Blurred Line

I've watched the first seven episodes of Firefly and let me just say this - the show rocks. Yet another example of TV executive mismanagement. Anyway, I'd like to suggest that the reason the show works so well is because it's got something that a lot of science fiction over the past decade or so has lacked: fun. Now, it's not all giggles - those nasty Reavers are...ummm....nasty - but when the show does get serious it never ends up taking itself too seriously, which is something that becomes pretty easy to do.

The reason I bring this up is that I think Firefly is just one example of the reemergence of adventure SF or, in a word, "fun" SF. For quite some time, science fiction has been decidedly serious. That's not a bad thing - I'm more inclined to serious SF, myself. Still, the fun element seems to have been misplaced until recently.

Just look at what some of the new breed of SF writers are coming out with. John Scalzi's first novel, nominated for a Best Novel Hugo, is a book that's been described as a "popcorn" book. It's fast, fun military science fiction where good guys fight various nasty aliens. Then there's Chris Roberson's Paragaea, which is a throwback to the science fiction of the early twentieth century - Roberson has readily admitted the influence of the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs, as well as anything to do with Flash Gordon. Also hearkening back to those early days of SF is Tobias Buckell's debut novel, Crystal Rain. Buckell's novel is one of the most talked-about releases in the genre this year and all you really have to do to figure out why is look at the cover. It may just be a swing of the pendulum, but after years of science fiction straining to be taken seriously, adventure SF looks like it's back in a big way.

Even though I'm not personally a fan of these kinds of reads, I am happy that the genre is getting back to its roots, and being damned proud of it, too. What's your view? Is the rebirth of Adventure SF good for the genre?


Profile Editor. Writer. 9-5er. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Apodis Publishing Fusion Fragment cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Goodbye, Darwin Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format The Short Stuff "Learning Magic From Mint" - published May 2007 in Atomjack "Between Eternities" - published October 2005 at Speculative.ca "Smoke and Mirrors" - published June 2005 in Byzarium Submissions Log Total Subs: 25 Acceptances: 3 Rejections: 17 Withdrawals: 3 Subs Out: 2 Quality Blogs Scalzi's Whatever Dave's Blogography Bookslut The Struggling Writer SF Signal the0phrastus Paperback Writer Scribe's Writing Desk Nathan Bransford Lyons Literary LLC The World in the Satin Bag Book In The Oven The Word Perhaps We Learned Something... Words, etc. Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 Et Cetera Cavan @ Last.fm Cavan @ LibraryThing Feeds Atom Feed RSS Feed	Sunday, May 21, 2006 - Adventure SF I've watched the first seven episodes of Firefly and let me just say this - the show rocks. Yet another example of TV executive mismanagement. Anyway, I'd like to suggest that the reason the show works so well is because it's got something that a lot of science fiction over the past decade or so has lacked: fun. Now, it's not all giggles - those nasty Reavers are...ummm....nasty - but when the show does get serious it never ends up taking itself too seriously, which is something that becomes pretty easy to do. The reason I bring this up is that I think Firefly is just one example of the reemergence of adventure SF or, in a word, "fun" SF. For quite some time, science fiction has been decidedly serious. That's not a bad thing - I'm more inclined to serious SF, myself. Still, the fun element seems to have been misplaced until recently. Just look at what some of the new breed of SF writers are coming out with. John Scalzi's first novel, nominated for a Best Novel Hugo, is a book that's been described as a "popcorn" book. It's fast, fun military science fiction where good guys fight various nasty aliens. Then there's Chris Roberson's Paragaea, which is a throwback to the science fiction of the early twentieth century - Roberson has readily admitted the influence of the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs, as well as anything to do with Flash Gordon. Also hearkening back to those early days of SF is Tobias Buckell's debut novel, Crystal Rain. Buckell's novel is one of the most talked-about releases in the genre this year and all you really have to do to figure out why is look at the cover. It may just be a swing of the pendulum, but after years of science fiction straining to be taken seriously, adventure SF looks like it's back in a big way. Even though I'm not personally a fan of these kinds of reads, I am happy that the genre is getting back to its roots, and being damned proud of it, too. What's your view? Is the rebirth of Adventure SF good for the genre? Cavan blogged at 2:00 PM \| 3 comments	Progress Zilch! 0/0 Listening A.J. Croce - "Maybe I'm Amazed" My Music Reading Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney My Library Watching Black Book: B Sweet and Lowdown: C Breakfast on Pluto: B Wishlist Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart