Essay: Teaching Science Fiction

Julia Rios posed a question the other day: What would you consider the most important texts to teach in a class about SF/F? (Strangely enough, I didn't see the fantasy part, and interpreted it as limited to just science fiction.) Assume the reader is unfamiliar, and that you are limited to 5 novels/novellas and 5 novelettes/short stories.

There were, of course, the standard disclaimers (scope, audience, agenda, etc.), but what Julia was asking was really a person question: if you were given a chance to create a curriculum, without limits aside from the parameters above, what texts would you select? It's your choice on which particular topic to select, whether it's the classics, gender, colonialism, etc.

Again, I neglected to notice the fantasy part, so as I pondered the question, I limited myself to science fiction (despite the fact that I believe fantasy and science fiction aren't that different from each other).

What appeals to me are stories that tackle human nature so if there's an agenda behind my selection, is that. And since we're given limitations of 5 novels/novellas and 5 novelettes/short stories, I want to juxtapose them and show readers how the form of one interacts, and how different (or similar) it is to the other.

"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin and The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

I'd start with Le Guin's short story: it's brief, concise, and there's lots of elements for the reader to parse out. It's a dystopian story but that's left for readers to decide (and an important question is whether they would want to live in such a world). The Dispossessed, on the other hand, is its opposite: it's probably a more difficult read but Le Guin is more direct here. You have two supposedly utopian/dystopian societies, but is that really the case?

"Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

There's three points I want to highlight by this selection. The first is the story itself: do the ends justify the means? Is ignorance truly an excuse? Is there such a thing as an innocent killer? The second is the format: in the transition from novelette to novel, what were the elements that were added? Does this enhance the story or detract from it? And then there's my third point: knowing Card's homophobia, how does this change the way you react to the text or shape the way you read it?

Foundation by Isaac Asimov and "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang

In the first pair of texts, what's discussed is society; in the second, the individual, and how they are manipulated into their role. For this choice, I wanted to transition to determinism. Foundation is an interesting choice for me because it's really a bunch of short stories rebranded as a novel. Would the readers consider them as short stories or novels? The way society is manipulated in the stories is also an interesting talking point. "Story of Your Life," on the other hand, shifts from the larger society to the individual (and it's a stark contrast from the detached point of view of Asimov to the very personal story that Chiang chooses to employ). And Chiang brings up several important points, especially language.

"The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary" by Ken Liu and "Spar" by Kij Johnson

What I like about these stories is that they're modern and they're very personal. Liu's protagonist rebels against prevalent society, and the narrative is told in such a way that it's viewed from different perspectives. Which is apt given the omniscient, single view a lot of stories have. And it's a story that revolves around society. "Spar" also requires reading the text beyond the surface, and digging deep into it. It's also a story where there's an implied society (whether the protagonist or the alien), as opposed to being at the forefront. And in both pieces, there's a return to the individual, although the choice of perspective differs.

The Next Continent by Issui Ogawa and "The Pelican Bar" by Karen Joy Fowler

I chose The Next Continent because it's society viewed from the lens of the Japanese, and makes different assumptions while still retaining the sensibilities of utopian science fiction. On the other end of the spectrum is "The Pelican Bar," and it's a story that some might question whether it's science fiction, but also why for me genre boundaries are more interstitial than set in stone.

What would your curriculum look like? And perhaps more interesting is to ruminate this question with fantasy in mind as well (maybe a future blog post?).

Short Commentary On My Previous Two Reviews

I was going through Amazon looking for book covers of The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy and the "Better Together" recommendation was to buy The Starry Rift along with it. I absolutely support this recommendation and here's my suggestion to make the reading experience smoother:

Buy both books and alternate reading stories from each anthology. For one thing, they both contain sixteen stories each but another reason is that they complement each other well in my opinion. The stories in Datlow's anthology are heavy and long and a tad bit dark (akin to running a marathon) and while Strahan has his fair share of heavy stories in The Starry Rift, several of them are light and short and optimistic (your daily 10 km. jog is perhaps a closer analogy). It'll highlight the strengths of both collections and gives you some breathing room.

(Of course what happened in reality was that I dove into The Starry Rift and only after finishing it [because I don't like juggling books] did I read The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy.)

Science Fiction and Filipino Literature

Luis Katigbak posted a link to a Filipino essay about Science Fiction and Filipino Literature (http://dakilapinoy.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/science-fiction-at-panitikang-tagalog/) written by local poet/editor Roberto Añonuevo. It's in Filipino however.

Here's my unofficial translation of the piece into English (and I hope he doesn't mind me posting it):

Science fiction, be it stories or novels, is currently popular and appeals to the youth. The said work did not truly arise from young writers stemming from the University of the Philippines or Ateneo de Manila University. It draws its roots from Tagalog and aspiring writers should look back at its history.

It possibly started from the korido* Ibong Adarna where the song of the magical bird can heal any physical sickness. Also, the droppings of the Adarna can turn anyone it touches into stone. The affected person can revert to their original form only if they are drenched with water from the hermit who possesses hidden knowledge like science.

It took a long time before science fiction penetrated the Philippines. When Doktor Satan, written by Mateo Cruz Cornelio, was written in 1945, it drew in readers and introduced them to this new genre. This is fiction based on the world of science, albeit science combined with such fertile imagination that it almost becomes believable to people looking for relief from sickness.

Doktor Satan revolves around the life of Dr. Alberto Estrella. Alberto's dilemma is that his mother had fallen ill and he needs to find a new medicine that can cure her. He researched intensively until one day, he was able to revive the life of the Russian Igor who had committed suicide and so his suspicion that he had found a medicine for immortality was reinforced.

Alberto drank this drug that he invented but unfortunately, started experiencing unexpected side-effects. His personality was subsumed by the spirit of Satan who had a fierce attitude. Eventually, Alberto slew his girlfriend because of his inability to suppress this force. Alberto continued to spread terror until he was slain by his brother Pepe who was an agent of the law. Meanwhile, Alberto's mother recovered from her sickness after she drunk the medicine given to her by her son.

It is easy to say that Cornelio was influenced by the works of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein (1818; 1831) or Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) which is the suspicion of the critic Soledad S. Reyes. However the works of Cornelio is not an intentional imitation because his desire was to find a a cure for the illnesses of man is not exclusive to the West but present as well in the myths and legends of Asia.

If we go back to the events of the decade 1930 - 1940, it is a time when science was making great breakthroughs. One of these is the discovery of Ernest O. Lawrence, the classification of blood cells in people; the progress of Max Theiler against yellow fever; and the research of Otto Warburg with regards to the enzyme. From biology to chemistry, from physics to medicine, there were a lot of discoveries that culminated with the invention of the atom bomb that destroyed millions of lives in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The period when Cornelio wrote his novel was a time of dread and it is not surprising that man would seek a cure for sickness.

Science fiction did not end with Cornelio. In 1959, Nemesio E. Caravana would write the novel Ang Puso ni Matilde that was serialized in the magazine Aliwan. This is different from all the other works of Caravana because it was gambling on a concept that the masses could not fully understand.

"Matilde" is not human but a female bulldog. Matilde is the loyal dog of Dr. Lino Romasanta. This novel revolves around the theme of transplanting the heart of one dog to the body of Angela, the girlfriend of Lino. Dr. Razul raped Angela, who afterwards went crazy and later suffered a heart attack. Lino swore that he would revive his beloved and marry her. A skilled surgeon, Lino extracted Angela's heart and replaced it with Matilde's. Angela was revived but her behavior started changing, sometimes behaving like a human, at other times like a wild dog. Thus began the challenge of Lino as a devout husband and agent of medicine.

