The Letters to the Editor department is intended to be a forum for our readers to express their own opinions and ideas. While we appreciate the many complimentary letters we receive each day, you won't find them on this page. Instead, you will find letters that go beyond or even contradict what we have written, letters that offer a different perspective and provide a different view of science fiction.
— Scott Edelman, Editor-in-Chief
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"Novel" Hugo Should Be Separated
o, Robert J. Sawyer is angry that he lost the Hugo to J.K. Rowling. Too bad. I doubt that anyone will be crying any real tears. As former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Guild of America, Sawyer is strangely ignorant of the rules that states fantasy books qualify for the Hugos.
Can Sawyer's outrage really be taken seriously, knowing that the inclusion of fantasy works had been institutionalized in the Hugos from since before his birth? I doubt that Sawyer, who prides himself for the research he does on his own novels, could be that angry a fantasy book had bested him.
Could it be that Sawyer is using his loss as a means to an end? Is he trying to have fantasy works removed from future consideration in Hugo balloting? Or is he, by calling into question the democratic process by which people vote, showing how little faith he has in the common persons' ability to distinguish good works?
Less than a thousand eligible voters bothered to let their voices be heard at Millennium Philcon for the Hugos. Most of those votes were cast for Best Novel. If any reforms should be made to the voting procedures, it should be for reforms that encourage voting, not frustrate it.
Maybe we should be reminded that the Hugos (at any Worldcon) are popular awards given by the readers of Science Fiction and Fantasy genres. I find it a bit incredulous that anyone would complain about a fantasy novel winning the Hugo. Especially since Sawyer admits that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a great book. Science fiction or not.
Sawyer could have received more sympathy from me if he had suggested that separate categories be given to books of both genres. That way we could have two separate Hugos: One for Science Fiction Achievement and another for Fantasy Achievement—but no—he wants to push out fantasy, altogether. And that is something that most people are not prepared to see happen.
Regardless of how anyone may feel, who could not agree (given the success of J.K. Rowling) that the most popular book had indeed won? Whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not.
Brian L. Raney
brian_l_raney@hotmail.com
X-Files Saddens X-Phile
udos to Melodie Cranston ("Fox Should Let X-Files Die") for not being afraid to speak about the current state of The X-Files. Having watched since the pilot, I am saddened by how far this show has fallen, quality-wise.
The longer the show drags on, the more I realize that science fiction television only has a certain lifespan and that it should end on a high note before it becomes an incontinuous and incoherent mess. The longer The X-Files goes on, the legacy its leaves will be diminished. I plead to all remaining fans; do you want the show to be remembered for its innovation or do you want it to be remembered for being on TV too long? Think about it.
Stan Williams
exphile@bettiemail.com
X-Files is Better than Ever
he end of The X-Files? What craziness is this ("Fox Should Let X-Files Die")? I have been an X-Phile since day uno, and I eagerly anticipate the start of the new season (now moved to November 11th). I am not a zany preacher of the infamous "The Truth Is Out There" tagline, but I do know good TV when I see it. The X-Files has been good TV longer than Star Trek.
Star Trek lives on still, after 30-something years, and so shall The X-Files. The pregnancy didn't kill anything and those fans who complained are hypocrites for a) wanting a resolution to the romance, and b) wanting proof, tangible proof, that Scully and Mulder were engaged in extracurricular activities, and then complaining when they got the answers ... the eye candy. You all got your wish. Now sit back, snack on a few sunflower seeds, check all the closets, tune in and shut up!
Derek Bagdillo
DBDBDBD1013@unet.org
X-Files Has Had Its Day
sadly agree with Melodie Cranston's assessment on The X-Files ("Fox Should Let X-Files Die"). There was a time when this show was like nothing else on TV, but the golden era has since passed and now they're basically draining every remaining creative ounce it has.
I think the real problem is nobody has had a concrete plan for this show since the movie came out and they have been basically making it up as they go along. A good TV show needs a blueprint to build upon. It's too bad that the powers that be chose the wrong path.
Pamela Jameson
pamjames@rediffmail.com
WTC Revisionism is Not the Answer
et's remove references about terrorists from all movies, TV shows and books so as not to upset anyone ("Terrorism Changes E.T."). Let's take out any section of film which shows the World Trade Center and all shots of a plane crashing into a building. Ah, heck, let's just burn the books and films. Then let's continue with references and clips on Pearl Harbor. How about the Alamo? Sound extremist? I hope so.
