Spike ,'Showtime'
[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls, The Inside and Drive), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.
I don't think I've heard the term "speculative fiction" before. At least, it hasn't stuck with me.
The first paragraph at Wikipedia describes how I've usually seen it used, though I know there is some history of people taking, and causing, offense with "SF" versus "sci-fi," and whatever else people find to fight about. I just find it a more useful term than sci-fi.
Yes, it seems to be more useful, because an awful lot of people mean Sci-Fi + Fantasy, when they just say "Sci-fi". I don't like to refer to it as genre, because there are all sorts of genres, and it confuses me.
Is the taking and causing offense due to the bat-shit crazy fandom genre?
But, you know, romance readers and writers are as batshit as the best of 'em. The batshit is found in all walks of life. (And can be cleaned off with the Hose of Reality.)
I don't like to refer to it as genre, because there are all sorts of genres, and it confuses me.
Me, too, Cindy.
I do like the term "speculative fiction." That seems to encompass what I think of when I think "sci-fi." Which, of course, is more than just sci-fi in my own little brain.
While I'm not opposed to the term "speculative fiction," I don't see how it's any narrower than "genre," really. All fiction is speculative, that's why it's fiction.
It's the same reason DH despises the term "character actor"--all parts are characters and actors are portraying them.
You need some term for "person who isn't usually the hero" -- people like Denholm Elliott or Helen Broderick that you're always pleased to see but who are never the star.
That's what I tell him, Betsy--but he just says that it's just a way of saying "ugly actor."
Cindy, heh, it actually took me a second to figure out what you meant. Which proves the point! Anyway, yes, I find that confusing, too.
Jessica, I think the issue isn't that genre is too general a description, exactly, it's that it's not a description at all. It just means "type" not a particular type. So when something is described as a "genre show," my first reaction is, "Okay... which genre is it?" And then it takes me a second to realize what they mean.
It's like using "music" to only mean "punk rock." And I think I've typed "genre" enough now that it's lost all meaning. Genre genre genre.
So when something is described as a "genre show," my first reaction is, "Okay... which genre is it?" And then it takes me a second to realize what they mean.Exactly, and I know plenty of people outside of fandom (and some within) that will use "genre" for material from another genre.
Possibly something from the Ringwald oevre.
Sorry. Nervous Buffy-tic. Hopefully Teppy will see that, and laugh.