best-selling science fiction

Some of the current bestsellers in Science Fiction:

• The Burning World by Isaac Marion
• Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs
• The Turn by Kim Harrison
• The Starfishers Trilogy by Glen Cook
• Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

From what I can tell, readers nowadays are into alternate universes or the involvement of species other than humans. There's not much technology, cyberpunk and biopunk alike. The titles also don't give an indication of the plot just from reading the title, so most likely readers want to be surprised as they go and figure out the meaning of the title themselves.

If I had the money, I'd probably purchase New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson because it's most likely about the city in that time frame. I love New York. It'd be interesting to see the author's take on the city in that time period.

listen

So I went on a Science Fiction website to read a short story under the category Disaster, and I came upon a story that I found really interesting. It's called Listen.

In this short story, disaster strikes humanity and humanity is depleting in number. There are other beings out to hurt humans and humanity is growing desperate to change this. They are beings that spread by wildfire for unknown reasons and they were unstoppable. The narrator, is one of the few survivors to live to tell the tale. He witnesses the tragedy. The helplessness of the government, the death of many, and even more. He describes a mark that was stamped on his gene by an Engineer that changed him; most likely unwillingly. The narrator explains that this mark will finally destroy these beings, called the UnAltered. By the end of the story, the "wide world" is empty, but new. This suggests that these strange marks have eradicated their enemies for good.

I like this story and its plot. I love stories that involve tragedy within human society as edgy as that might sound. It forces humans to work together and stick by each other in a crisis. It develops relations that wouldn't have been possible because when everyone is under a life threatening crisis, there's a heightened need for security and comfort.

However, the story wasn't quite clear enough. It took several rereads for me to digest what was going on in the story. Since it is so short, this is understandable, but the story could have been more direct with its science elements to let the reader know what is exactly happening. There could have been less vivid imagery. I also don't really understand the use of repetition for the word 'listen.' I also wish that the story would explain more on that because I don't know how the word correlates with the story. Probably from lack of understanding but it proves my first point.

I'd recommend reading this short story for yourself!
Link to story: http://dailysciencefiction.com/science-fiction/disaster-apocalypse/edward-ashton/listen

trying to enter into a scifi magazine?

Analog & Fantasy and Science Fiction (creative title, isn't it?) are science fiction magazines that a reader will enjoy if they like explanations of complicated technology, otherworldly beings, or simply a twist on human life. They have guidelines that a writer must follow in order to get their story published in their franchise. Here's how they compare:

• They can both agree that there should be no limit to the genre. There has to be at least a specific element in the story in order to make it possible to submit. Science fiction is a broad and huge term and they will accept anything (but it doesn't mean that it'll be published...)
• There is a paying price per word for the story you want to submit for both magazines. There are different prices for Analog, but it's 8-10 cents for a general short story. F&SF charges 7-12 per word.
• Both can take a while to get back to the writer. Analog can take 2-3 months, and F&SF can take 8 weeks.
• There is a format when submitting an entry. Both magazines prefer submissions to be sent online.
• Both magazines refuse simultaneous story submissions.

See now if one day I get a sudden urge to write a science fiction story and get my name out there, I'll probably want to change my writing style now. I need to focus on more descriptive heavy paragraphs and flesh out stories that have plot ideas that aren't clear enough or don't make sense. Science fiction is not the easiest genre to write in, so I need to be more experienced in the genre before taking on the genre full force.

subgenres of science fiction

Science fiction has many sub-genres within its premises, but these are the ones that I really like:

• Social Science Fiction: I like this one because it dives into the mechanics and natures of human society and humans are pretty interesting enough. There can be a satire twist, which I also find interesting to the genre.
• Biopunk: It does revolve around humans again and I like body modifications and genetic altering components in stories. I don't really like stories that describe the futuristic technology as a separate entity from the human. I like when humans are directly involved in the process, rather than the one controlling it.
• Mundane Science Fiction: This explains the wires of technology that exists today in a way that can be interesting. It makes me wonder if we can actually pull some of these off, since the use of actual technology is within the story.
• SciFi/Horror: I like the horror genre. It'd be cool to see a horror based story that uses science elements to justify some of the plot.
• Apocalyptic Science Fiction: Decline in human population and the need to band together to overcome a detrimental situation is thrilling, griping, and entertaining. The only problem I'd have with this genre is if they end in cliffhangers.
• Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction: Same reason as above.
• Alien Conspiracy: I think hiding history changing information is interesting. It'll be cool how the story reveals this information to the reader and its characters.
• Parallel Worlds: There can be an entire different race of species in the other world. I like the interaction between these alien beings and humans and how they get along.
• Speculative Fiction: I tend to think "What if" for many situations in my life. It's fun to see a story where these questions come to life and humans have to act upon this.

