I like the question, what if? Does the Twilight Zone count as speculative fiction? Star Trek is awesome, but I couldn't get into Star Wars. Maybe if I give it another chance since the last I saw one of the films I was maybe teenager still in high school.
Me too. I'm fascinated by time travel and alternate history. Twilight Zone: I would say so. Star trek: love it! Star Wars is basically an updated version of good vs evil
Really interesting post and review, Terry! I haven't read much science fiction, and it's not really my favourite genre of either book or film - although I did enjoy reading 'Prey' by Michael Crichton, and 'Back to the Future' is one of my three favourite films, so maybe I enjoy it more than I'd thought I do - hmmm! The exhibition sounds great - a lot to get stuck into and to think about.
I love back to the future too. Great fun, and interesting intellectually: the grandfather paradox. In case you or others reading this don't know what that is, it's this: if I go back in time and kill my grandfather then I won't be born, in which case I won't go back and kill my grandfather, in which case I WILL be born... You should go to the exhibition: you're not a million miles away. I've never read Prey; would recommend it? Try Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury for a good dose of dystopia, or Poul Anderson's Guardians of Time for interesting Time Travel/alternate history. I've also started a series (that I need to continue with): https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/science-fiction-dystopian-visions
Gosh, I'd never heard of the 'grandfather paradox'! The thing that keeps me going back to the original (and best!) 'Back to the Future' is its treatment of home - needing to get home and not being able to get there is a massive deal for me, thanks to the whole getting lost thing. Sometimes I need to watch 'BTTF' with a huge box of tissues beside me, just to poke that bruise! And oh, the soundtrack! 😍
Re 'Prey' - yeah, it's okay - it's one of those 'OMG this could really actually happen!' kind of stories, which pricked my interest and had me wanting to know what would happen next. I'm not sure I'd read it again, though - in fact I know I won't, because despite liking to hang on to books, I gave this one to the phone box library. The actual story was great, but the book itself was a bit clunky, perhaps.
Bttf was a bit bonkers: the people in the photo fading out was a great effect/metaphor but really the picture would disappear and nobody would have any knowledge of it! Mind blowing, as is parallel worlds theory, ie that in another universe a decision we took in this one was not taken in that one. Enough to make your head hurt!
Since I’m teaching a course on how to get started writing here: https://marytabor.substack.com/s/write-it-how-to-get-started, I’ll explain here why science fiction and so much of it that’s being written today by new writers is far from “literature,” meaning too much of this hit or miss getting-started writing doesn’t hit the reader’s heart the way it should and the reader can tell that it also doesn't hit the writer’s heart on the journey of invention. The problem is that the bar is actually higher than for heightened reality fiction that I’m talking about in this essay: https://marytabor.substack.com/p/autobiography-and-fiction-get-ready and that I’ll discuss more soon in Lesson 16 of this online course (only $5) to get the inside scoop that you’re, thank you!, reading. I’ll put this post here and on your comment in the course. Here goes: John Gardner in The Art of Fiction explains the writer’s task: “…[W]hile verisimilar fiction may be described generally as fiction that persuades us of its authenticity through real-world documentation, using real or thoroughly lifelike locations and characters—real cities or cities we believe to be real although their names have been changed, real-life characters with actual or substituted names, and so forth—the line-by-line bulk of a realist’s work goes far beyond the accurate naming of streets and stores or accurate description of people and neighborhoods. He must present, moment by moment, concrete images drawn from careful observation of how people behave and he must render the connections between moments, the exact gestures, facial expressions, or turns of speech that, within any given scene, move human beings from emotion to emotion, from one instant in time to the next.”
Thanks I'll need to think about that more when I'm more awake. I agree there is certainly a lot of badly written sf around, but some of it is really good, whether in tugging at heartstrings or making you think. I think sf has long been regarded as a poor cousin in literature, which I think is rather a shame 😥
I like the question, what if? Does the Twilight Zone count as speculative fiction? Star Trek is awesome, but I couldn't get into Star Wars. Maybe if I give it another chance since the last I saw one of the films I was maybe teenager still in high school.