I want to remember the World Trade Center and those who died there. What better way than in films? Halloween costumes are scary. Aren't terrorists? If we remind people about the horror, hurt and senselessness of terrorism, the insane slaughter of Jews and racism, then we may remember that we need to fight together to overcome the evils in the world.
Joe Castleberry
biowolf@netzero.net
Fan Howls for Wolf Lake
very week I gleefully peruse Science Fiction Weekly, checking out up and coming speculative fiction in print and on screen, seeing what my fellow SF fans are thinking about SF today. But it seems I'm alone in front of my television on Wednesdays at 10 p.m., as I relish the tales from Wolf Lake.
CBS, for once, has developed a very interesting show, based on the machinations of a clan of shapeshifters. The show centers around John Kanin, a Seattle homicide detective who follows his missing girlfriend to the town of Wolf Lake. OK, I'll admit that John is a bit blind—he notices the weirdness of the town, but never quite puts two and two together. But some of the premises behind the shapeshifters' abilities and inclinations seem to be drawn from some excellent source material, from classic horror fiction to the role-playing game Werewolf: The Apocalypse, to observed true-wolf pack behavior in the wild. There are touches of decoration, atmosphere, and words that clue the well-read watcher to the fact that the show's writers and creators have really done their homework.
I encourage folks out there to give Wolf Lake a go. See if you like it as much as I do. Now, if CBS just doesn't cancel it. ...
Kaz Myers
kaseymyers@hotmail.com
Reviewer All Wet at Adult Swim
ow! Just read Kathie Huddleston's review of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim line up. My question to your site's editor is, "Why would [you] post a review written by someone who doesn't fit the demographic?" Huddleston panned the the funniest shows in the line up, giving support to the two entries that offer only tepid smirks. Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sea Lab are culled from the same creative lunatics behind Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Cartoon Planet; two shows who audience leans more towards the Parker/Stone South Park brand of comedy. From the tone of the review, Huddleston's sense of humor is more the Hanna/Barbara Yogi Bear type.
Jason Schirle
jason_schirle@paramount.com
Murder by Decree Slashes Hell
oes anyone remember a movie entitled Murder by Decree? It pits Jack the Ripper against Sherlock Holmes. Christopher Plummer stars as Holmes, and James Mason portrays Doctor Watson. It posits the exact same theory of the Whitechapel Murders as From Hell does. I found nothing new in this latest film. I knew who the killer was and his motive. The "Juwes" note was familiar, as well as the Freemason connection. I enjoy the older movie more.
John Nolan
roninja@bcpl.net
Enterprise Opening Erased
couldn't resist replying after reading the weekly comments ("Raise Standards, Not Nitpicks" and "Accept and Enjoy Enterprise") on the Enterprise opening song, or lack of, depending on your point-of-view. Last week, the local network showing Enterprise blacked out the screen and sound within seconds of the opening song starting! It came back on just before the story started. Just a coincidence?
Ross Henderson
rosshenderson@mindspring.com
Star Trek Turning into Bad SF
s regards Enterprise: A science fiction show should not make its would-be fans mutter words like "Morons!" at the crew as they blithely ignore all scientific exploration procedures that are used on the Earth in the 20th and 21st centuries. Even explorers reaching remote, uncharted areas of our planet, where we can be fairly sure the biochemistry of the plants and animals is not inimically dangerous, take more precautions than a late-night ghost story session around an open fire in front of two unguarded, unsecured tents!
This is not only terrible science fiction, it's just plain bad fiction! I had my arguments (many, many, many of them!) with Voyager, but my intelligence was never so insulted as by the actions I have seen on Enterprise.
Toni Bogolub
tealbee@aol.com
Good SF Shares the Same Rules
support the comments of Presley Acuna ("Raise Standards, Not Nitpicks"), who wrote here last week about the quality of the script-writing for Enterprise, or for any fiction for that matter.
The rules of good fiction writing don't change when it comes to Star Trek, or any science fiction. Good fiction has believable people doing believable things. "Suspension Of disbelief" can be used when a believable character is placed into an implausible situation, or given abilities like super-powers or advanced technology, but that character must still behave in a very believable way, so that we can identify with that person, or the audience will snap out of the story-telling spell and become dissatisfied. (This is also why aliens in stories end up having human-like motivations and characteristics, because we cannot understand the truly alien, and the story becomes untellable if the alien remains incomprehensible.)
