Speculative Fiction and Colorado

[mishalak]

Perhaps it is just because it is not commonly used, but "speculative fiction" sounds clunky to my ear. But right now it is all that we have and I am thinking that our local "science fiction" convention needs to move towards using "speculative fiction" in its promotional literature. Why? Because younger fans, younger even than me, read a lot more fantasy, supernatural thrillers, horror, and the like than they do stuff that would be strictly defined as science fiction. I know the historical reason for this, but in advertising (and shouldn't advertising have a "z" rather than a "s" given how it is pronounced?) the perceptions of the target audience need to be taken into account rather than people who already know and care that fantasy used to be a little appendix to SF.

This is not the only option by any means. For one thing there is so darn much speculative fiction published each year that a rebel group of fans wishing to focus on just space opera could probably put on a pretty good convention. So could just about any named sub-genre from the vampire romances to magical realism.

The only problem with such plans is that it is a heck of a lot more work to start a new small event than it is to keep the old large salad-bar (something for everyone, pick and choose what convention you want to have) going. The thing is that I like the social and party aspects of conventions a lot more than I do the listen to published types talk about publishing aspects of our con. And the fact is that older people are on average less interested in meeting new friends, partying, and less able to stay up late socializing.

I do want to start my own more focused on socializing convention like event (Colorado Geek Holiday), but it is terrible amounts of work and hard to get people interested. Though now that I live in town perhaps I'll be able to have more parties. We'll see how Richie feels about that. Though our apartment is a lot cleaner and fit to be seen by folks. Right. Social group first, convention afterward. Maybe a small event this spring. Off to do more convention-y type stuff.

Comments

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

I liked the term "speculative fiction" when it first hit the radar, about 20 years ago, but then someone (not in the genre) pointed out that _all_ fiction is speculative -- mostly "What would happen if this character and that character interacted?".

So I figure we might as well retain the label most bookstores & libraries have over the (actually multiple-genres) section I usually head for first, and that's almost always "Science Fiction". (Well... okay, there's one used-paperback store in Goleta that segregates "Fantasy", at the whim of the owner, and one in Arcada that is considering segregating Science Fiction by the sex of the writer (as they do Mysteries), though keeping both in the same bay, and at least one Big Chain Bookstore seems to have a section for "Manga & Graphic Novels".)

Actually, what the younger generation seems to use most is "Sci-Fi". *sigh/shrug*

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should do a survey. Or we could do what speakers of English do when they don't have the right word. Act like Homer Simpson and borrow one from some other language on a permanent and abusive basis.

Let's see... Czech: představa, Estonian: unistus, Icelandic: draumórar; ímyndun; hugarburður, Norwegian: drøm, Polish: marzenie, Romanian: (de) vis... I read somewhere that (der) Einfall is sometimes used in German.

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

And I still like sci-fi, but I don't know that me or anyone else uses it for anything but what would be usually called SF. And most libraries and bookstores I know of call it the Science Fiction/Fantasy section.

[rvrjoe775.livejournal.com]

I rather like the term speculative fiction, but we often shortened it to SpecFic. Yes, all fiction is speculative, but as David Gerrold said, All fiction is lies -- good fiction is lies about truth.

The Brits pronounce advertisement with as 's' sound, but I'm trying to hear advertise in my head and I'm sure if it's different.

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Well we could all raise our pinkies and call it speculative literature. :)

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

The Oxford University Speculative Fiction Group is so-named because the university authorities didn't approve of the term Science Fiction in the late 60s.

Once you are in fandom, the best bit of cons is meeting your friends, whether the event is large or small. The issue is for newbies, whether a large con's plethora is events is better than the muck-in aspects of a small con. For many fans with weak social skills, a small event just seems a wasteland with nothing going on apart from people they don' know how to connect to talking.

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

I specifically showed up at DASFA to make friends. Because at the time I did not have any friends in Denver and I thought it would be a good place to meet people. So I'm really different than most.