Re: ~ Arthur C. Clarke, Science Fiction Author and Gay Man, Dies ~

>>>>> "MS" == Michael S Schiffer <mschiffe@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:

    MS> Though my impression, backed up by a quick web search on ABC
    MS> News' site, is that there really aren't any sf writers
    MS> currently with the public recognition that people like Asimov
    MS> and Clarke attained during the 60s and 70s or so.  Which is
    MS> especially odd given the comparative mainstreaming of geek
    MS> culture in general compared to then.

Two thoughts:

first, there is more attention being paid to "geeky" things, but there
are a lot more sf writers and a lot more subgenres to sf, so any
single sf writer gets considerably less mindshare.

second, the mainstreaming of "geek culture" is not the result of the
mainstream discovering the joys of reading, but the result of "geek
culture" discovering the media that the mainstream likes.  All the
sf-themed TV shows in the world won't make a non-reader read, and
reading is how one discovers sf writers.

TV shows with time travel and rayguns and movies with elves are
mainstream and popular enough to be profitable; this doesn't mean that
the man and woman in the street is any more likely to have ever picked
up a science fiction or fantasy book.

Charlton




-- 
Charlton Wilbur
cwilbur@[EMAIL PROTECTED]