What I Hate About Science Fiction
Okay, the astute three readers will catch me here. This blog was originally posted several (like six) years ago. It's one of my favorites. To what I say below, I'll add this. Despite an increase in the number of science fiction films, I think Hollywood is doing a poorer job with them. To whit, 2014 saw the release of Lucy, Left Behind, Interstellar (don't even get me started) and yet another horrendous Transformers film. Really? I have silly Transformer films blowing out my nether regions yet we can't get Hollywood to even sniff at adult science fiction universes like 40K and MechWarrior. But anyway, on to the blog and my problems with Science fiction.
I love stories. It’s simple. When I examine the things that interest me, they all involve story telling. But not all these things are books. Films tell tales, where reality TV does nothing. Games create stories, both intentional (a function of the designer’s intent), and unintentional (a function of the social interaction inherent in playing). And sports, especially football (the kind with pads) and open-wheel racing, create unparalleled drama. So, despite some of the previous ranting that you might have read in this blog, I’m not overly discriminate, I just love stories. Science fiction stories are some of my
favorites. There are, however, three things that I hate about science fiction: fantasy, goofy, and the human condition.
Fantasy. You hear it discussed, book clubs are named after it, and it’s usually a section in your local book store--Science Fiction and Fantasy. I hate it. Please... keep your fairy princesses out of my hover tanks. I read The Lord of the Rings quadrilogy thing in 1978, way before Peter Jackson turned a camera on it, and except for a recent read of Peter Bogdasarian’s unpublished novel, I haven’t read fantasy since. I don’t understand the sci-fi/fantasy grouping. Tolkien’s Uruk-Hai have no more in common David Drake’s tanks than Grissom’s lawyers do. Let the wizards and fairies have their own genre, and leave the tanks and combat drones to me.
Goofy. I love science fiction, but I hate alien species that are birds, lizards, or whatever. Come on, people, you at least need an opposable thumb, and a viable means of communication, and anything that looks like a lizard will probably just die from ugliness, although I do think the Predator’s dreads are cool, as long as he leaves on the helmet. I can’t deal with that mouth.
The human condition. I hate to even get started on this one. I don’t want science fiction to preach to me. I don’t mind science fiction that makes me think, but beating me over the head with an alien species that’s confined to the South African equivalent of a concentration camp isn’t thought provoking, it’s heavy handed. Memo to all self-righteous writers (science fiction or otherwise), war is hell, bigotry is bad, technology has run amuck. We get it, already.
See you tomorrow.
I liked District 9, by the way. I’m just saying.
Oh yeah, and that stupid SyFy branding. I see the word, think "short i" and feel like I'm headed into an antihistamine commercial. But I like Sharknado. That's cool. We need more Sharknado.
Mark H. Walker served 23 years in the United States Navy, most of them as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal diver. He is the owner of Flying Pig Games, the designer of the aliens-invade-Earth game Night of Man, the author of Desert Moon, an exciting mecha, military science fiction novel with a twist, with plenty of damn science fiction in it despite what any reviewer says, as well as World at War: Revelation, a creepy, military action, with a love story, alternate history, World War Three novel thing, Everyone Dies in the End, and numerous short stories. All the books and stories are available from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing right here. Give them a try. I mean, what the hell? The games? Well that's Flying Pig Games. Retribution will release in the summer of 2015.
I love stories. It’s simple. When I examine the things that interest me, they all involve story telling. But not all these things are books. Films tell tales, where reality TV does nothing. Games create stories, both intentional (a function of the designer’s intent), and unintentional (a function of the social interaction inherent in playing). And sports, especially football (the kind with pads) and open-wheel racing, create unparalleled drama. So, despite some of the previous ranting that you might have read in this blog, I’m not overly discriminate, I just love stories. Science fiction stories are some of my
Fantasy. You hear it discussed, book clubs are named after it, and it’s usually a section in your local book store--Science Fiction and Fantasy. I hate it. Please... keep your fairy princesses out of my hover tanks. I read The Lord of the Rings quadrilogy thing in 1978, way before Peter Jackson turned a camera on it, and except for a recent read of Peter Bogdasarian’s unpublished novel, I haven’t read fantasy since. I don’t understand the sci-fi/fantasy grouping. Tolkien’s Uruk-Hai have no more in common David Drake’s tanks than Grissom’s lawyers do. Let the wizards and fairies have their own genre, and leave the tanks and combat drones to me.
Goofy. I love science fiction, but I hate alien species that are birds, lizards, or whatever. Come on, people, you at least need an opposable thumb, and a viable means of communication, and anything that looks like a lizard will probably just die from ugliness, although I do think the Predator’s dreads are cool, as long as he leaves on the helmet. I can’t deal with that mouth.
The human condition. I hate to even get started on this one. I don’t want science fiction to preach to me. I don’t mind science fiction that makes me think, but beating me over the head with an alien species that’s confined to the South African equivalent of a concentration camp isn’t thought provoking, it’s heavy handed. Memo to all self-righteous writers (science fiction or otherwise), war is hell, bigotry is bad, technology has run amuck. We get it, already.
See you tomorrow.
I liked District 9, by the way. I’m just saying.
Oh yeah, and that stupid SyFy branding. I see the word, think "short i" and feel like I'm headed into an antihistamine commercial. But I like Sharknado. That's cool. We need more Sharknado.
Mark H. Walker served 23 years in the United States Navy, most of them as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal diver. He is the owner of Flying Pig Games, the designer of the aliens-invade-Earth game Night of Man, the author of Desert Moon, an exciting mecha, military science fiction novel with a twist, with plenty of damn science fiction in it despite what any reviewer says, as well as World at War: Revelation, a creepy, military action, with a love story, alternate history, World War Three novel thing, Everyone Dies in the End, and numerous short stories. All the books and stories are available from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing right here. Give them a try. I mean, what the hell? The games? Well that's Flying Pig Games. Retribution will release in the summer of 2015.
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