Hope some of these genres pique your interest enough to research more about them!

and the moooooon be still as bright

There's a story I'm going to be discussing in The Martian Chronicles entitled "-- And the Moon Be Still as Bright." This is about humanity's fourth expedition to the alien planet Mars. This expedition, unlike the previous ones, is successful. The team's physician, Hathaway, reports that all the martians died from chicken pox. There's confusion because no one expected an entire race to go out by such a lowly disease. A disease that children can beat. The captain, Captain Wilder, allows the crew to cheer, dance, and drink. This makes their archaeologist, Jeff Spender, angry because they're soiling the dirt of the new world this quickly and easily. He is disgusted that people have the decency to dump beer bottles into the river and ends up punching one of his crewmen. When everyone is sobered up, they explore the town. Spender is amazed by these martians and leaves the team on his own to study the martians himself. This confuses and angers the team because they feel as if he is betraying them, and they send search teams to find him. Unfortunately, there isn't any luck. Eventually, he comes back to the campsite and declares himself as a Martian. He shoots many of the people, killing them. Spender starts feeling sick so he runs to the hills for recovery. Wilder and his remaining team find him and Wilder attempts to convince Spender to stop his actions but he won't falter. He wants to kill all humans so that they won't destroy Mars with their industrialized buildings and pollution. At this point, it is inevitable that Wilder has to shoot Spender. Wilder promises Spender that he will continue his mission and preserve the civilization and life of Mars. Spender doesn't fight Wilder, and accepts his death. He keeps true to his promise as he catches one of his subordinates using ruins to practice shooting, and he ends up knocking his teeth out.

The setting for this story is revealed in the very beginning. "It was so cold when they first came from the rocket into the night that Spender began to gather the dry Martian wood and build a small fire. He didn't say anything about a celebration; he merely grabbed the wood, set fire to it, and watched it burn. In the flare that lighted the thin air of this dried-up sea of Mars he looked over his shoulder and saw the rocket that had brought them all, Captain Wilder and Cheroke and Hathaway and Sam Parkhill and himself, across a silent black space of stars to land upon a dead, dreaming world" (pg. 48).

Bradbury uses this setting to illustrate the environment and connections of the characters. The celebration of arriving at night and gathering firewood, unaware of this celebration and can be seen as apathetic, is an example. The mention of the dried-up sea shows how desolate and empty Mars is. There is nothing but a rocket in the area, which signals the arrival of humans invading a territory that is fine the way it is. Bradbury creates tension because the reader can infer that these humans are going to mess up the empty territory, but there is one person that is against it.

the martian chronicles changed literature huh

In response to Tyler Miller's "How Ray Bradbury's 'The Martian Chronicles' Changed Science Fiction (And Literature)," the man has written a very in depth and developed blog post. He makes several points about the science fiction genre itself and I agree with them. Some books of this genre is filled with only action and no prose. It's interesting to find out that that's how the genre originally started out as before the release of Bradbury's short story.

Miller says that the "The Martian Chronicles" is a first of its kind because it has prose and an abundance of metaphors in it. The novel considers how the humans change the new planet and the way it will affect humans and aliens alike. This different perspective is nothing like their predecessors and it became revolutionary for this type of literature.

The one thing I disagree about within this essay is how the story changed the whole of modern literature. That is a huge step and claim. I'll agree that it changes the genre because it brings a different way to telling a story of aliens and technological advances. However, with modern literature, I don't believe the story stretches its legacy that far.

Overall, "The Martian Chronicles" is a good book. It definitely holds ones interest and the metaphors embedded within the story leaves a lingering idea and thought in the readers mind.

dandelion wine's review

So recently, I completed the book Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. I have many things to say about this book but overall, I found this book not to my taste or interesting enough to keep my attention.

I liked the themes and messages behind certain stories, such as Leo Auffman's happiness machine and the story of Colonel Freeleigh which I critically analyzed in a previous post. I think they are very important messages that everyone should all be aware of. I just wish they were executed better because I ended up reading chapter summaries for all of the chapters to make sure that I understood what was happening. This was pretty much the only thing I liked. Besides the title, I think the title is a clever way to call this book since it's a recollection of all summer memories in the form of dandelion wine.

I didn't really like how there wasn't any plot or point to many of the stories. Many characters are brought in but never return again. I didn't like how detailed some parts were because I didn't feel that it contributed to anything. Some chapters were dragged out. Because the story was so detailed, it slowed the story and I didn't find anything worth mentioning in Douglas's summer.

I learned that I can lengthen my story by being my descriptive and bringing in new characters. Description can help the reader understand what's happening (even though I didn't necessarily get to that point in his chapters).

Lastly, I want to add that after reading my first book from Bradbury, I'm not necessarily motivated to read any more of his works if they have the same style. It's not my preference but that doesn't mean that Dandelion Wine is a bad book in general.