SF Sub-Genres: Space Opera

Well, sort of.

I had a blog post written and ready to go.  Catchy title (“What Ever Happened to Space Opera?”), passionate writing, definitions, fantastic supporting examples.

And I’m not going to post it.

Why not?  Because it wasn’t what I wanted to say, or at least it wasn’t how I wanted to say it.  I don’t want to rant, I want to talk, and that post was definitely a rant.

Space Opera is a term that’s meant different things to different people at different times.  A few decades back, it commonly meant the worst written pulp SF had to offer, making a convenient target for the rest of the literary world to look down on (no, that hasn’t entirely gone away).  The definition shifted over time, evolving in stages to become almost anything set in the far future involving technology that might as well be magic, with ideas and civilizations spanning galaxies.  But somewhere in the middle it was what I mean when I say Space Opera: an adventure story that takes place in space or on a planet other than Earth.

An off-planet adventure story.  The stakes don’t have to be high for the universe (although they should be for the main character(s) at least), but the word “adventure” is important in my admittedly vague definition.  A Jedi may not crave adventure and excitement, but a Space Opera (which Star Wars certainly is) definitely needs both.

And it’s something I don’t think we have enough of any more.

Not every story, and not every SF story, needs to be action driven, but what’s wrong with having a few that are?  They are out there, but they’re getting harder to find in written form, and I think the genre might be poorer for it.  Variety is critical to the health of any art form, even, or maybe especially SF.

Less rant and more quiet contemplation, I hope.

SF Sub-Genres: Steampunk

In a recent query, someone asked me if I’d consider reading a Steampunk story for Distant Worlds.  I’m not going to say who as I haven’t asked their permission, but the question started me down an interesting train of thought.  The reason this person asked is because many editors/people seem to dismiss the sub-genre as Fantasy.

Really?  Steampunk is Fantasy?

If I sound like I’m arguing, maybe I should ask myself what it is before saying what it isn’t.

In Steampunk, the author takes Industrial Revolution scientific sensibilities (steam power often being the key, surprise, surprise), assumes them to represent reality to some significant degree, and extrapolates from there to tell a story.  Doesn’t sound much like Fantasy, does it?  In fact, this sounds a little bit like something else to me:  Alternate History, where the author takes some key event, large or small, and extrapolates the changes from it to tell a story.  Steampunk seems like it’s a specialized form of Alternate History.  However, in and of itself, Alternate History is a sub-genre of Literary Fiction.

Wait a second.  Literary Fiction?  Aren’t we supposed to be talking about Science Fiction?  Sure, I haven’t stopped.  Remember Damon Knight?  Well, I’m pointing at Steampunk.  Some of it, anyway.  Some of it I’ll point to and say Fantasy or Horror or Alternate History or Secret History or even Historical Fiction.

You see, Steampunk isn’t just a sub-genre of something, but a reimagining of a chunk of the past, all the potential of the early industrial age exploding out of that tiny little box we’ve tried to shoehorn it into by labelling it.  What overall genre you feel like putting a given story under will depend on what you bring to it.  I don’t mean just “did you use SF tropes like robots and rayguns or Fantasy tropes like fairies and magic”, but what you’ve got in mind when you write (or read) the story.

Because intent is important.  If you write any story, Steampunk or otherwise, intending it to be Science Fiction, you’re going to push yourself in that direction.  Why should I tell you you’re wrong?  At worst, I might tell you it doesn’t work for me.  On those infrequent occasions I say something isn’t SF, it’s for one of two reasons:

1. There is no identifiable speculative element whatsoever.
2. The speculative elements involved make it clearly fantasy to me.

Catch that last?  To me.  Genre is sometimes in the eye of the beholder.  None of us sees the universe in exactly the same way.  It stands to reason that we might not see the same story in the same way.

So, to come back to the original question, I said yes.  If the person who asked the question can get the story done and in by the deadline, and can call it SF, I’ll happily read it.  One of my rules of thumb is to never let my own preconceptions stand in the way of a good story.