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I've been researching terms, Ms Ward. NEVER say Sci-Fi, it is a real clanger; it's used to refer to things like the Star Wars spinoff books. The preferred acronym is SFF - science fiction/fantasy - but that loosely tends to cover horror as well. The "class" epithet is "speculative fiction" (that's what they call the Aurealis Awards here - that award's subcategories are Horror, SF, Fantasy and YA. My book, which I thought was firmly YA or Fantasy, was shortlisted in Horror and Fantasy - which goes to show that you can never tell.) "Speculative fiction" is a broad church and means that you can include The Master and Marguerita as a genre masterpiece... Doris Lessing is a class act, in my view. Genre doesn't seem to have harmed Margaret Attwood. Or has it? All the best A On 1/26/07, MC Ward <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Many thanks for your warm welcome, Alison (and others > who remember me). > > The SF discussion (and divide from mainstream fiction) > prompts an appeal from me to see SF as such a generous > genre as to include horror and fantasy. King (and > Peter Straub, another fine writer) rightfully belong > to horror, whereas Peter S. Beagle's _The Last > Unicorn_ I would term fantasy.) > But what do people think of Doris Lessing's SciFi? > It's rumored to have spoiled her chances for the Nobel > Prize. > > Finally, on a technical note, are others who use Yahoo > having trouble sending posts? Please back-channel me > to compare notes--and maybe solutions as well > (thanks). > > Great to be back! > > Candice > > > > --- Alison Croggon <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > Hi Candice - how wonderful to see you back! > > > > Frederick, a belated response, for which I > > apologise. > > > > > Alison, I have the impression that science fiction > > is more respected, and > > > more integrated into the literary mainstream, in > > Australia than in the US. > > > Certainly Australia has produced some first-rate > > SF writers: George Turner, > > > Jack Dann, John Baxter. There is no American > > equivalent to Peter Carey's > > > The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith (one of my > > all-time favorite novels). Nor > > > can there be, because it's about NOT being > > America. > > > > I wonder if that's true? Certainly Harold Bloom has > > conniptions abouty > > Stephen King being admired as a writer. (I've read > > very little King, > > only some of his Dark Tower SFF series, and for my > > part I was > > impressed and think Bloom misses the point by a > > cubic mile). But I am > > immediately thinking of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, > > an extremely > > impressive book which has had a lot of attention. > > It's certainly > > speculative fiction, but maybe they don't _call_ it > > "SFF" for fear of > > literary nose-pulling. Certainly among genre types > > there's a lot of > > discussion of this so-called literary SFF, which > > gets put on the > > literary shelves rather than with Conan the > > Barbarian. I confess, I > > don't have much interest in those kinds of > > categorisations: but things > > like "The Time Traveller's Wife" or "Jonathan > > Strange and Mr Norrell" > > or even Mieville's sprawling urban fantasies are > > marketed as > > absolutely mainstream fiction, in the US as well as > > the UK, although > > they are certainly genre books. > > > > Chris, isn't all that rather related to Kinsella's > > musings on the > > pastoral? He's written at length about all this. > > I've finally finished > > my own essay on this question, including that famous > > "split", which is > > I think a misleading way of mapping Australian > > poetry. I'll probably > > put it in the next Masthead (due midyear at this > > stage, I have this > > novel to finish first). No, I don't think anybody is > > talking about > > rural idylls; it seems to me much more interesting > > and complex than > > that. > > > > all the best > > > > A > > > > > > -- > > Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au > > Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com > > Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com > > > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. > Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta. > http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/features_spam.html > -- Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com