If we look back at history, the first successful operation with regards to the heart of a dog was in 1914 which can be attributed to Dr. Alexis Carrel. Meanwhile, the first human heart transplant was performed by Dr. Christiaan N. Barnard in 1967 at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa. This means that Caravana guessed the possibility of transplanting a human heart; however, the theme of his novel revolved around transplanting the heart of a bulldog into the body of a human.

A new generation of youth must discover this work of Caravana. Caravana's language is polished and his characterization is believable. The author also used compelling locations and impressive use of words that if this were cinema, it would be described as 'stealing your breath away'. Here is one example that takes place after the wedding ceremony of Lino and Angela:

Hindi matingkala ang kagalakang nag-uumapaw sa puso ni Dr. Romasanta nang matapos na kasal. Masigla at halos pasagsag na inilabas niya ng simbahan ang kanyang magandang asawa.

Gayunman, nang sila’y magkasama na sa awto ay hindi pa rin lubusang mapawi sa isipan ni Lino ang pag-aalaala. Baka sumpungin ng pagkaaso si Angela. Hindi nakaila kay Angela ang pag-iisip ni Lino.

—Bakit ba tila may inaalala ka?—pansin ni Angela.
—A, walang anuman,—pakli ng manggagamot. —Naisip ko lamang na tutuksuhin tayo ng ating mga kaibigan.
—Maano kung manukso sila,—ani Angela.—Bakit, ikahihiya mo ba ako kaninuman?
—Hindi sa ikahihiya. Ang totoo’y ikinararangal kita, Angela. Para sa akin ay ikaw na ang lahat: ang langit, kaligayahan at lahat-lahat na!

Gayon na lamang ang pagbabatian nang dumating na ang bagong kasal sa tahanan ng lalaki. Gaya ng sinabi ni Lino, gayon na lamang ang panunukso sa kanila ng mga dinatnan.

At dumating ang oras ng salu-salo. Sabay-sabay na nagsiluksok ang lahat sa isang mahabang mesa. May biruan at may tawanan. Madalas nilang pasaringan ng biro ang mga bagong kasal. Nguni’t napuna ni Dr. Romasanta na walang imik si Angela. Napansin din niyang nananalim ang mga mata nitong nakatitig sa buto ng hita ng litson.

Kinabahan si Lino. Sinapantaha niyang hindi malayong sumpungin si Angela. Nakita niyang gumalaw-galaw ang mga labi nitong walang iniwan sa asong si Matilde. (Ika-21 labas, Ang Puso ni Matilde ni Nemesio E. Caravana, Aliwan, 7 Oktubre 1959).

It is good if we can look back at previous works before we declare what new innovations we are making in literature whether it is in English or in Filipino here in the Philippines. Looking back at our past is to look at the future potential of our national literature.

*A poetic form

Essay: Associating Authors with Books

Every Wednesday, I have an essay on any topic that catches my fancy!

It's typical to associate books with their authors. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first pops to mind whenever you mention Sherlock Holmes. The same goes for Middle-Earth and Tolkien, Narnia and C.S. Lewis, Hogwarts and J.K. Rowling. By the same token, some series are written by authors under a unified pseudonym whether it's Carolyn Keene for Nancy Drew or Franklin W. Dixon for the Hardy Boys. That's not always the case however.

