We’re geeks, and usually none of us have a problem admitting it. But then there are those who are Geeks, and the regular geeks are even not accepting of them.

Consider Trekkies–there are those, like myself, who have been raised on the various TV shows and movies and books from Star Trek, and would consider themselves to be a Trekkie. But then there are those who own Starfleet uniforms and wear Vulcan ears outside of conventions and speak Klingon or Romulan. And when you start to discuss Star Trek with someone who has never been interested in the show, these are the people they think of first, and they assume that everyone who watches the show or likes the show partakes in what they would consider to be major social faux pas.

Just like in anything, be it religion or politics or sports or literature, it’s the extremists who give the regular people a bad name. (Note, I’m not trying to say those who go to Star Trek conventions and are hard core fans are bad people, but they are extreme; if they enjoy it and it’s not hurting anyone though, then who am I to say it’s wrong?)

Think about most of the major movie blockbusters from the summer; most of them would be considered sci-fi or fantasy. Things like Star Wars and Star Trek are household names, even if no one in the household is interested in sci-fi. The genre itself is socially accepted.

And even if you don’t care whether or not someone else accepts your views, there’s still the desire to be accepted.

Anyway, at the end of the day, how many of the things we take for granted now as everyday conveniences came out of sci-fi books, movies, or TV shows? Think on that when you consider just how much the geeks have “won”.

When someone starts talking down SF, to the point I feel the need to respond, I point out geosync satellites came from Arther C Clark in 1945. The whole cyberspace/virtual reality from Neuromancer and Snow Crash.

[suckup] Take Scalzi’s “Old Man’s War”: what if we get out there && there are lots of bad-ass alien races && we need an army? The new bodies, the mind transfer, the built-in communication, what to do with the “excess” bodies, etc. Most of these are basic SF tropes, but the combination makes for a good tale && thought experiment. The new part seems to be using pissed-off old farts. I do like Scalzi avoided the trope “we record the memories and just pour them into a new body when the old one gets killed”. You get one shot in a kick-ass body. Although the retirement body is pretty wimpy in comparison. [/suckup]

Cloning is just becoming technologically viable. This topic has a great number of thought experiments in the consequences – politically, morally, on society, etc. CJ Cherry has a very interesting take on this, to name just one of many.

Jim Funaro, an anthropologist, has been using SF since the early 1960′s when Planet Of The Apes came out – a primate society with some correct and many incorrect details. This has evolved to the Contact conference, which is an Anthro conference that uses SF as a framework. (http://www.ccon.org/). This format allows a number of real-time, thought experiments.

Sturgeon’s Law applies to RealLit and SFLit equally – story elements like plot, character, craft are critical to good stories. Knowing how to write is genre independent.

If the RealLit folks want to be snobs – let them. How many English Majors do that for a living? if this is such a Good Thing, why are so many of them waiting on tables?

Part is also cultural – my father, who was a Systems Engineer at GE Computers in the 60′s, then continued in the computer field for decades, could not see the value of SF. Even when I brought up geosync satellites: “We did that in physics class in 1955″. Yes dad, but it took an SF writer to think of the idea. He read a lot of fiction – Travis McGee, Guns of Navarone, etc. But – even though he was a nerd, it was an Old School 60′s type – the white shirt (long-sleeve for managers, short sleeve for engineers) and skinny black tie. I know that a fair amount of early and 60′s fandom matches that description, but fandom has been a small minority, even among nerds/geeks.

In short, I read SF for the Big Ideas that come along. I prefer the hard stuff, because it makes the story “more real”. I also read a lot of page turners, military SF, and when possible, Weird Alien Sex. If I restricted my reading to the Good 10%, I would not have that much to read.

Will RealLit ever accept SFLit? Probably not – unless you start throwing in Zombies. Does it really matter? Only to a tiny minority. There are some environments, such as law firms, where SF will never be accepted – sad but true. Fortunately, I make a living as a nerd, and am expected to be a bit weird. But I just got a retired Air Force officer hooked on Starship Troopers.

BTW – the term is not OCD – it’s CDO – get the alphabetical order correct!!

Au contraire, Lynette, they specifically want female viewers, who have increased for the network and who they have expressed in the media they are specifically chasing. That’s what the rebranding is in part about — they want to make the network seem more female friendly. That’s why they want to have cooking shows — for us ladies. Less icky spaceships, more romances! Or something. I don’t think they have it entirely worked out.

And this female welcoming attitude has a lot of male SF fans annoyed at Siffy. (See the he-man blog entry.)

In the individual sense, what other people think doesn’t really matter to me, but in the greater scheme of things, it can have a huge impact on what is available to me in the mindless and not-so-mindless entertainment categories.

Then again, I’m female and not in their target demographic, so what I think is entirely immaterial to TPTB at Syfy.

An obscure body in the S-K System, your majesty. The inhabitants refer to it as The Whatever.

Care to provide examples of what this “best” science fiction is, and explain why you’re qualified to judge it? Or are you pulling from other people’s “best” lists?

THT details the inner emotional life of its character in a way that the best literary fiction always does, and the best science fiction rarely does (though crime fiction is better at this one, I have to concede).

THT is about a woman whose daughter has been kidnapped, and whose husband might be interned without trial but who is probably dead, and who herself has been subject to gross violations of her person and her human rights.

It bears comparison with other political satires (like 1984, for example, which is not a sci-fi novel either, despite being set in what was then Orwell’s future), not with whatever vaguely comparable science fiction novels you might be able to dredge up.

But anyway, I don’t think I’ve ever got, or at any rate, noticed getting any hassle for reading F&SF. Maybe I’ve been lucky, or maybe I’ve never cared overly much what other people thought about it.