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Dick, all of whom credit Brown as one of their chief influences. Or at least, you've read Douglas Adams, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, or Philip K. Raphael Carter “Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation’ by K.N.You may not have heard of the author Fredric Brown, but chances are pretty high that you've read his writing.On gender and race (arguably, most stuff under aliens) Michael Swanwick “The Edge of the World”.William Gibson “The Gernsback Continuum”.Kij Johnson “The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs”.Kelly Link “The Specialist’s Hat,” “Louise’s Ghost,” and “Stone Animals”.Connie Willis “The Schwarzchild Radius”.Ted Chiang “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”.Kelly Link “Travels with the Snow Queen” and “The Girl Detective”.Daniel Abraham “The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairytale of Economics”.The future of fantasy and science fiction needs more imagination and fewer world-weary immortals.īelow is a list of recommended reading for those interested in contemporary fantasy and science fiction from Karen Joy Fowler.įor people writing high fantasy-meaning vaguely medieval with swords or elves or wizards, Fowler recommends: And, possibly most importantly, Fowler urges us to be creative. Do not promote stereotypes and prejudice. When creating ‘evil people,’ keep in mind that most people who do bad things think they are doing something good. Fantasy is a stronger vehicle than ‘realism’ to portray “reality” because the real world is becoming more and more bizarre every day.įantasy and science fiction are genres of setting, first and foremost, Fowler asserts. Karen Joy Fowler offered more advice for those of us who work in these genres. When I asked Fowler if sci-fi/fantasy was just escapism, she answered that in a way, fantasy and sci-fi do nothing but discuss contemporary issues. She offered several places to read quality work of this variety including: “Eclipse,” an anthology out of Australia, “Fantasy and Science Fiction” magazines, Best Of collections (but she warns, these publications can be agenda-driven), “Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet,” Tor.com, and “Turkey City Lexicon,” which discusses in length the pitfalls to avoid when writing sci-fi/fantasy. Karen Joy Fowler is very interested in fantasy and sci-fi as explored through the short story.
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Genre writers need to be able to do it all: plot, character development, setting, scene, symbolism, as well as create an original new world. All standards of fiction writing need to be applied to genre fiction.
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A lot of student work is being done to recreate the feeling of the classics like those by Robert Jordan, Tolkien, and Asimov.įowler is clear that when writing fantasy and science fiction for our contemporary world, it is important, first and foremost, to write good fiction. Fowler spent over an hour sharing her wisdom about what makes good sci-fi/fantasy.Īccording to Fowler, many students haven’t read much contemporary sci-fi or fantasy, so that when they go to write it, they rely on old tropes and standards to tell their stories.įowler explains that beginning students of fantasy and science fiction are working in a universe more akin to fan fiction (fiction written about a story, character, or universe, not by the original author). Her short story collection, Black Glass, won The World Fantasy Award. In a small, comfortable room in the Humanities building, I recently had the opportunity to converse with Karen Joy Fowler, author of four novels and two short story collections. Karen Joy Fowler on Writing Sci-Fiction and Fantasy