tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post6892709473066670191..comments2024-03-29T04:15:38.341-07:00Comments on Writing About Writing (And Occasionally Some Writing): No Apologies! A Defense of Why Speculative Fiction Needs No Defense (Part 4)Chris Brecheenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-83531353910860599602014-09-03T14:26:00.178-07:002014-09-03T14:26:00.178-07:00I love your comments on this set of posts. Very i...I love your comments on this set of posts. Very insightful! Thank you.Chris Brecheenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07819138776404280633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2660089177097719300.post-75464906015902916242014-09-03T13:39:10.173-07:002014-09-03T13:39:10.173-07:00Yes, I've long been...bemused, shall we say, b...Yes, I've long been...bemused, shall we say, by the phenomenon of speculative fiction that meets certain other literary checkboxes getting a pass, and being elevated to "Literature" instead of remaining a part of spec fic. Sometimes they get a sort of double life. "Oh yeah, I guess that would be considered science fiction, huh?" (uttered with a look of faint puzzlement that such a thing could be true of something the speaker considered Good). Although, from my brief encounter with magical realism, I would give it its own subgenre within Spec Fic. But it would be within Spec Fic, undoubtedly. It's just that it has enough of its own conventions that set it apart from other forms of fantasy that it deserves a subgenre. What is really strange (and indicative of the snobbery and value judgements you're talking about here) are the books that have fantastical elements of one kind or another, that are simply considered "literary fiction." On the other hand, how many of those do in fact involve many of the genre-markers of "literary fiction"? Are they in fact "cross-genre" between Sci Fi and literary fiction or supernatural and literary fiction, in the same way that you can have a sci fi murder mystery or a steampunk romance novel? Shelving cross-genre books is always a problem. Large bookstores might just shelve them in both places, but most libraries and smaller stores must make a choice. So the same will inevitably be true of sci fi literary fiction or ghost story literary fiction. The difference is that fans will usually not argue of the sci fi murder mystery, "it's not really a murder mystery; it's science fiction" (nor the reverse) though there's some chance of hearing "it's not really a romance novel, it's steampunk" since there are some stronger stratas of value judgements in operation there.Ericanoreply@blogger.com