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Chris Gerwel commented on the post, Crossroads: The Difficulty of Police Procedural Speculative Fiction 1 week, 5 days ago
I think you raise one of the main challenges to getting police procedurals right in SF: the “procedures” become very difficult to portray plausibly considering the changing state of technology. I think that’s one […]
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Chris Gerwel wrote a new post, Crossroads: The Difficulty of Police Procedural Speculative Fiction 1 week, 6 days ago
Police procedurals are a complicated genre to explore because they intersect so fluidly with so many other genres. On the one hand, they solidly rest within the mystery tradition: there is a crime that needs […]
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Chris Gerwel commented on the post, Crossroads: “Speculative” Literary Fiction and SF/F Techniques 2 weeks, 1 day ago
Awesome, I’m looking forward to reading it!
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Chris Gerwel commented on the post, Crossroads: “Speculative” Literary Fiction and SF/F Techniques 2 weeks, 5 days ago
Ha! When I read it, I knew to expect something (somewhat) science fictional, so I suspect my reading experience was slightly different from yours. I still loved the book immensely, and think it is one of the best […]
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Chris Gerwel commented on the post, Crossroads: “Speculative” Literary Fiction and SF/F Techniques 2 weeks, 5 days ago
Thanks, J. Jay! I definitely agree that fiction should reveal something true. I’m less convinced that any one genre does so “better” or “worse” than any other, but they definitely use different tools and […]
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Chris Gerwel commented on the post, Crossroads: “Literary” Speculative Fiction and Literary Sensibilities 2 weeks, 6 days ago
You’re spot on when it comes to Brust’s Taltos novels and The Hunger Games: both have strong literary elements, but they tend to externalize themes through their action in a way that mainstream literary works tend […]
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Chris Gerwel wrote a new post, Crossroads: “Speculative” Literary Fiction and SF/F Techniques 2 weeks, 6 days ago
Last week, we talked about how works of speculative fiction deploy techniques commonly found in literary fiction. This week, we’re going to flip that coin and look at how mainstream literary fiction employs […]
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Chris Gerwel wrote a new post, Crossroads: “Literary” Speculative Fiction and Literary Sensibilities 3 weeks, 6 days ago
As I mentioned last week, trying to draw general conclusions about the relationship between mainstream literary fiction and speculative fiction is difficult at best. For every “general” hypothesis, a slew of […]
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Chris Gerwel commented on the post, Crossroads: The Cores of Literary Fiction and Speculative Fiction 4 weeks, 1 day ago
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the essay!
I might quibble about whether Hyperion is in fact plot-centered or character-centered, but I definitely agree that it qualifies as literary scifi. Mainstream literary fiction […]
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Chris Gerwel wrote a new post, Crossroads: The Cores of Literary Fiction and Speculative Fiction 1 month ago
The relationship between speculative fiction and mainstream literary fiction is complicated by decades of group identity dynamics, mutual ignorance, and overbroad critical generalizations about both genres. […]
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Chris Gerwel commented on the post, Crossroads: Negotiating the Unreal in Magic Realism and Fantasy 1 month, 1 week ago
Hmm…I’m not sure that the metaphor-angle is a complete way to separate magical realism from fantasy: too many fantasies use magic both as something intrinsic to the world and simultaneously as metaphor (e.g. […]
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Chris Gerwel wrote a new post, Crossroads: Tensions between SF/F and Mainstream Literary Fiction 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Welcome to the first week of May! This month, I’m going to be taking a look at the often-fraught relationship between speculative fiction and mainstream literary fiction. I’ve always found the love-hate […]
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Chris Gerwel wrote a new post, Crossroads: Satire and the Fantastic 1 month, 3 weeks ago
NOTE: This week’s essay is actually an adapted form of an essay from December 18, 2012 that was originally published at The King of Elfland’s 2nd Cousin. Some changes, however, have been made from the […]
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Chris Gerwel wrote a new post, CROSSROADS: Right Place, Time, and Tech – The Hitchhiker’s Guide 2 months, 1 week ago
Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (itself spread across five books with a six written by Eoin Colfer), with its friendly, green warning against panic, casts a huge shadow over the field of […]
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Chris Gerwel commented on the post, CROSSROADS: Make ‘em Laugh – Humor and Speculative Fiction 2 months, 1 week ago
That Damon Knight-like definition is a pretty workable one, I think. Coming up with any kind of taxonomy for the discussion of humor is in and of itself difficult, and then if we try to merge it with genre […]
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Chris Gerwel commented on the post, Amazing News 2 months, 2 weeks ago
David – Thanks for raising that unrelated question! For some reason the “Allow Comments” option was turned off, but I went in and turned it back on.
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Chris Gerwel wrote a new post, CROSSROADS: Make ‘em Laugh – Humor and Speculative Fiction 2 months, 2 weeks ago
Hello, folks! Now that I’m back on my feet, I find that April’s here. A few days ago was April 1st, also known as April Fool’s Day. And while I may not be clever enough to come up with fun jokes for April […]
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Chris Gerwel wrote a new post, CROSSROADS: Western Series Interrupted by Illness 2 months, 3 weeks ago
Sorry, folks. I know some of you were looking forward to the final installment in the Crossroads: Western series, but I’m afraid I have been laid low by a really nasty virusplague. As a result, I haven’t been […] -
Chris Gerwel wrote a new post, Crossroads: World-building in Westerns and Speculative Fiction 3 months ago
Speculative fiction gives my imagination space to play. Whether it’s a strange, fascinating city, an entire alien world, or a different time/reality, the genre’s ability to transport offers both escapist […]
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