I need to do a semester analysis as we wrap things up, and I've also been doing some great reading as I apply to M.Ed programs and school districts, working my way towards a unified concept of why and how I teach. So look for some thoughts on that soon, maybe next weekend as the Powers That Be don't let me teach on the Saturday before Memorial Day. :4) It's alright; my fantastic students are all drowning in standardized tests and end-of-year projects and certainly deserve the break.
However, if it's not too sappy and self-indulgent to do so, I wanted to post a link to the blog of my boyfriend, an aspiring fantasy writer. I thought he had some thoughts on why one writes in fantasy/science fiction, and especially as most of my students seem to read and write in that genre, they might enjoy this:
Errors, Wrong Turns, & Exciting Opportunities
The generalized thoughts on fantasy start about halfway down the post.
Relatedly: I wrote fantasy/science fiction above. I could have written "speculative fiction," this being the term I've seen thrown about occasionally. On the one hand, it seems to come from the same market-driven, oh-heavens-let-it-seem-anything-but-GENRE repackaging that lead to the frankly sexist rebranding of the Sci-Fi channel as "SyFy". On the other hand, like so many meaningless-brand phrases, it becomes more interesting if you actually unpack it. Speculating! Both in the sense of imagining/contemplating/theorizing, and perhaps even in the sense of gambling. Hmm. Or maybe I'm just language-geeking a bit too much.
Hmm, I keep seeing interpretations of the term "speculative fiction" that surprise me. I've never before heard or seen the suggestion that it's a market-driven term. I haven't seen it as a marketing category, either. Someone also suggested that it was a hoity-toity literary term recently, which I had never heard or thought of before. I like it because it comprises both fantasy and science fiction, so if something is unclear or borderline, you don't have to pick one. Same with things that might only have faint elements of fantasy or sci-fi. Plus it's the whole "what-if" thing, which is a way I've seen both fantasy and sci-fi defined.
ReplyDeleteOf course, then there's "fantastika," which is a much more fun term that also encompasses both.
What's sexist about the rebranding of the Sci-Fi channel? I never understood the point of it but I certainly didn't know about any gender connection.
Awwwsome, ms gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteGotta lotta super-delightFULL-oxymorons
and fantastic fireworks on our 22ish
blogs.
Gotta wanna looky.
God bless your indelible soul.