The Supremacy of Science-Fiction (Part 1)
"I don't like science fiction. I want to read about something that is real." Have you ever heard this comment or one like it when you bring up the subject? Frustrating, isn't it?. Particularly if that is what you are selling at a Con. Why do those people even come to a Sci-Fi/Comic Con? Drug problem, I guess. They got drug there by someone else. Beneath my smile I silently weep for their souls (literaturaly speaking). Smh. If only they had the vision. While it is true that some people do not have the mental video card to process sci-fi, in most cases I think, at best, their reluctance is because they've never had the proper instruction. Or at worse they are afraid if they let go of the terrestrial life they've bound themselves to because something amazing might happen. Fly timid soul! Fly!
There is a hierarchy in literature and I bet you already have a pretty good idea of what it is. It comes so naturally that it is how we teach our children. The bottom level is fairy tales and folktales. These are simplistic ways of explaining the universe and equipping them for life that is part of the developing world of a child. They are at their essence a set of rules for how life works and wisdom is imparted using fantastic stories of the interaction of people and animals that represent certain characteristics parents wish to encourage or discourage. My personal favorite is a story from the life of Aesop (technically folklore and not a fable). His impoverished master had to take all of his slaves to the market to sell in a big city. The trip would take three days. Aesop volunteered to carry the food, which was by far the largest and heaviest sack. The other slaves laughed at him for wanting to carry the largest bundle. On day one of their trip, he struggled with the load. By day two, his load was half the size of the first day. By day three, he carried nothing at all.
After the fairytale/folktale beginning comes non-fiction, including such categories ranging from DIY articles to current events. Practical, but somewhat boring - boring that is unless you have read a book on venomous snakes and you see one coiled on the ground at your feet on a morning walk. While not on the same inspirational level of more developed genres, I would never advocate dispensing with non-fiction reading. If you've ever been to a Comic Con, you know what that can do to a person. You've seen the results (inward shudder).
After that we take the very real leap into general fiction: stories that are more or less set in a familiar surroundings that involve characters, dialogue and setting that are of the author's own creation. These are the great character novels that in YA fiction world would include series like "The Hardy Boys" and "Nancy Drew," It covers political thrillers like "Hunt for Red October" and other fine novels by Tom Clancy. You get the idea - made up stories set in the near present (it is impossible to write a story in the present except as a tense - by the time it's published it's already in the past). Here is where too many readers come to the shore of their definition of "something that is real." The demarcation of sand and water it is little different for everyone, but regardless if they just get their toes wet or not, the result is the same: The poor landlocked soul looks out over the expanse of water that is called "speculative fiction." They see the high waves, its threatening storms, its awesome and untold majesty and violence and unbound nature and decide: "this far and no further."
To those brave enough to push on, the world expands ever before us as general fiction gives way to historical fiction which requires more of us than ever before. We now we have to imagine the world as it once was. It is the beginning of creating worlds within our minds - only these worlds follow a strict set of rules as imposed upon them by the discipline of history which now becomes our water wings. Some of these are safe (like biographies). Others begin to require the reader to wade out into deeper water and the beginning of true speculative fiction.
The author continues to beckon us into "what if" territory like "Man in the High Tower." Wow. What a chiling glimpse into the future (from where we now sit, our past), So, what if the Axis had won WWII? A paradise for some where there is no gun debate (Berlin and Tokyo own them all), equity of class (everyone not German or Japanese is poor) and law, order and stability under the jack boots of the Nazis) is the rule of the day. For others, it is hell on earth (Jews, Gypsies, Intellectuals, Physical and Mental inferiors that would drag down the State - you know, the usual suspects for Uncle Adolph to...well, suspect.). It also answers a burning question many have not thought to ask: How many master races can occupy America at the same time? Enough. No spoilers.
End "The Supremacy of Science Fiction" Part 1 (more to come)