Take the Cthulhu mythos for example. Sure, a lot of talented (and not-so-talented) authors contributed to the cosmology yet for many fans, the definitive Cthulhu is H.P. Lovecraft's works. And the same goes for Conan (a few years ago, I was surprised that as a Wheel of Time fan that Robert Jordan wrote a Conan novel). In modern times, a closer example are Dungeon & Dragon's popular franchises. Take Dragonlance: the line has over 200 books yet for the most part, it's always been associated with Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The other authors I can name off the top of my head are Richard A. Knaak and Jean Rabe (sorry other Dragonlance authors!). If you were a writer in that series, you're simply contributing to the greater whole rather than Dragonlance being your own unique baby: you're not the brand (as opposed to other fantasy authors where Terry Brooks IS Shanarra, where Raymond E. Feist IS Midkemia), merely one of its agents (but that's said not to downplay an author's contribution but rather more of the overall editorial goal by the publishers). When it comes to Forgotten Realms, things aren't as bleak as Dragonlance (where there is just the pair of creators) but it can get as confusing. I mean I know R.A. Salvatore and Ed Greenwood are the big two in Forgotten Realms (and I've only been reading the former). I once asked a friend who else she'd recommend in Forgotten Realms and the answer I got was Elaine Cunningham (but I never really got around to reading Forgotten Realms novels). Just recently, I read one of Paul S. Kemp's books, Shadowbred, and I didn't realize until later on that I had previously read another of his books set in the same world. Another similar instance was when my writer buddy J.M. McDermott threw P.N. Elrod at me and I later discovered that hey, she wrote a Ravenloft novel!

This is all an interesting dynamic for me because when one usually speaks of novels, they usually associate it with an author (Dune = Frank Herbert, Ender = Orson Scott Card, etc.). Here, the authors tend to remain in the background save for their cult followers. The ones who tend to get the credit in such works are the big names, whether they're the creators or simply the more popular authors. What would be interesting to see however is a dynamic where the series has no real authorship associated with it. In real life, the closest analogy I have are myths, legends, and folk tales which have many variations and are not attributed to any single author. I haven't really read Thieves World (I'm too young! But feel free to send me books if you want.) so I'm not sure if that qualifies or whether people associate it with Robert Aspirin or Lynn Abbey (or Marion Zimmer Bradley). What I'm curious as to how it'll evolve is The Wandering Men's first book, Skein of Shadows in which five different authors work on different parts of the book. But then again, they might not be the best example as all five authors are part of The Wandering Men brand and future novels might eventually be associated with the group rather than the individuals (whether that's a good or bad thing, I don't know).

Well, at least the scenario above beats ghost writing...

Nebula Finalists

Congrats to the nominees!

Novels

• Odyssey - McDevitt, Jack (Ace, Nov06)
• The Accidental Time Machine - Haldeman, Joe (Ace, Aug07)
• The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Chabon, Michael (HarperCollins, May07)
• The New Moon's Arms - Hopkinson, Nalo (Warner Books, Feb07)
• Ragamuffin - Buckell, Tobias (Tor, Jun07)

Novellas

• Kiosk - Sterling, Bruce (F&SF, Jan07)
• Memorare - Wolfe, Gene (F&SF, Apr07)
• Awakening - Berman, Judith (Black Gate 10, Spr07)
• Stars Seen Through Stone - Shepard, Lucius (F&SF, Jul07)
• The Helper and His Hero - Hughes, Matt (F&SF, Feb07 & Mar07)
• Fountain of Age - Kress, Nancy (Asimov's, Jul07)

Novelettes

• The Fiddler of Bayou Teche - Sherman, Delia (Coyote Road, Trickster Tales,
• Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Ed., Viking Juvenile, Jul07)
• Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter - Ryman, Geoff (F&SF, Nov06)
• The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs Of North Park After the Change - Johnson, Kij (Coyote Road, Trickster Tales, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Ed., Viking Juvenile, Jul07)
• Safeguard - Kress, Nancy (Asimov's, Jan07)
• The Children's Crusade - Bailey, Robin Wayne (Heroes in Training, Martin H. Greenberg and Jim C. Hines, Ed., DAW, Sep07)
• The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate - Chiang, Ted (F&SF, Sep07)
• Child, Maiden, Mother, Crone - Bramlett, Terry (Jim Baen's Universe 7, June 2007)

Short Stories

• Unique Chicken Goes In Reverse - Duncan, Andy (Eclipse 1: New Science Fiction And Fantasy, Jonathan Strahan, Ed., Night Shade Books, Oct07)
• Titanium Mike Saves the Day - Levine, David D. (F&SF, Apr07)
• Captive Girl - Pelland, Jennifer (Helix: A Speculative Fiction Quarterly, WS & LWE, Ed., Oct06 (Fall06 issue -- #2))
• Always - Fowler, Karen Joy (Asimov's, May07 (Apr/May07 issue))
• Pride - Turzillo, Mary (Fast Forward 1, Pyr, February 2007)
• The Story of Love - Nazarian, Vera (Salt of the Air, Prime Books, Sep06)

