Star Trek and/or SF lit...?

[Lieut. Arex]

As much or more than media tie-in titles, fantasy has been claiming more and more space from science fiction over the years. Next time you're in a B&N or Borders look at how many Tolkien clones and romances with their vampire/werewolf/witch heroines are on the SF/F shelves. That's what sells and that's what gets stocked.

If the classics and hard SF in general sold in big numbers, more would be available. I run into this issue monthly when it comes time for my book group to pick a title. Stuff's either not to be found at all or only in collections.

 

[flandry84]

Agreed,how many goddam "book 27 of the magic sword cycle" fantasy tomes can one bookshop sell?
I read SF reviews, and with very few exceptions not much of new SF appeals to me.Is there some reason why so much of it should be dystopian and anti-humanity?

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Cicero said:

Therin of Andor said:
Then find yourself a science fiction specialist bookshop. They can't be that rare, can they? Sydney has two, and did have others.

I've not seen one in five years (I noticed last summer that it had closed).

The nearest one top me is in NYC, three or four hours away.

Lieut. Arex said:
As much or more than media tie-in titles, fantasy has been claiming more and more space from science fiction over the years. Next time you're in a B&N or Borders look at how many Tolkien clones and romances with their vampire/werewolf/witch heroines are on the SF/F shelves. That's what sells and that's what gets stocked.

If the classics and hard SF in general sold in big numbers, more would be available. I run into this issue monthly when it comes time for my book group to pick a title. Stuff's either not to be found at all or only in collections.

Don't get me started on fantasy. I loathe that genre.

 

[Therin of Andor]

flandry84 said:
Recently I've seen more cohesion of the TREK universe in the lit output and I like that.Previous authors it seemed entered the Trek-world to tell their tale (with little regard to established facts) which really were just generic sci-fi stories in Trek clothes.

That would be true of the Bantam novels, and a few early Pocket novels - and several of those authors have admitted they dug up old unused SF ideas and simply stuck ST characters into the stories.

Every ST novel put out by Pocket Books, especially from about ST IV onwards, was vetted by both the ST Office and Paula Block, with lots of "regard to established facts".

During the period 1989-1991, Richard Arnold vetted the ST manuscripts for all ST novels and comics (on behalf of the ST Office) so thoroughly, he managed to upset many of the novelists. He also eliminated all attempts at cross-pollination of shared original characters and events, something many of the novelists enjoyed doing. Thus began several years of cookie-cutter, "safe", self-contained ST novels.

Since Roddenberry's death, cross-pollination of shared ideas is no longer disallowed and Paula Block, now as part of CBS Consumer Products, continues to ensure that ST novels have "regard to established facts".

 

[Smiley]

Sci-fi is a genre that is harder than most to just pick a book to buy at random. You have to invest effort in learning about a new world, time, or galaxy instead of just reading about present-day or historical Earth. With a sequel or tie-in novel, you already know if you like the world or not, so it's easier to make that blind buy.

The library does help me find new things to try, but most purchases of sci-fi I make are tie-ins, books by favorite authors, or (rarely) recommendations from other people.

 

[Cicero]

^ I'm not sure I agree with that. I've recently been listing to the old radio science fiction anthology series X Minus One, and reading old Galaxy and Astounding magazines. Most stories introduce their worlds quickly and efficiently in such a way that it's easy to read through (or listen to) several dozen stories in a day, while feeling you've fully grasped the world of each.

It may be that new works are less adept in presenting their milieus.

Therin of Andor said:

flandry84 said:
Recently I've seen more cohesion of the TREK universe in the lit output and I like that.Previous authors it seemed entered the Trek-world to tell their tale (with little regard to established facts) which really were just generic sci-fi stories in Trek clothes.

That would be true of the Bantam novels, and a few early Pocket novels - and several of those authors have admitted they dug up old unused SF ideas and simply stuck ST characters into the stories.

Every ST novel put out by Pocket Books, especially from about ST IV onwards, was vetted by both the ST Office and Paula Block, with lots of "regard to established facts".

During the period 1989-1991, Richard Arnold vetted the ST manuscripts for all ST novels and comics (on behalf of the ST Office) so thoroughly, he managed to upset many of the novelists. He also eliminated all attempts at cross-pollination of shared original characters and events, something many of the novelists enjoyed doing. Thus began several years of cookie-cutter, "safe", self-contained ST novels.

Since Roddenberry's death, cross-pollination of shared ideas is no longer disallowed and Paula Block, now as part of CBS Consumer Products, continues to ensure that ST novels have "regard to established facts".

In Arnold's defense, I much enjoyed the novels under his tenure than those which preceded him. Star Trek fiction is of a generally higher quality today than then, but the novels of his time were vastly superior to the early Bantam and Pocket volumes. Only in the last few years has Trek fiction become so outstanding. (Even now with mixed regularity.)

 

[Therin of Andor]

Cicero said:
In Arnold's defense, I much enjoyed the novels under his tenure than those which preceded him.

The successful aspect of that sequence of novels may have been long-running Pocket editor Dave Stern, who took over after series of little controversies and abrupt editor exits.

 

[Cicero]

^ I most appreciated that they were more Trek-like than books like The Entropy Effect, Battlestations! and the like. I don't feel that many of the elements he so adamantly excised need to be dragged into a Star Trek that's otherwise unburdened with them.