China. I think SF in China is kind of still like in the golden age in US in 60's. That's why there are more younger SF readers in China than in US. Yeah most SF writers in China are also young. Even Liu Cixin can be considered as a young writer (in fact he is younger than me). As I know, also in China even more young readers are reading fantasy than SF. Based on the big population, the percentage of Chinese SF readers is not that high.Ruhan Zhaohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15250663928272270035noreply@blogger.com