Hello everyone,
I saw something on Bluesky earlier / overnight that resonated with me … Let’s see. There was someone suggesting that Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein needed to be required reading for anyone getting info science fiction. And I think a bit of saying people didn’t count as being into science fiction if they hadn’t read those particular authors.
Oh ! We need a thumbnail ! Here’s one of mine :
There we go. Good old reading dwagon. (Yes, the knees bend the wrong way. He’s adaptable 😀 )
The most important thing is – reading is a thing we do for pleasure, for learning, for self improvement, for enjoyment. And that goes for fiction, non-fiction, news, reviews, timeline doomscrolling … all of the things. If you’re not enjoying it, find something else to do. I’m in danger of skipping to the close out here too 😀 because I wanna mention the gatekeeping before talking about some very special authors.
There’s an extreme danger in gatekeeping. Like pointing new readers towards the so-called classics like the books from Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein. I’ve actually read most of Heinlein’s books. There is some incredible stuff in there, plus there’s also some absolute stinkers. Stranger in a Strange Land is one that gets the attention … I didn’t finish it. I was turned off by the attitude of the characters and the message that’s in there completely washed over me. Yet, I’ve read Starship Troopers maybe 3 times. I read Time Enough For Love quite young … and was unimpressed. Then I read it again later and the characters got to me. It’s a very poignant book.
Oh and then there’s Starship Troopers which is extremely seductive in its message … If you’ve seen any of the films, you’ll see all of the fascist imagery in there, where it’s a satire dressed up as a science fiction alien shooting spectacular.
Things all went a bit weird though with Heinlein as he started weaving together all of his separate stories into an all encompassing multiverse. There are some great books in there, some trash, some you’ll react to with absolute disgust.
Arthur C Clarke was a remarkable visionary but I really struggled with his books. There was a kind of detached sense akin to a lecture. There was a wonderful story and concept going on under there but the writing style was disinterested. And then there was the absolute crime of stuff like Rama II which wasn’t an Arthur C Clarke book, it was ghost written. I managed only 100 pages of Rama II, it just never got anywhere.
I should read some more Asimov. I do have I, Robot somewhere and I enjoyed Foundation a few decades ago when I read that. And then there was Nemesis as a far more recent exploring scifi book.
They’re all very well worth checking out but … they should never be seen as an essential, an entry gate, or anything to with “if you haven’t read these authors you don’t count as a serious fan of scifi”. There should never be a cause for gatekeeping like that. If you like the premise of a book, if the synopsis catches your eye, if a bunch of people give a recommendation, have a look at it. That’s how I’ve selected a few books in my A to Z and it’s been enjoyable finding new voices to read.
The old authors have their place. They’re remembered because they were that first wave of super successful authors (don’t forget Mary Shelley) and were successful because they wrote stories that caught the attention. In their time. We’re in a different time now, things have changed a lot. Those older books haven’t. Some of them pass the test of time, some don’t. But you’ll only know that if you check them out.
Get reading ! That’s the important thing. Lose yourself in those stories. Expand your mind a bit, see if you can learn something new, whether that’s something about people, something about society, something about dreams. Cos we do like to (and should) go for an escape every once in a while.
I’m currently 18 books into an A to Z challenge thing, where I’m looking to fill out the alphabet with books read with a connection to each letter. I’m cheating a bit with author names and title names counting for the letter, the pure form of it just goes for authors. There are a few old classic authors in there, there are some from the last few decades, there are books that have just come out this year.
The key thing is … open your mind up to new things. Go for those new authors. Check out what catches your fancy. Dig into it a bit more.
So if you’ve been enjoying the new Dune movies (I need to watch Part 2), or Dune Awakening, check out the Dune books by Frank Herbert. I don’t consider these the best books (he gets a bit too into his deeper lore) but I think the underlying Dune story is fantastic even if I think the writing is terrible.
If you’ve been enjoying the Foundation series, check out the ancient Asimov books. (I haven’t seen Foundation but have noticed that it’s very well liked).
If you enjoy Andor, consider checking out the old legacy Expanded Universe Star Wars books. There are some crackers in there, especially from Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole.
If you like Star Trek, check out Red Shirts by John Scalzi. It was the first book I read from John Scalzi and it’s excellent. He’s consistently fun and entertaining to read, with a great story popped in there along the way.
I was going to mentioned quite a few more people too. Let’s see !
One of the things you notice from the author community on Bluesky is that they’re all incredibly supportive of each other. They love seeing other authors doing well. And I think a lot of that comes from knowing that us readers can devour books so much faster than they can be written. So us readers can support a whole heap of different authors by buying, reading and enjoying their books.
And it’s wonderful that there are so many varied authors out there who are sharing their vision with us.
We don’t need to go back to the past, there are so many current, recent and new authors who have wonderful stories to tell us. Maybe there’s some in this head as well that want to come out. I wrote a preview chapter a few years ago on the old place … That concept is still in there, it does need time, a story and me being less burned out to make it happen. (Yep, the burn out is still very severe and very real).
There’s also the factory that every time we look back at those old classic authors, we see something problematic emerge from their time as well. It can be very deeply problematic as well. I won’t go into that here (not my vibe) but it can also mark their books, such as what I mentioned with Heinlein’s books occasionally provoking feelings of deep disgust (Farnham’s Freehold). There’s an alternate script for The Motion Picture from the creator of Star Trek which sounds like it was deeply repulsive in how it treated the characters.
There’s some dark stuff back there. And it marks them as a bit “Yep, they had their time. But we don’t go to that place any more because they’re either horrifically dated or … very deeply problematic.”
How am I going to close out this one 😀
The big thing is to keep on reading. Be selective too. If something catches your eye, check it out. Add it to your wishlist, grab it later and see what You think of it. Because that’s what matters at the end of the day. How did You find the experience ? Did You enjoy it ? Because that’s not the same set as the stuff I would enjoy, or what the person next to me or you will enjoy.
Sometimes I like to read something super fast and pulpy like the Jonathan Brazee Fire Ant series. Sometimes I’ll be enjoying something gritty and serious like your typical Gareth L Powell. I’ll go for the whimsical fun of a T Kingfisher. There would be the irreverent stories coming from John Scalzi which are absolute fun. I’ll dive into that very different Vietnamese inspired space society of Aliette de Bodard.
I’m currently in the opening parts of Stranded by A K Duboff, which will fill up the D spot which could easily have been a look back to an enjoyable Roald Dahl. But I’m not seeing anything new with Roald Dahl, I’m checking out a new voice with Stranded. I just finished enjoying reading The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear which is the third in a future centuries space society series.
And then there’s Drew Wagar, who’s stream I’ve got in the background at the moment ! If you like the screenshots and the universe of Elite and Elite Dangerous, Drew’s books add much needed meat to the bones in the games.
I better leave it there :-D.
Read what You want to read. Take the recommendations from people. If you’re struggling and not enjoying the story, don’t feel like you need to finish it, swap to something you’ll enjoy. Maybe even cheat with spoilers too, I’ve made more than one Abandon / Not Abandon decision on stuff in spoiler space. Like the David Weber Honor Harrington books which started in fantastic Hornblower action style but then disappeared into boring espionage as the setting developed. I’d still recommend that series but with the “when the books get boring, stop” health warning to it.
And then there’s Larry Niven ! So many classic books there with that random looking shift coming from the Ringworld saga. That ended very nicely.
Eek ! Like this post hopefully. See you around, back to enjoying Mr Wagar’s stream, with Batkitto building Lego on the laptop, music on the hifi and I’ll crack open Stranded again in a few minutes.