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This topic has come up before:
http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...threadid=414459
I supplied extensive recommendations on page 4.
| quote: | Originally posted by Cosmic Fur
Doesn't it look bad on the sci-fi writers' behalf then? That they must stoop to the same tactics as MAXIM and STUFF in order to entice readers? As opposed to writers of detective novels, horror novels, espionage novels, war novels, etc etc who somehow sell books without appealing to the same demographic that reaches for MAXIM on the news stands. I imagine that if what you're saying is true, then sci-fi writers must get the same amount of respect in the writers' circles as the women who write romance novels (whose entire plot consists of stringing one sex scene to the next). |
Frankly I think this applies mainly to the dregs of science fiction and fantasy. I can't recall any good SF with naked babes on the cover. Some of the others are right, however--publishers get more of a say when it comes to SF (the black sheep of literature). Titles will be changed, covers might be set to match some imagined demographic, and so on. Still, this is more a feature of the pulp era, which is long over. This reminds me of an anecdote told by Poul Anderson:
| quote: | | It was either Phil [Dick] or [Ace editor] Terry Carr who came up with the idea of an Ace Double edition of the Holy Bible. One of these days Ace will print the Holy Bible as a Double, back to back, the Old Testament and the New Testament each cut to exactly 30,000 words, the Old Testament titled Master of Chaos and the New Testament titled The Thing With Three Souls. |
And yes, you can just imagine scantily clad ladies and giant reptilian beasts on each cover.
You are right about one thing though: science fiction writers don't get a lot of respect, especially in the industry. As one of the niche genres of fiction, SF ensures that writers will sell less books and get paid a fraction of what a "serious writer" might make. The problem with this is that there have been serious writers in SF (Delany, Le Guin, Dick, etc.) and they get cast in with all the no-name hacks who churn out adventurous, entertaining fodder for the masses. Take a writer like Vonnegut, for example. Science fiction? Or "real literature"? How about... both! His work might properly belong in the SF section, but you won't find it there... know why? It wouldn't sell nearly as much! So they rip his work from the clutches of pimpled fanboys, tone down the excessive cover art, and present his work as sophisticated reading in the general fiction section. They'd do the same for PKD if they could, but there's simply no mistaking what is up in his twisted realities. This draws people to SF... but who can possible fill Phil's footprints? No one I know of. It's disappointing...
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