Techno-doubletalk is not good writing when it saves the character's chestnuts out of the fire by replacing any character-driven actions. It would be a poor story if all the problems are resolved by pressing a few keys on a computer. A detective story wouldn't work if the principal character simply asks his computer 'who dun it.' Such a solution requires nothing personal from the character, and such a character is merely an object in the play, even if that character pushes the button. A struggle that is resolved by the lead character giving a speech based on their moral superiority is a ham-fisted way of ramming a contrived solution down the audience's collective throat. A ship of fools who get saved because of the tension-filled application of wondrous technology at the last moment is the product of a creatively-bankrupt writer.
What is missing from all these scenarios is characterization. What would a real person do in this situation? What are the conflicts and tensions within the character? What would this character do? If the problem is resolved because of something unique to the character, we learn something about that person beyond that he has super-strength or can operate a phaser. Waving a magic wand might be alright for a four-year-old, but older people need more than a burst of energy from the deflector array.
Why was "City on the Edge of Forever" a good story? Because Kirk had to make a difficult decision between two awful choices, and he had to do it based on who he was inside. As the image of his character was explored, we came to know and understand him more. Admittedly, the story was a cheat, in
a way; we could guess that Kirk wouldn't sacrifice the future, because that would have been the end of the series, but that's not the point. The way he saved the future, and what he had to go through, allowed us to see what sort of person Kirk was, and what his choice cost him. There was no techno-device that allowed him to save Keeler and the future at the same time and, in the process, cheat the audience.
The cardinal rule on determining whether a piece of science fiction is well written is to take the science fiction out of the story and re-examine it to see if the story still makes sense. Does the scene move ahead through the use of a plot device, or by the actions, thoughts or words of a character? If I wrote a story which was not character-driven, no matter how lavish the special effects, I would have written a bad story.
If a person says that it can be done because it's science fiction, or because the characters have superior technology or powers which somehow makes everything different; or if a person says they only want flashing lights, explosions and spectacular special effects, then go to the bottom of the class and read Cinderella.
Good fiction is about believable characters (i.e. people we can identify with)doing things we might do in the same situation. Good science fiction isn't any different. It doesn't matter whether the characters have super powers or advanced technology; if we can't identify with them, then the story is meaningless, and ultimately unsatisfying.
Good fiction is character-driven. Story telling is an art-form which is all too often not understood by many script writers and editors and studio heads.
Bright Eyes
asis@ihug.com.au
Marvel Universe Must Be Marvelous
s posted online: Marvel Enterprises, "One of the world's leading entertainment companies with businesses in toys, character licensing and comic book publishing" is "seeking an experienced fiction editor for some of our best selling titles. Candidate will have the opportunity to work with top comic book creators, to recruit novelist[s] into the comic's medium and to create new characters and properties."
Dear Marvel: Those who fail to understand that the entertainment industry is in constant flux or are content to sit on their laurels are as doomed as dodos. The time has come to create tomorrow's comics and graphic novels and not yesterday's, to take total command of your own destiny, to learn as much from your past disappointments as you have from your triumphs, and most of all, to go forward and fast.
"With great power comes great responsibility"—your new fiction editor will have to be a hatchet man as well as a midwife. Painful cuts will have to be made while budding projects are birthed and nurtured. Marvel has to get better now. And it starts with the words. No more writing around in circles re-spinning ideas long past their prime. No more dressing up and trotting out the old and calling it new. No more pandering to the fleeting whims of a fickle audience. Yours is the "House of Ideas"—come up with some and don't be shy about it!
But be forewarned: gratuitous sex, violence and profanity have no place in the Marvel Universe. Fresh, innovative ways of imagining the human experience has always been, and must continue to be, your signature theme. Prepare for tough challenges ahead, but never forget that you are Marvel Entertainment and play second fiddle to no one. Creative leadership requires both hard work and risk. The New Millennium is not for the timid, the reluctant or the faint of heart. Neither is the job of fiction editor. Courage, confidence, commitment—the world is expecting an even bigger, better and more bountiful Marvel Universe. For nearly half a century you've taught us to imagine nothing less.
Kevin Ahearn
KEVTOMA@aol.com
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