WARNING: Rant Mode
activated<br><br>
And I had 25 out of the 29 Tom Swift books. At a $1.25 each, new, my folks bought me every one I found.
I still miss them.
<br>I bet you bought 'em just because you liked them. I know I read
Tom Corbet: Space Cadet at least 20 times when I was a kid, just because I liked the story. It was entertaining, and filled me with wonder at what could be in the future.<br><br>I just read a story over at Sci-Fiction (the prime market for shorts, paying 20 cents a word). It was a very good story, mind you, but it still ticked me off. The story there was called "Beautiful Stuff" by Susan Palwick. Basically, its about a dead guy, killed by a terrorist bomb, who is brought back to speak at a political rally for war against terror. Instead of saying what the scuzzy politician wants, he tells everyone to enjoy the beautiful things in life because dying hurts and there are no beautiful things when you're dead. (Did anyone catch the moral there?)<br><br>Why do all the big SF markets now believe that they have to present a social commentary instead of entertaining? It's like they won't publish something unless it will shock a critic or point fingers at what an editor thinks is poor behavior by society. Then, we as writers
have to write that way, or they won't publish our stories.<br><br>I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't fall in love with SF because I liked the social commentary. I read
Have Space Suit, Will Travel, The Star Beast and even one or two of those same Tom Swifts because I enjoyed the stories. I wanted to be entertained--and that's all.<br><br>It seems that in these days of declining readership (and viewers), the SF world has forgotten the most important thing in reaching an audience: to entertain them. We can be thought-provoking, sure--an audience will flex their brains just fine for a good story. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy may have waxed philosophical from time to time, but they also spent a good deal more of their time ribbing each other and chasing sexy alien skirts.<br><br>When I'm rich and famous (I'm not holding my breath for that), maybe I'll get all artsy too, but in the mean time, I just want to put good stories out to readers. Moreover, I hope that Aphelion always stays the kind of place it is now: a spot for good stories, not social commentary.<br><br>Nate<br><br>P.S. Does anyone have a copy of Tom Corbet? I'd love to read it once more.