[net.sf-lovers] HIGH CASTLE: Just what is sf, anyway?

boyajian@akov68.DEC (05/02/84)

> Oh, yeah, one more thing.  What makes this book science fiction?  (Other
> than the label on the front cover that says "Berkley (sic) science fiction")

>	Bob      (Bob.Colwell@cmu-cs-g.ARPA)

Well, I suppose it all depends on what you consider to be science fiction (Rich-
ard McKenna, ofttimes sf author, had said on occasion that he thought that his
"mainstream" novel, THE SAND PEBBLES, was science fiction --- the science was
sociology (of course, there are those who don't think that sociology is a valid
science)). Individuals have their own standards, but there are certain concepts
that are generally accepted to be "science fiction": space travel, time travel,
atomic wars, stories clearly set in the future, alien invasions, etc. One of the
more interesting of these concepts is that of the "alternate history", of which
THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE is a perfect example.

	Perhaps this could be a good topic for discussion here. Here's something
to chew on: is SPACE by James Michener sf? It's about space travel, but it does
not present any technology that we don't already have. Certainly they characters
and situations are largely fictional, but it's really just a recent-historical
novel about the space program. Think about it.

<"Science fiction is what I point to and say, `That's science fiction'!">

				  --- jayembee
				      (Jerry Boyajian, DEC Maynard)
				UUCP: (decvax!decwrl!rhea!akov68!boyajian)
				ARPA: (decwrl!rhea!akov68!boyajian@Shasta)

pking@denelcor.UUCP (P. King) (05/03/84)

	If it doesn't blow your mind, it isn't science fiction.

			P. King (...!hao!denelcor!pking)