The This is My Genre Tell Me Yours Tag

Okay, I’ll probably actually do two of these, because you just can’t ask me to pick between science fiction and horror. I love the both of them for different reasons. So, since this is science fiction month, sci-fi gets to go first. Did this because a few of the bloggers I follow have been doing it, and it looks like a chance to fangirl appropriately.

The Rules

• Credit Bad Bad Drew @ The Tattooed Book Geek as the creator of the tag. Either use the created tag name graphic or create your own and link back to his blog.
• Answer the questions.
• Tag as many people as you want.

1.) What’s your favorite genre?

Science Fiction Genre. Well, about half the time. The other half it’s horror, but this is neither the time or place for that discussion!

2.) Who is your favorite author from this genre?

Oh, sweet baby Cthulhu. Erm.. The answer on the tip of my tongue is Arthur C. Clarke, but that comes with addendums. The man had great talent, but he fails hard when it comes to series. I guess I’d still have to go with him, though. Even if he fails on the follow-through, his imagination is wonderful. He’s created stories that people will be reading for hundreds of years to come. I’m actually working my way through a massive compilation via audio book of “The Complete Works of Arthur C. Clarke.” right now.

3.) What is it about the genre that keeps pulling you back?

Logic and hope. Science Fiction is, essentially, about hope. It’s about the world surviving, else it wouldn’t be set in the future. It’s about innovation, or else we wouldn’t have the robots, AI, spaceships, etc. It’s about not letting our beginnings hold us back, for if that was true we’d never leave the planet. It’s about conquering diseases, exploring the unknown, and forever looking forward instead of back. Logic is because to write proper science fiction (especially the hard stuff), people have to be able to look at where we are, and extrapolate where we’re going. Not only that, but technology behaves in reasonable ways. I’ve often thought I’d get along better with computers than people because I find it soothing to know the exact rules that something follows.

Now, obviously there’s some sub-genres and stuff where that’s not true, but that’s what science fiction means to me as a whole. And why I keep coming back.

4.) What’s the book that started your love for your favourite genre?

Now, I read so much it’s hard to pinpoint a specific book, but I’d have to say it was probably Rendezvous with Rama. The rest of the series sucks, but that first book? That was amazing. Could possibly have been Ender’s Game, though. OSC created a book that will perpetually screw with your insides in Ender’s Game, and yet makes you see the possibilities and wonder in science fiction too.

5.) If you had to recommend at least one book from your favourite genre to a non-reader/someone looking to start reading that genre, what book would you choose and why?

It really depends on the person that I’m talking to! I mean I love hard sci-fi, but am not much of one for the softer sci-fi stuff. Many, many people out there are the exact opposite.

Tau Zero by Poul Anderson

If I thought that person would love hard sci-fi, I’d say Tau Zero. Tau Zero is one of those novels that somehow meshes pages of ridiculously hard to understand math against human emotions. It shouldn’t work as well as it does, but it’s more than the sum of it’s parts.

Transcendental by James Gunn

If they seem like they’d be more interested in the softer side of sci-fi, I’d recommend Transcendental by James Gunn. Gunn uses this novel as an excuse to let his imagination fly free and think about the many, many forms life could take out in the universe. There’s very little science, but a whole lot of personality in it.

But, now if someone asked me for a recommendation for a younger reader, obviously I wouldn’t recommend either of this. For ages 7+, I’d say let them read James Patterson’s Robots Go Wild. It’s specifically focused on robots, and it could take place in a future that’s close enough they could imagine.  It’s cute, funny, has lots of pictures and just works very well. Now, for a slightly older reader, around 10 or so, I’d recommend The Star Agency by R.E. Weber. It reminded me in a lot of ways of Ender’s Game when I first read, but it’s definitely a more accessible read without nearly the amount of pain in it.

6. Why do you read (Sci-Fi)?

I read to escape. Life sucks quite a lot. I don’t smoke anymore. I don’t get drunk anymore. I don’t do drugs. I don’t over-indulge in chocolate. I only have two ways to let off steam. One is to immerse myself in another world, and the other is to see exactly how creatively I can tell someone they’re the left nut of a syphilis infected liger.  Obviously, it’s better for everyone if I choose reading. I read sci-fi because science fiction becomes science fact very often. And maybe, someday, science fact will produce a cure for my daughter’s disease and I won’t have to wake up every morning facing the fact that she could take a turn for the worse and be gone from me in the blink of an eye.

I tag: whoever wants to do it, really. I can’t name off that many bloggers that read science fiction. Maybe Melanie from MNBernardBooks?