Scripts

• Children of Men - Cuaron, Alfonso & Sexton, Timothy J. and Arata, David and
• Fergus, Mark & Ostby, Hawk (Universal Studios, Dec06)
• The Prestige - Nolan, Christopher and Nolan, Jonathan (Newmarket Films, Oct06 (Oct 20, 2006 -- based on the novel by Christopher Priest))
• Pan's Labyrinth - del Toro, Guillermo (Time/Warner, Jan07)
• V for Vendetta - Wachowski, Larry & Wachowski, Andy (Warner Films, Mar06 (released 3/17/2006 -- Written by the Wachowski Brothers, based on the graphic novel illustrated by David Lloyd and published by Vertigo/DC Comics))
• World Enough and Time - Zicree, Marc Scott and Reeves, Michael (Star Trek: New Voyages, http://www.startreknewvoyages.com, Aug 07 (Aired 8/23/07))
• Blink - Moffat, Steven (Doctor Who, BBC/The Sci-Fi Channel, Sep07 (Aired on SciFi Channel 14Sep07))

Andre Norton Award

• The True Meaning of Smek Day - Rex, Adam (Hyperion, Oct07)
• The Lion Hunter - Wein, Elizabeth (Viking Juvenile, Jun07 (The Mark of Solomon, Book 1))
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling, J. K. (Scholastic Press, Jul07)
• The Shadow Speaker - Okorafor-Mbachu, Nnedi (Jump At The Sun, Sep07)
• Into the Wild - Durst, Sarah Beth (Penguin Razorbill, Jun07)
• Vintage: A Ghost Story - Berman, Steve (Haworth Positronic Press, Mar07)
• Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog - Wilce, Ysabeau S. (Harcourt, Jan07)

Bloggasm Questions the Profitability of SF&F E-Zines

From Ellen Datlow

Bloggasm has a feature article entitled The Rise of the Genre E-Zine: Will It Ever Find a Profitable Model? Here's an excerpt:

Over the next few years the online magazine went on to become an award-winning juggernaut within the speculative fiction community. Because it paid per-word rates higher than any other genre magazine (both print and online) and was headed by a well-respected editor, it quickly gained street cred with popular writers. It wasn’t long before stories published in SCI FICTION made it onto the finalist ballots of just about every major SF award. In 2002 and 2005, Datlow received the Hugo Award for Best Editor, perhaps the most prestigious honor for someone within her profession.

But despite these accomplishments, in 2005 SCI FICTION met its end. In 2004, NBC bought the Sci Fi Channel, and Datlow told me that even though the fiction site was pulling in “good numbers,” it wasn’t performing quite as well as other sections of SciFi.com. Soon, she was informed that the ezine would close its doors forever.

Why Reading Science Fiction is a Categorical Imperative

From J.M. McDermott:

...you see, if we can't get off world, all other moral issues are irrelevant. who cares about the abortion debate if *all* of our unborn children will be killed from the inevitable supernova? Some of them may live longer than the others, but all of them will die if we can't get off world.

freedom if ideas to be shared, science, math, networks and social networks, and innovation are all morally good. they will help us as a species create viable colonies off world.

religions that hinder science, political policies that limit the access to ideas, and social policies that limit the scientific education of young people who could be solving the problems that will get us off-world are all bad. very, very bad. the more such things hinder our ability to exceed the blast radius of one supernova, the worse they are.

for this reason, i have also decided that science fiction is the most morally correct form of literature. it is the only form of literature that has, for generations, concerned itself with the ultimate survival of the species by grappling with the paradigms that will shape our life, or our death...