Comments on: Okay, this is war!

By: John Lunn

John Lunn — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:09:44 +0000

I agree with your perspective totally. I wrote a long response to Mark’s argument that I posted there and on my blog at http://planckscaleblog.blogspot.com
As a hard SF enthusiast & writer and not terribly moved by fantasy or military SF, I think we should go to war with fantasy and breath new life into classic SF. Let’s storm the battlements, rush the portcullis! Wait, this is starting to sound like a fantasy.

By: Philip Palmer

Philip Palmer — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:24:32 +0000

I also like that subversive and political edge in my stories…

By: captain mission

captain mission — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:53:26 +0000

i think that fantasy generally is not that a challenging read, it’s the usual story in various environments where science is often replaced by magic, it’s very rarely subversive. however the exception is
the series ‘prince of nothing’ by scott bakker who i think really revolutionized the genre with this brilliant philosophical series. but generally fantasy is escapism where sci fi has a very political and subversive edge to it. in fact good sci fi often says more about humanity than most genres. i’ll always prefer reading good sci fi to fantasy but in the end a good book is a good book.

By: Philip Palmer

Philip Palmer — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:59:20 +0000

I’ll mention that to Orbit…

I haven’t read “The Steel Remains” yet but it’s high on my list. I think Richard is enjoying the change from doing SF – variety is the spice of life.

And, like you, I like to alternate SF with fantasy. I’ve just finished an Alastair Reynolds, so I have my eye on a Lilith Saintcrow…

By: Flub

Flub — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:43:58 +0000

I tend to go through phases. Sometimes I like to read sci-fi. Other times I like to read fantasy. I generally find my self reading sf much more though.

A good sci-fi author hitting the fantasy genre now and again can pay off well. Richard Morgan writes excellent sci-fi but his first fantasy novel “The Steel Remains” was the best fantasy book I’ve read in years.

I buy a hell of a lot of books though. As a side issue I prefer these days to buy ebooks. How about nudging your publishers and telling them to release Kindle editions a bit quicker? I had to buy RedClaw in dead tree format rather than from the UK Kindle store

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