Comments on: Octavia Butler, 1947-2006

By: Evan

Evan — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 22:34:00 +0000

Personally, i like what i like, and i don’t like what i don’t like, and it doesn’t matter what someone else calls it.

Very, very well put. I’ve always thought of “speculative fiction” as a useful catch-all for science fiction, fantasy, and any other story with a sufficient amount of unreality. But genre and niche boundaries are notoriously slippery. Ultimately, genre labels just boil down to niche marketing.

And from the marketing standpoint, if there are some who believe that labelling their work “speculative fiction” will end up moving more product, hey, more power to them. As long as we do this with a wink, keeping in mind that there are no exceptions to Sturgeon’s Law, not in any genre. The best we get are good stories — and good writers, like Octavia Butler. She is gone far, far too soon, and I will miss her.

By: spyder

spyder — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 21:23:19 +0000

For Evan and Aaron: Way back in the wayback machine (’72) i had the good fortune to have spent a good portion of a late night in a bar with a close and dear friend, who knew Ted Strugeon quite well. Ted had decided to come along with us that particular night, after a seminar session we all had attended at UCLA on Writing Science Fiction. As we were standing in the parking lot, leaning against cars holding ourselves up against the impending dawn, Ted made the statement that he had only written a couple of science fiction stories and that the rest were speculative fiction. He said it had to do with whether the efforts both to write and read required an understanding of technological and scientific processes or whether simply suspending disbelief in consensual constructs of “ordinary” reality was necessary. I am still not sure to this day, although i have tried to discern the distinction in many of my favorite authors.

I think the issue, if there really is one that matters at all, is similar to the sub-gentrification of rock to accomodate sales as much as audience tastes. Forty years ago no one bothered to spend the time to break rock down into vast categories, but now there are no less than 35 different genres just of rock, and within them dozens more. Niches are successful, whereas in the past they were not. Likewise book genres, and short story ones too, are multiplying in numerous and abundant ways. Personally, i like what i like, and i don’t like what i don’t like, and it doesn’t matter what someone else calls it.

By: Hektor Bim

Hektor Bim — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 19:29:03 +0000

Horrible to hear about Butler. I’ve enjoyed her novels very much.

I think it is pretty clear what Clifford means about science fiction. Science fiction is lower status than fiction, for a variety of reasons, and is frequently seen as hostile to women, which is distinct from “fantasy”. I don’t want to argue about the reality of that perception, but the perception certainly exists.

By: Evan

Evan — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 16:29:23 +0000

It’s not negative against Butler. On the other hand, having spent way too much time on Usenet, I know that statements like that rub a lot of sf fans the wrong way.

Well, before I and other SF fans get all huffy about it ;), maybe Clifford could clarify what he means by “speculative fiction”, and how it differs from “science fiction”.

By: janet

janet — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 00:56:01 +0000

This is such sad news. She was an absolutely unique writer. A lot of her work is difficult to read because it is so unflinching, but always worth the emotional investement. She inspired a lot of young writers: I’ve been reading tributes to her by sf writers, of all races, all week.

By: Aaron Bergman

Aaron Bergman — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 00:18:01 +0000

It’s not negative against Butler. On the other hand, having spent way too much time on Usenet, I know that statements like that rub a lot of sf fans the wrong way.

By: Ben Eastaugh

Ben Eastaugh — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 23:59:56 +0000

“Kindred” was repeatedly rejected by publishers, many of whom could not understand how a science fiction novel could be set on a plantation in the antebellum South.

Apparently they’d never read Philip K. Dick.

By: Clifford

Clifford — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 22:44:33 +0000

I presume you’re joking. That statement is only negative if the reader wants it to be……

Cheers,

-cvj

By: Aaron Bergman

Aaron Bergman — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 22:03:04 +0000

Actually, I’d prefer to think of her as more than just a science fiction writer.

Oh boy are you asking for trouble….