I started with the short things, because they won't take very long. I got through all the short stories in about an hour, then started in on the novelettes. None of the 3 I've read have excited me all that much. I hope the other two are better. It looks like I still have 2 months (almost) to read everything, which is probably enough time...
One thing I'm finding very interesting in the nominated fiction is the distinct delineation between old-school and new-school writers. Mike Resnick's story is good in the technical and craft aspects, but it's not my thing. Ken Liu's "Paper Menagerie" was barely sff, bordering on magical realism I'd say, but god damn it made me cry. It's not even necessarily older writers like Resnick who give the old school stories; Torgerson's novelette is a good example of "ossification" of a sort.
The discussions about the ways SFF is changing, and whether the people of my/our generation and the one below us are welcome in, interest me a lot. We younger fans (by which I mean people born since about 1965 and especially since about 1985) are more queer, more brown, more female, and there's been some backlash and consolidation among older fans. I mean, shit, if you read dragoncon, there are annual "who let those stupid anime kids in? What's up with all this pop culture shit? It's ruining the con!" posts, which generate massive commentary for and against.
I'm getting too old to go to anime cons anymore, since I'm over twice their age now (god!), but fandom is going to die out if the Old Guard keeps pushing young people away because they like "stupid" stuff. So I say welcome the new fans. They're the ones who are going to keep conventions existing for the next 50 years.
I wonder if I have an actual blog post I could expand from this...
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One thing I'm finding very interesting in the nominated fiction is the distinct delineation between old-school and new-school writers. Mike Resnick's story is good in the technical and craft aspects, but it's not my thing. Ken Liu's "Paper Menagerie" was barely sff, bordering on magical realism I'd say, but god damn it made me cry. It's not even necessarily older writers like Resnick who give the old school stories; Torgerson's novelette is a good example of "ossification" of a sort.
The discussions about the ways SFF is changing, and whether the people of my/our generation and the one below us are welcome in, interest me a lot. We younger fans (by which I mean people born since about 1965 and especially since about 1985) are more queer, more brown, more female, and there's been some backlash and consolidation among older fans. I mean, shit, if you read
I'm getting too old to go to anime cons anymore, since I'm over twice their age now (god!), but fandom is going to die out if the Old Guard keeps pushing young people away because they like "stupid" stuff. So I say welcome the new fans. They're the ones who are going to keep conventions existing for the next 50 years.
I wonder if I have an actual blog post I could expand from this...