Comments on: Has science fiction’s sensawunda lost its sense of wonder?

By: LBalsam

LBalsam — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:51:41 +0000

If I didn’t want to read about new ideas I wouldn’t read science fiction.

That being said, any work of fiction should be well written with good characters. Too often characters in science fiction are props to support the story line.

The strength of science fiction is creating a new world, seeing how characters react to this world and the actions that happen as a result of those reactions.

By: Blue Tyson

Blue Tyson — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:06:57 +0000

Something bizarre going on in her head compared to the rest of us perhaps when she sees ‘pirate story’ and thinks SF as opposed to ‘more symptoms of the problems of the region’?

Certainly nothing new about ambitious pirates. Pretty low rent compared to the bandits who have disposed of the odd trillion recently, too.

Ordinary people in ordinary situations doing average things makes for a pretty ordinary story. Some may even go so far as to call that boring.

By: Gerry M. Allen

Gerry M. Allen — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:16:43 +0000

Without the sense of wonder, science fiction is just…well… fiction. I’ve re-read Van Vogt and “Doc” Smith many times, because the scope and depth of those futures still get to me. A previous comment mentioned Hal Clement — arguably the most science drenched science fiction, yet his stories still dealt with very human concerns. So, it doesn’t have to be either/or; good science fiction stirs my sense of wonder while telling a fine story populated by rounded characters.

By: Sarah Ennals

Sarah Ennals — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:43:05 +0000

I agree with the previous poster that the angst-for-the-sake-of-angst is offputting. For an example of “UR doin it rite,” John Wyndham is still some of my favourite character-driven SF – he takes the world of his time, drops in *one* SF element, and imagines how people would react.

By: Steve Davidson

Steve Davidson — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:51:59 +0000

I still want my sensawunda. Seeing places I’ve never seen, learning about technologies that don’t yet exist, watching the curtain open and being surprised by what appears is still what I look for in a good science fiction novel. Maybe the fiction-appreciation cells of my brain have atrophied over the years, but I find the ‘new’ stories that concentrate on some angst-ridden characters with interesting ‘flaws’ that provide their motivation and create their conflicts to be boring. Give me a good old enigmatic alien race anytime.