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

Charlton Wilbur <cwilbur@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
news:878x0do4no.fsf@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 
>...
> 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.

It depends.  Most of the people familiar with Clarke and Asimov by 
name never read a book by them.  (The same is true for other famous 
writers-- however many millions have read Tolkien or Rowling's 
books, many more have heard of them via the movies or general 
cultural osmosis.) I don't know if there are any current SF writers 
with that much fame outside the genre, which is why I asked the 
question.

There are plenty of routes by which they might become known: as go-
to pundits, for adaptations of their work (Clarke's fame got a 
boost from the movie "2001", which while not precisely an 
adaptation was the same sort of effect), for a famous quote or word 
(as with Gibson for "cyberspace", or to a lesser extent Sturgeon 
for Sturgeon's Law).  I'm guessing that there isn't, currently, an 
SF writer as known to the general public as Clarke or Asimov or 
maybe Bradbury were in their heyday.  But the question doesn't map 
directly to the number of people reading their books.

Mike

-- 
Michael S. Schiffer, LHN, FCS
mschiffe@[EMAIL PROTECTED]