Me too. I'm fascinated by time travel and alternate history. Twilight Zone: I would say so. Star trek: love it! Star Wars is basically an updated version of good vs evil
Really interesting post and review, Terry! I haven't read much science fiction, and it's not really my favourite genre of either book or film - although I did enjoy reading 'Prey' by Michael Crichton, and 'Back to the Future' is one of my three favourite films, so maybe I enjoy it more than I'd thought I do - hmmm! The exhibition sounds great - a lot to get stuck into and to think about.
I love back to the future too. Great fun, and interesting intellectually: the grandfather paradox. In case you or others reading this don't know what that is, it's this: if I go back in time and kill my grandfather then I won't be born, in which case I won't go back and kill my grandfather, in which case I WILL be born... You should go to the exhibition: you're not a million miles away. I've never read Prey; would recommend it? Try Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury for a good dose of dystopia, or Poul Anderson's Guardians of Time for interesting Time Travel/alternate history. I've also started a series (that I need to continue with): https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/science-fiction-dystopian-visions
Gosh, I'd never heard of the 'grandfather paradox'! The thing that keeps me going back to the original (and best!) 'Back to the Future' is its treatment of home - needing to get home and not being able to get there is a massive deal for me, thanks to the whole getting lost thing. Sometimes I need to watch 'BTTF' with a huge box of tissues beside me, just to poke that bruise! And oh, the soundtrack! 😍
Re 'Prey' - yeah, it's okay - it's one of those 'OMG this could really actually happen!' kind of stories, which pricked my interest and had me wanting to know what would happen next. I'm not sure I'd read it again, though - in fact I know I won't, because despite liking to hang on to books, I gave this one to the phone box library. The actual story was great, but the book itself was a bit clunky, perhaps.
Bttf was a bit bonkers: the people in the photo fading out was a great effect/metaphor but really the picture would disappear and nobody would have any knowledge of it! Mind blowing, as is parallel worlds theory, ie that in another universe a decision we took in this one was not taken in that one. Enough to make your head hurt!
Love Back to the Future!
Me too, though not the third one so much!
Agree!
Since I’m teaching a course on how to get started writing here: https://marytabor.substack.com/s/write-it-how-to-get-started, I’ll explain here why science fiction and so much of it that’s being written today by new writers is far from “literature,” meaning too much of this hit or miss getting-started writing doesn’t hit the reader’s heart the way it should and the reader can tell that it also doesn't hit the writer’s heart on the journey of invention. The problem is that the bar is actually higher than for heightened reality fiction that I’m talking about in this essay: https://marytabor.substack.com/p/autobiography-and-fiction-get-ready and that I’ll discuss more soon in Lesson 16 of this online course (only $5) to get the inside scoop that you’re, thank you!, reading. I’ll put this post here and on your comment in the course. Here goes: John Gardner in The Art of Fiction explains the writer’s task: “…[W]hile verisimilar fiction may be described generally as fiction that persuades us of its authenticity through real-world documentation, using real or thoroughly lifelike locations and characters—real cities or cities we believe to be real although their names have been changed, real-life characters with actual or substituted names, and so forth—the line-by-line bulk of a realist’s work goes far beyond the accurate naming of streets and stores or accurate description of people and neighborhoods. He must present, moment by moment, concrete images drawn from careful observation of how people behave and he must render the connections between moments, the exact gestures, facial expressions, or turns of speech that, within any given scene, move human beings from emotion to emotion, from one instant in time to the next.”
Thanks I'll need to think about that more when I'm more awake. I agree there is certainly a lot of badly written sf around, but some of it is really good, whether in tugging at heartstrings or making you think. I think sf has long been regarded as a poor cousin in literature, which I think is rather a shame 😥
I do agree--and I never eliminate any great writing. Ray Bradbury, Tolkien, Ursula LeGuin, and Margaret Atwood are three of my favorites.
Indeed, though I have never been able to get into Tolkien.
Looks like a fun exhibit! I used to own that Cyborg comic!
You still have time to come over and visit it, Mark! Really? Amazing!