Posted on by Dunc

Everyone needs a little trash in their lives

‘Serious’ SF writers don’t like Star Wars. Well, that’s a shocker.

4 Replies to “Everyone needs a little trash in their lives”

  1. That’s ridiculous. If they are in the business at all, they would know that Star Wars has never been claimed to be sci-fi by Lucas. It’s fantasy and soap opera. It was dubbed sci-fi by an ignorant press.

    And they should thank their lucky stars that Star Wars came along. They wouldn’t have half their success today without it!

  2. Oh, pfffffffft. This is a bunch of people whining because they think that if we weren’t playing in the GFFA we’d buy more of their stuff. Or else they’ve got such a chip on their shoulders about being sneered at by literary-fiction types that they need to sneer themselves.

    As someone who has read stuff by everybody quoted in this article? I’d just like to tell them to get a sense of proportion about their place in the world. Relax and have more fun. Maybe plan a cardboard wedding.

  3. I haven’t read the article, but many of you know I take an aggressively robust stand against anti media tie-in snobbery. Look, I’m a “serious” hard SF writer, whatever that means: I was up for the Philip K Dick Award for CITY OF PEARL this year, for goodness’ sake. I’m not stupid. And I won’t hog your bandwidth ranting here when I have an LJ where I can take snobbery to task, but…

    It’s an honour, a privilege and an education to write for STAR WARS. When I took the first gig, HARD CONTACT, I knew naff all about the GFFA and no prejudices either way. Now I’m fully engaged with it – the complexity, the universal themes, the characters, the philosophical challenges it throws up if you choose to look – I have nothing but the greatest respect for it.

    Whether you’re a philosphy professor or a five-year-old kid, you can enter the GFFA world and take something valuable away with you. It’s entertainment, too, and that’s something a lot of writers lose sight of. Fiction is for entertaining people. And George Lucas didn’t make the money he’s made and create a product with a 30 year life (and counting) by creating rubbish.

    I invite any “serious” writer who can’t see what all the fuss about SW is about to sit down and talk to me rationally for a while. And maybe actually read/ view/ listen to the full range of SW material out there.

    SW is about the best thing that’s happened to me as a writer. It’s done a lot more for me than I’ve done for it.

    Ignore the naysayers. Who cares what they think? I don’t.If I ever start slagging off SW, you have my permission – nay, my insistence – to send a team of ARCs out to shoot me.

    Yours,
    Karen “Mega-Rant” Traviss

  4. Oh, lord, it’s the parade of pretentious and jealous twits.

    To all of them in general: oh, shut up and write, you losers. You’re only jealous, except possibly Mr. Bradbury, and just because he thinks in disjointed short stories that can’t logically have sequels doesnt’ mean everyone does.

    (Confidential to Ms. LeGuin: Just because the movies of YOUR stories all sucked doesn’t mean every genre film is bad. Also to her–if I want academia, I’ll skip you and go right to your parents instead, and spare myself the layers of self-righteous pretension.)

    Honestly? Haven’t read most of them, of the two I have the only one I liked was Bradbury, and that was his dark fantasy, not SF. Can’t imagine bothering if they’re really all about ‘looking in’ and such–know what you call that? Naval gazing. Get over yourselves and drop the lit-crit envy.

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